ST GEORGE'S LADIES GROUP

Migrant children

When Owen Neal came to talk to us about Migrant Children no one could have anticipated the heart-rendering story that would unfold.

Since the 17th century children have been sent from this country to Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Africa to populate these countries. Approximately 150,000 children have been sent to these countries over the years, the last ones as late as the 1960's. It was felt that orphans and children not wanted by their parents, who ended up in institutions, would have the opportunity of a better life if they went to a new country. How different was the reality, as Margaret Humphreys, a social worker in Nottingham, was to discover. Margaret's work involved helping adopted children find their parents. One day she received a letter from a woman in Australia asking her to find her mother, claiming she had been sent at the age of four from a children's home with other children on a ship to Australia. Her story seemed hardly credible and Margaret decided to investigate further, only to find that many children had met a similar fate. She went to Australia and met hundreds of these children, who were now in their 40's and 50's, who desperately wanted to find their mothers.

Many of these children were told their mothers had died and some were told they were going for a six weeks holiday in the sun. Parents were also deceived, some were told their children had died and others that their children had been adopted by a family in this country.

These children were taken from a happy environment where they were decently clothed, had warm beds and decent meals to a life of drudgery. They all ended up in institutions, and whilst some were decently treated, many had inadequate clothing, no shoes, slept on filthy beds and went hungry. One man remembered how he and other boys sneaked into the grounds of a boys private school to raid the dustbins for scraps to eat because they were so hungry. Life was harsh in these homes and many were physically and sexually abused. A Roman Catholic priest was so concerned about the treatment of children in the home in which he worked he wrote to his bishop in Ireland three times - no reply was ever received.

Some children received very little education, the girls often had to scrub floors and boys as young as eight were sent to work on building sites in sweltering heat. Many children thought they had been bad and had been sent abroad as a punishment. All of them said no one had ever shown them any love or affection, and as they had no one to turn to in their despair, some committed suicide.

Margaret Humphreys founded the Migrant Childrens Trust which provides money to help people trace their mothers in this country. The tragedy is many of these mothers specifically told the childrens homes that they only wanted to put their children in care on a temporary basis whilst they were recovering from an illness or had financial difficulties. They were appalled and angry that a Government backed scheme could ship their children across the world without their permission.

For her tireless effort over the years uniting children with their families she was awarded the Order of Australia by the Australian Government. She has also written a book called Empty Cradles telling of her long fight to bring this tragedy to light.

MARGARET DEAL