[5] The main objects of the association were to obtain individual treatment for children under the guardianship of the State, and to obtain for the State further powers of control over neglected children.
It agitated for better treatment of the many thousand orphan and other children dependent upon the public and advocated for doing away with barrack schools.
[6] The organization was established in 1896 by Henrietta Barnett and her sister's husband, Dr Ernest Hart.
[9][4][10] The State Children's Aid Association issued its first annual report in April 1898.
[10] Some of the association's committee records are held by the LSE Library Archives and Special Collections.