Child abuse is now perceived to be a major social problem. It is only in recent years, however, that this phenomenon has become part of public consciousness. Social workers, residential workers, doctors, infant welfare sisters, police and others are apparently spending more of their time dealing with the problem. This increasing demand on the professional's time has been matched by the growth of material written on Child Abuse: Kalisch, (1978), provides some two thousand references, the vast majority appearing in the last twenty years.

The literature, however, is predominantly concerned with identification of the child at risk, the incidence of child abuse, and the establishment of systems dealing with the problem. Unfortunately very little has been written about a central and crucial issue: the safety of the home.

The development of an explicit, formally enunciated, child protection policy in Victoria is only a recent occurence. This paper will trace the development of this policy from the sixties of this century until the present time. [Tierney (1963) made a comprehensive analysis of the development of child welfare policy and administration in Victoria up to the sixties.] Although historically, and currently, the Health Commission (formerly the Department of Health) has influenced the development of child protection policy, this analysis focuses particularly on the policies and practices of the Community Welfare Services Department as well as the relevant legislation. No attempt is made to analyse the policies and legislation administered by other relevant departments such as the Health Commission, Education Department, Law Department and the Police and Emergency Services Department. The policies of the Community Welfare Services Department are considered to be of greater relevance because of its role in administering the relevant welfare legislation, and the increasingly important role it has assumed in the supervision and co-ordination of various agencies involved in child protection.

This is the year after International Year of the Child; most readers will perceive this as an unnecessary statement as there would be few of us who have not been affected by IYC in some way. Some of us would have attended meetings, conferences, seminars and the like to listen to a veritable plethora of learned, witty, earnest and serious speakers discourse on the rights of the child, and participate in the resulting debates. Others of us made ourselves unpopular with friends and relatives alike by extolling the virtues of IYC, T shirts, sweat shirts, car stickers, badges and other gaudy memorabilia, not to mention raucous renditions of the ubiquitous “Care for Kids” song at some largely inappropriate moment.

The child care centre at the Eden Park Industrial Estate, North Ryde, is currently the only centre established by a developer and in receipt of federal funding under the Children's Services Program.

The success of the Eden Park centre, which has been incorporated as an integral part of the design of the industrial complex, has caused the centre to be the focus of the growing interest in the concept of work-related child care by such groups as commercial concerns, unions, local government and other public authorities.