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7 June 2016

Britain’s Child Migrants Forum

The story of Britain's child migrants was largely hidden until the late 1980s when Nottingham social worker, Margaret Humphreys, formed the child migrants trust to help reunite families and raise awareness of the schemes. The story came to the attention of the media and general public with the release of the book and TV documentary, Lost Children of the Empire in 1989 and the ABC BBC mini-series, The Leaving of Liverpool in 1992.
After years of lobbying by former child migrants and their families, the issue also became part of the political agenda. Government inquiries held in the UK in 1998 and Australia in 2001 condemned the schemes as fundamentally flawed. Submissions and evidence given at the inquiries revealed horrific stories of abuse, neglect and deception. In 2009, then Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made an apology to former child migrants and Forgotten Australians who suffered in institutional care. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, apologised in 2010.

https://museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/discoverycentre/stolen-childhoods/britains-child-migrants-forum/