Disowned and disabled. 1/2, Nowhere else to go.

The first in a two-part series which looks back over a century of children in care. Over the course of the last sixty years, institutional care has rapidly fell out of favour for a number of reasons. This part looks at 'disowned' children, especially children in orphanages or local authority care. Conditions were harsh; the institutions were formerly voluntary organisations - the idea was to break the bond with the family. Fostering was really only a form of enforced labour. Adults recount their traumatic experiences. Professor Ian Butler, University of Bath, points out that these institutions were intended to be punitive (prefects meted punishments on behalf of the masters). Improvements came as an unexpected consequence of the evacuation effort during the Second World War. Two brothers, Terry and Dennis O'Neill, fostered to a farmhouse were regularly beaten and starved. Dennis's brother, Terry was made to tie his brother to the butcher's bench for beatings. The farmer beat Dennis to death; he was arrested and the ensuing furore became the catalyst for change, leading to the Childrens' Act, 1948. Dr Sarah Hayes, University of Exeter, comments - it meant the end of the Poor Law and the beginning of the Welfare State - personal care was provided to every child. Around this time, the science of child development evolved, eg. John Bowlby who studied attachment disorder. 'A Two Year Old Goes to Hospital' is also discussed - the film (in the Wellcome Library) was based on Bowlby's work. After 8 days in hospital the child, Laura, became increasingly withdrawn. More notice was made of children in care - the Central Office of Information made a film in 1950 'A Family Affair' encouraging families to foster children. Bob Hollman became a child care officer. The officers had wide spread powers to investigate and inspect institutions. The postwar baby boom led to an increase in children going in to care - on one hand there was a baby boom and then also broken homes. There was a considerable stigma to being pregnant and unmarried; they gave birth in secret and were forced to give away their babies. British Pathe Newsreel of the National Adoption Agency idealised the adoption process. None of the adopters met the parents-to-be. Churches and charity groups such as Barnardo's shipped children to Britain's former colonies, especially Canada and Australia. Dr Kirsten Rundle, London School of Economics, discusses the stigma the children from the lower social classes. This led to state-run sponsorship. Many children did not discover a life of plenty - they were given hard labour and no education. One man talks of his search for his family - all records have been lost or destroyed. The adoption process, does offer some hope for the adoptees when they search for their birth families. With immigration from the Caribbean and India - there were a disproportionate number of black and mixed race children. Chris Akabusi talks about his experiences in the care system with BBC archive footage of a care home. The treatment of delinquent children and approved schools only came under local authority care in 1969 as part of the Children and Young Person's Act introduced new powers according to Mike Lindsay, Children's Rights Adviser, Ofsted. The care system, however, led to the 'criminalisation' and further stigmatisation of children in care. A new breed of social workers were deemed to be unsympathetic. Akabusi and other young black men could only imagine adult life in the armed forces. Many children ended up back in touch with their birth parents and rehabilitate the family. A 7 year old girl, Maria Colwell, confided in her teacher about her hunger; soon it emerged that she was maltreated and starved by her mother and stepfather. This became a turning point; child abuse within the family was an unspoken taboo. A man talks about his experience of 'pin down' which was solitary confinement for young people. Another resident from the early 1980s talks about being sedated to tackle her distress - drugs designed for psychiatric conditions and in dosages designed for adults. Both these treatments were widely known and seemed to be based on scientific research. An ITV documentary using archive footage is shown to validate the treatments at the time. The drug regime is now considered to be abusive and was investigated after the scandal emerged.