Association of Children's Officers

The records provide a comprehensive history of children's departments and of child care as seen by Children's Officers from 1949-1971. They contain details of the foundation, constitution, executive council and general meeting minutes, annual reports and accounts, 1949-1971; proceedings of annual conferences, 1951-1970; attendance register, 1949-1963, ACO Bulletins to members, 1950-1970, press cuttings, 1949-1968, lists and details of children's officers, reports of Local Authority children's officers/departments/committees, 1948-1971, 1980-1981, and a few other papers.

This Association needs to be distinguished from the Association of Child Care Officers (ACCO). Both have their origins in the Report of the Curtis Committee on Children Deprived of a Normal Home Life (1946) and the Children Act of 1948, which, acting on the recommendations of the Curtis Committee, legislated for the establishment by local authorities of Children's Departments. As a consequence of the rapid increase in the number of trained field-workers involved in social work with families and the supervision and boarding-out of children in the care of the Children's Departments, a new association (ACCO) was founded by these child care workers in 1949. ACO was established by the chief officers of the new departments in November 1949. The association was never a part of the Standing Conference of Organisations of Social Workers and was disbanded in January 1971, on the merger of local authority child care into the wider Social Services Departments and the formation of an Association of Directors of Social Services.

Reference: R.W. Stacey and A.T. Collis, Catalogue and guide to the archives of the predecessor organisations, 1890-1970. Birmingham : British Association of Social Workers, 1987. R.W. Stacey and A.T. Collis, British Association of Social Workers. Supplementary Catalogue to the Catalogue and guide to the archives of the predecessor organisations, 1890-1970. Birmingham : British Association of Social Workers, 1988.

The archives of BASW's predecessors were listed before their deposit in the Centre. A published catalogue is available for purchase. The archives of the different organisations are distinguished by different initials.

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Access to membership records, other records restricted by data protection legislation and MSS.378/ACO/CO/6/3 is restricted to those with permission from BASW and individuals concerned.

IThis collection was deposited in the Centre by the British Association of Social Workers, 17 July 1997. Additional material was deposited by BASW in 2003.

Link to full catalogue: http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/ACO

There are no restrictions on the use of this archive, apart from the requirements of copyright law.

These archives have been weeded for duplicate ephemeral material.

Further deposits are not expected.

MSS.378/BASW contains records after 1970, when this association was merged with others to form the British Association of Social Workers.

Related archives held in the Centre are: Association of Child Care Officers (MSS.378/ACCO); Association of Family Case Workers (MSS.378/AGFC); Moral Welfare Workers' Association (MSS.378/MWWA); Association of Psychiatric Social Workers (MSS.378/APSW); Association of Social Workers (MSS.378/ASW); Institute of Medical Social Workers (MSS.378/IMSW); Society of Mental Welfare Officers (MSS.378/SMWO); Association of Tuberculosis Care Workers (MSS.378/TUB); National Association of Probation Officers (MSS.378/PROB); and Standing Conference of Organisations of Social Workers (MSS.378/SCOSW).