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We are dedicating April 2021 to #CareExperiencedHistoryMonth. This thread explains why - and it contains some sad content about death and instiutionalisation.
We think that by exploring the past together, we can learn, grow and remember this rich and important history.
We think that by exploring the past together, we can learn, grow and remember this rich and important history.
Throughout history, and in the present day, all children have needed love, stability and positive relationships to grow and develop. At different points, as far back as 4,000 years ago, the state has intervened in family life when that isn't being offered to some children.
We think the story of state intervention starts with King Ur-Nammu, who ruled the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur between 2112 – 2095 BC. Within the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known recorded laws, we think we have found the first mention in history of Care Experienced people.
In these codes of law, Ur-Nammu prevented Care Experienced children whose parents had died, from being simply given to rich families. You can learn more about the code of Ur-Nammu from this paper which was published by The University of Chicago Press.
http://shorturl.at/yA045
http://shorturl.at/yA045
On #CareDay20, we hosted conversations sharing this history and the cultural impact of the Care Experienced community with the First Minister, @NicolaSturgeon, and Labour party leader, @LabourRichard. We were glad to have their support in our ambition to share this story wider.
We talked about the HMS Mars. An ex-warship that was turned into a home for young boys from 1869 to 1929. Anchored in Dundee, the ship was home to over 6000 children with there being around 400 boys living on board at any one time.
Local historian, Gordon Douglas, has documented that for the boys onboard the ship life was tough. They were forced to live under a strict regime with beatings being a common punishment for those who did not follow the rules. Adults sent children there. http://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/dundee-ship-which-housed-and-educated-citys-destitute-boys-608679
We highlighted some of the findings by the @ScottishCAI. The inquiry is telling the history of Care Experienced by creating a public record of the abuse of children in care in living memory until 2014. This abuse spans all of Scotland and where children were placed abroad.
It is hoped that by gathering the testimony of Care Experienced people, Scotland will better understand its role in Care Experienced history and can then make necessary improvements to law, policies and practices. Only then will history stop repeating itself.
Included in the @ScottishCAI are the mass graves at Smyllum Park Orphanage, where the bodies of at least 400 children are buried, and at Quarriers Village, where 115 grave markers hold the names of the 335 children buried there.
We are only aware of these graves because of campaigns led by former residents of the two homes who discovered missing headstones and unmarked graves and wanted to ensure the children who lost their life in these institutions weren’t forgotten. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-49853718
And we told them of the 150,000 children who were separated from their families, stripped of their identities, and sent across the world to former UK Colonies over a period of 300 years, from 1618 to 1971. They were told that a better life awaited them.
The new life that awaited many of them was one of abuse and manual labour. The programme was referred to as ‘government- induced trafficking’ by former Prime Minister @OfficeGSBrown when giving evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. https://www.itv.com/news/2017-07-20/former-pm-gordon-brown-gives-evidence-to-independent-inquiry-into-child-sexual-abuse
Again, all children need love, stability and positive relationships to grow and develop. When the state intervenes because of a perceived lack of these, it should make things better. We think that we are doomed to repeat history if we do not learn about it honestly
Societies across the world will have to come to terms with and address this history, if they are to make things better.
Care Experienced people always had the same hopes and desires as all children - but oppressive practices, behaviour and attitudes from adults got in the way.
Care Experienced people always had the same hopes and desires as all children - but oppressive practices, behaviour and attitudes from adults got in the way.
We know this history stretches further than the borders and former colonies of the United Kingdom.
There is much about Care Experienced history all over the world that is still to be discovered and told. That is why we are asking you to join us. https://www.whocaresscotland.org/what-we-do/campaigns/history-month/
There is much about Care Experienced history all over the world that is still to be discovered and told. That is why we are asking you to join us. https://www.whocaresscotland.org/what-we-do/campaigns/history-month/
