Child migration
History of child migration by country
History of child migration by country
-------------------------------------

### Australia

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many [Aboriginal Australian](/wiki/Aboriginal_Australian "Aboriginal Australian") children were removed from their families and placed in institutions and foster homes, in what became known as the [Stolen Generations](/wiki/Stolen_Generations "Stolen Generations").

130,000 children were migrated to Australia under assisted [child migration schemes](/wiki/Home_Children "Home Children") from Great Britain alone, with a small number from Malta. Child migrants were adopted or brought up in children's homes, institutions, orphanages or foster care. A large portion of these children were used in slave labour by the churches in Australia. Many of these children experienced [neglect](/wiki/Child_neglect "Child neglect") and [abuse](/wiki/Child_abuse "Child abuse") while in institutional care.

In November 2009 [Australian Prime Minister](/wiki/Australian_Prime_Minister "Australian Prime Minister"), [Kevin Rudd](/wiki/Kevin_Rudd "Kevin Rudd") formally apologized to "[Forgotten Australians](/wiki/Forgotten_Australians "Forgotten Australians")" and child migrants on behalf of the nation. PMs apology "Forgotten Australians" is a term the Australian Senate has used to describe children who were brought up in orphanages, children's homes, institutions or foster care in Australia. Child migrants are a specific group of "Forgotten Australians".[http://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/content.php?pid\=55757\&sid\=582660](http://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/content.php?pid=55757&sid=582660) Adoption \& Forgotten Australians \- Child Migrants

### Bulgaria

Child migration was a phenomenon associated with the migration of Bulgarian market\-gardeners to Austria\-Hungary in the second half of 19th and early 20th Century, due to the use of child labor (mostly boys) in market\-gardening. Child labor brought master gardeners the biggest profit since children did not get paid but worked as apprentices for their keep only. Younger children helped in the gardens and learned gardening skills, while those who were already physically strong performed specialized gardening activities. Different patterns of child migration can be distinguished based on the autobiographies and personal life stories of market\-gardeners: children who migrated with their market\-gardening parents as a family or those of market\-gardeners who were born abroad; children who migrated with one of the parents (usually the market\-gardening father) or with relatives of the market\-gardening father so as to “learn the craft”; children who migrated with their market\-gardening parents as a family, then the parents returned to their homeland with the younger children, while the older child was left abroad to work “on a garden” and make his own living, thus supporting his family financially.[http://penkapeykovska.blogspot.hu/p/blog\-page\_20\.html](http://penkapeykovska.blogspot.hu/p/blog-page_20.html) Peykovska, Penka, Child Migration, Child Labor and School Attainment. Evidence from the Bulgarian Community in Hungary (Late 19th to the 1930s)

### Canada

The Canadian Indian residential school system, founded in the 19th century, was intended to force the assimilation of the [Aboriginal peoples in Canada](/wiki/Aboriginal_peoples_in_Canada "Aboriginal peoples in Canada") into European\-Canadian society. The last residential school was closed in 1996\. On June 11, 2008, [Prime Minister](/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Canada "Prime Minister of Canada") [Stephen Harper](/wiki/Stephen_Harper "Stephen Harper") apologized, on behalf of the sitting [Cabinet](/wiki/Cabinet_of_Canada "Cabinet of Canada"), in front of an audience of Aboriginal delegates, and in an address that was broadcast nationally on the [CBC](/wiki/CBC_Television "CBC Television"), for the past governments' policies of assimilation.[PM cites 'sad chapter' in apology for residential schools](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/pm-cites-sad-chapter-in-apology-for-residential-schools-1.699389) \- cbc.ca, June 11, 2008\. Retrieved 2009\-12\-02\.
In 2009, [Pope Benedict XVI](/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI "Pope Benedict XVI") expressed his sorrow at "the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the Church" and offered his "sympathy and prayerful solidarity".[Communique of the Holy See Press Office](http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/23774.php?index=23774&lang=en) . 29\.4\.2009\. Retrieved 2009\-12\-02\.

