Home children
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Home children were sent from Britain to live in Canada, Australia and New Zealand between 1869 and the 1930s. They were orphans or given in care by their parents who could not look after them.
One of the most famous placement agencies was established by Dr. Thomas Barnardo, and Barnardo homes is often used generically to describe all home children.
Some children were welcomed into loving homes, others were exploited as cheap agricultural labour and others were further victimized. In cases of victimization, home children were often denied proper shelter and education, and were often not allowed to socialize with native children. It was common for home children to run away, sometimes finding a caring family or better conditions to work under.
About 100,000 home children arrived in Canada during this period, stopping only for economic reasons during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
[edit] External links
- Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque and background information
- National Library and Archives of Canada Autobiography of W B Tucker, a home child who became a Methodist minister, and later founded The Montreal City Mission.
 |
This history article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
