The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry was established by the Northern Ireland Executive on 19 January 2013. It was created to investigate abuse suffered by children under the age of 18 years in institutions in Northern Ireland. As part of its work, the Inquiry examined the treatment of children in institutions in Northern Ireland who were…
An Inquiry into the Welfare of Former British Child Migrants was undertaken by the Parliament of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons Health Committee in 1997-98. In relation to Australia, the Inquiry was most interested in the fate of children who were sent from Britain in the twentieth century. The inquiry and its report (known…
Open adoption is when an adoption occurs with no secrecy, the child can know who their birth parents are and the birth parents have the right to keep in contact with the child. It can be compared to closed adoption practices of the twentieth century and the effects these had on many people involved in…
Absconding is a term used to describe the act of running away or escaping from an institution, foster home or other place of care. The report of the 2004 Senate “Forgotten Australians” inquiry stated that ‘absconding was a widely reported practice’ in children’s institutions around Australia. Various child welfare laws around Australia made absconding or…
The Child Migrants Trust (CMT) was established in 1987 by English social worker Margaret Humphreys to address the issues surrounding the deportation of children from Britain, and to offer to former child migrants and their families services including counselling, support for family reunions, and family research. Since 2010, the CMT has administered the UK government-funded…
Frontier Services was formed in 1977 when the Uniting Church was established and the inland missions of the Presbyterian, Congregational and Methodist Churches were combined.
Maternity Homes were institutions that provided residential accommodation to pregnant women, usually single women, and they often functioned (officially or not) as adoption agencies. Women gave birth in maternity homes attended by a midwife. Many maternity homes were also ‘rescue homes’ which tried to reform the young mothers. These institutions were sometimes known as lying-in…
The Inquiry into the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians Reports, which began in 2008, was conducted by the Senate’s Community Affairs References Committee. Its report Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians Revisited, was released in June 2009. In September 2008, the Senate referred the following matter to the Community Affairs…
The Overseas Children Scheme (Australian terminology), also known as the Children’s Overseas Reception Board Scheme (British terminology), was a program to evacuate children from Britain to various Commonwealth countries so that they could escape the German bombing during World War Two. A total of 577 children came to Australia as evacuees under this scheme. They…
Juvenile delinquency was a term used to describe the behaviour of children and young people who are committing criminal offences, or thought likely to commit offences, at a young age. This behavior could include vandalism, truancy, stealing, fighting, running away from home or being sexually active. Many children in institutions were labelled as delinquents, or…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