### Malta

310 children were emigrated from Malta to Australia between 1950 and 1965 under the ‘Child Migration to Australia Scheme’ following an agreement between the Australian Catholic Immigration committee and the Emigration and Labour Minister on 9 December 1949\. Most of the Maltese children sent to Australia under this scheme came either from government orphanages or Church children's homes and all were said to have left with their parents’ consent. The Australian government had offered to welcome Maltese boys, aged between eight and 11, and girls aged between five and 10 years into Catholic institutions and promised to offer them employment supervised by the responsible Catholic authorities. One of these children became a priest and many others embarked on a career though many grew up hurt knowing that their parents had consented to their departure from home. The Maltese emigrants were included in the Australian Prime Minister's 2009 public apology to those who suffered abuse at the hands of their carers in institutions, orphanages and foster care.

### Mandatory Palestine

During World War II, thousands of [unaccompanied minors](/wiki/Unaccompanied_minor "Unaccompanied minor") from Jewish families in Nazi\-occupied Europe were [transported to relative safety in Mandatory Palestine](/wiki/Youth_Aliyah "Youth Aliyah") (now Israel).

### United Kingdom

The practice of sending poor or [orphaned](/wiki/Orphan "Orphan") children to the [English](/wiki/English_overseas_possessions "English overseas possessions") [settler colonies](/wiki/Settler_colony "Settler colony"), to help alleviate the shortage of labour, began in [England](/wiki/Kingdom_of_England "Kingdom of England") in 1618, with the rounding\-up and transportation of 100 [vagrant](/wiki/Vagrancy_%28people%29 "Vagrancy (people)") children to the [Virginia Colony](/wiki/Virginia_Colony "Virginia Colony"). Prior to the second half of the twentieth century, the Home Children programme was seen as a way to move impoverished children to a "better life" in Australia, Canada and elsewhere, also providing good "white stock" to former colonies. The children and parents were not consulted, and often siblings were separated.[Child Labor](/wiki/Child_Labor "Child Labor") By Sandy Hobbs, Jim McKechnie, [Michael Lavalette](/wiki/Michael_Lavalette "Michael Lavalette") p. 33, 34 In total 130,000 children were sent from the United Kingdom to Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Australia. Often children were lied to about their parents being dead and many faced abuse in their new homes. In February 2010 [British Prime Minister](/wiki/British_Prime_Minister "British Prime Minister"), [Gordon Brown](/wiki/Gordon_Brown "Gordon Brown") issued an official apology for the 'shameful' child resettlement programme and announced a £6 million fund designed to compensate the families affected by the "misguided" programme. The Child Migrants Trust has since set up the Family Restoration Fund in order to use this money to help reunite former child migrants with their families as part of the British government's package of support to former child migrants and their families.

During the [Second World War](/wiki/World_War_II "World War II"), some 3\.5 million children were evacuated from areas at risk of aerial bombing to rural locations. (see [Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II](/wiki/Evacuations_of_civilians_in_Britain_during_World_War_II "Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II").)

Also during World War II, nearly 10,000 [unaccompanied minors](/wiki/Unaccompanied_minor "Unaccompanied minor") from Jewish families in Nazi\-occupied Europe were [transported to safety in the UK](/wiki/Kindertransport "Kindertransport").

A study completed in 2012 by the [University of Oxford](/wiki/University_of_Oxford "University of Oxford")'s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) led by Dr Nando Sigona has shed light on the situation of children with no right to live in the United Kingdom. The study, 'No way out, no way in: Irregular migrant children and families in the UK', estimates a population of 120,000 children without status, of whom 65,000 were born in the UK to parents with no right to live in the country.

### United States

During the 19th century there were a number of attempts to move children from crowded east coast cities to midwestern and western rural families \& orphanages. Most famous was the [orphan train](/wiki/Orphan_train "Orphan train") movement. Additionally Native American children were separated from their families \& sent to [boarding schools](/wiki/Americanization_%28of_Native_Americans%29%23Native_American_education_and_boarding_schools "Americanization (of Native Americans)#Native American education and boarding schools") to force them into assimilating western culture. [Andrea Smith, "Soul Wound: The Legacy of Native American Schools"](http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/soulwound.html) , *Amnesty Magazine*, Amnesty International website

### Finland

During the Second World War, when Finland was at war with Russia, about 70 000 Finnish children were transported by train and boat mainly to Sweden, but also to Norway and Denmark. These children are commonly referred to as [war children](/wiki/Finnish_war_children "Finnish war children"). By the end of the war, thousands of children were adopted by their "new" parents.


What kind of support did British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offer to former child migrants and their families in 2010?