Hidden Lives Revealed. A virtual archive - children in care 1881-1981 * Image of handwritten text

Children's Experiences

Three children at St. Nicholas' Home, Byfleet, Surrey
Three children at St. Nicholas' Home, Byfleet, Surrey
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The case files in our collection document the experiences of the thousands of children that came into The Children's Society's care.

As part of the Including the Excluded project, we have catalogued the case files of disabled children that were living in The Children's Society's homes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These case files give a vivid glimpse into what life was like for disabled children living in care during that time.

On this page are summaries of case files for a few of those disabled children. Each case file in our collection is as unique as the child it relates to but, hopefully, these summaries will give an example of just some of the experiences that disabled children in care in the late 19th and early 20th centuries might come across, including their family circumstances, their time with The Children's Society, and where they went on to afterwards.



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