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An orphan, in the context of children in 'care', does not necessarily mean a child whose parents have died. It was most often used to describe a child whose parent/s were (or were judged to be) unable, for many different reasons, to care for them.
Joanna Penglase's book about growing up in 'care' in New South Wales is titled Orphans of the living, and she points out that
all children who are removed from parents - by whatever means and for whatever reasons - suffer the same feelings of grief and loss; they suffer as all children do who lose their parents.
Welfare workers in Victoria in the mid-twentieth century used the term 'orphans of the living' to differentiate between 'real orphans' and the circumstances of other children in care.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 21 August 2009, Last modified: 13 February 2018
Last updated: 29 April 2024
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/australia/biogs/FE00029b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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