Saturday, October 03, 2020

The Church Says Sorry

The Church of Scotland has said sorry for its role in sending children to Australia in the 1950s and 60s.  It now admits the programme was "ill-conceived" and caused trauma and suffering to many families.
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard that the first migration ship linked to the church set sail in December 1950, with 22 boys aged under 14 on board. The scheme continued until 1963.
Over this period, thousands of young British children were deported, with the help of charities and organisations across the UK. The children often came from deprived backgrounds and were already in some form of care. Many of the parents gave up their children because of poverty or social stigma of being a single mother.
Although the aim was to give the children a better future, the church now acknowledged that this was not what happened. In reality, children were sent into an unfamiliar and often harsh and abusive environment.

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