They may hope to:
- gain an understanding of their family circumstances
- fill in gaps in their history
- seek redress
- make more sense of their personal experience and identity.
The website is an important resource for these searches.
The site has more than 200 guides from institutions, including:
- orphanages
- foster care
- family or children’s homes
- disability institutions
- reception or youth training centres
- psychiatric facilities and hospitals.
Each guide explains what records might exist from an institution.
Once a person has found relevant guides, they can then make a freedom of information request to the relevant Victorian department for the information.
Visit the Finding records website for more information.