Barnardo's
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Barnardo's is a global charity headquartered in Barkingside in the London Borough of Redbridge. It was founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same groups. It is the largest children's charity in the UK in terms of charitable expenditure.<ref name="Telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref>
History
The National Incorporated Association for the Reclamation of Destitute Waif Children otherwise known as Dr. Barnardo's Homes was founded by Irish-born doctor Thomas Barnardo, who opened a school in the East End of London to care for and educate children of the area left orphaned and destitute by a recent cholera outbreak.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1870, he founded a boys' orphanage at 18 Stepney Causeway<ref name="Telegraph" /> and later opened a girls' home. By the time of his death in 1905, Barnardo's institutions cared for more than 8,500 children in 96 locations. His work was carried on by his many supporters under the name Dr. Barnardo's Homes National Incorporated Association.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following societal changes in the mid-20th century, the charity changed its focus from the direct care of children to fostering and adoption, renaming itself Dr. Barnardo's in 1965. Following the closure of its last traditional orphanage in 1988, it took the still simpler name of Barnardo's. The official mascot of Barnardo's is a bear called Barney. Its chief executive is Javed Khan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There was controversy early on with Barnardo's work. Specifically, he was accused of kidnapping children without parents' permission and of falsifying photographs of children to make the distinction between the period before they were rescued by Barnardo's and afterwards seem more dramatic. He openly confessed to the former of these charges, describing it as "philanthropic abduction" and basing his defence on the idea that the ends justified the means. In all, he was taken to court on 88 occasions, largely on the charge of kidnapping. However, being a charismatic speaker and popular figure, he rode through these scandals unscathed. Other charges brought against him included neglecting basic hygiene for the children under his care.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Between 1945 and 1974, Barnardo's supported and participated in schemes that saw around 150,000 children exported to imperial colonies where they were mostly abused, beaten and neglected.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In October 2022, Buckingham Palace announced that more than 1,000 Paddington Bears and teddy bears left at royal sites after the death of Queen Elizabeth II would be donated to Barnardo's.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Experience of mixed-race children
A "special problem" of the upbringing and socialisation of mixed-race children was noted in Barnardo's Annual Report of 1951.
Suzi Hamilton was sent to Barnardo's by her married mother in 1946. Suzi's father was a black G.I. She had a tough time at home and the two employees who ran her Barnardo cottage were not nice to her. She wrote her experience into her book which also described several unsuccessful attempts to adopt her. She also talked about the short vacations that she had with her "aunts" and "uncles" where on one vacation she experienced her first menstrual period and was told to be extra careful as she was not a white girl.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Susan Tomkins, born in Taunton, Somerset, to a married mother, was being sent to Barnardo's when she was aged about eight, together with her two brothers. She stayed at Barnardo's for about a year. Her grandmother, who was protective of her in the face of any racism, took care of her once she went home.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Communications
Barnardo's has used advertising campaigns to raise public awareness of its work. A 2003 advert that featured a new-born baby with a cockroach crawling out of its mouth was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a storm of public protest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2008, its "Break the cycle" TV advert featuring a girl being repeatedly hit around the head by her father prompted a number of complaints but was cleared by the ASA, which said the imagery was justified, given the context.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2009 Martin Narey, then Chief Executive of Barnardo's, stated that he believed that more children should be taken into care. This statement caused considerable controversy, especially as historical references were made by journalists to Barnardo's original practice of "philanthropic abduction".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By 2012, there was little opposition to Narey's claim, which was publicly supported by the NSPCC and Action For Children, who called for an overhaul of the law on neglect.<ref>"Returning children home from care: learning from case reviews" – NSPCC, January 2024.</ref>
Criticism
Cedars controversy
In 2011, Barnardo's was criticised for its work in Cedars, the name chosen by UK Immigration Enforcement for what it describes as "pre-departure accommodation" (detention facility) near Gatwick Airport used to hold families with children pending deportation. Barnardo's provides "welfare and social care facilities" at the detention centre, which is managed on behalf of UK Visas and Immigration by private security company G4S.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Barnardo's has been criticised by Frances Webber of the Institute of Race Relations for "legitimising child detention".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Activists opposed to the detention of children, such as members of the No Border network, have mounted a campaign against the charity's involvement in Cedars.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This included actions such as occupying Barnardo's London head office in February 2012,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and disrupting the "Barnardo's Young Supporters" choir concert at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In response to criticism, Anne Marie Carrie, then Chief Executive of Barnardo's, stated that the decision to provide welfare and social care services at Cedars is in the children's best interests,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> outlining Barnardo's "red lines" and the action it will take if the welfare and dignity of any asylum seeking families and children is at risk.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Child physical and sexual abuse
The 2014–2015 Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry included Barnardo's Sharonmore Project, Newtownabbey and Barnardo's Macedon, Newtownabbey among the institutions under investigation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The charity was aware of child abuse but did not retain the records, as the evidence could have been used in court.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Barnardo's was also implicated in this inquiry for sending British children to Australia in the mid-20th century, where some were tortured, raped and enslaved.<ref name="auto"/> Barnardo's acknowledges its role in this "well intentioned" but "deeply misguided" policy supported by the government of the time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Barnardo's was further scrutinised in 2018, as investigations and inquiries into failures in NGO safeguarding expanded.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2020, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry issued a report which included Barnardo's homes at Tyneholm, Balcary, Glasclune and Craigerne in Scotland. The Inquiry concluded that children in the care of these homes in the 1950s and 1960s suffered emotional, sexual and physical abuse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Apology
Martin Crewe, the head of Barnardo's Scotland, said in 2020: "We absolutely apologise for what happened to those individuals. Any instance of abuse is absolutely unacceptable."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 11 March 2022 ministers from the five main political parties in Northern Ireland and six abusing institutions made statements of apology in the Northern Ireland Assembly.<ref name=sorry>Template:Cite news</ref> The six institutions that apologised for carrying out abuse were De La Salle Brothers, represented by Br Francis Manning; the Sisters of Nazareth, represented by Sr Cornelia Walsh; the Sisters of St. Louis, represented by Sr Uainin Clarke; the Good Shepherd Sisters, represented by Sr Cait O'Leary; Barnardo's in Northern Ireland, represented by Michele Janes; and Irish Church Missions, represented by Rev. Mark Jones.<ref name=sorry/>
In live reporting after the apology, BBC News reported that Jon McCourt from Survivors North West said: "If what happened today was the best that the church could offer by way of an apology they failed miserably. There was no emotion, there was no ownership. ... I don't believe that the church and institutions atoned today." He called on the institutions to "do the right thing" and contribute to the redress fund for survivors, saying that institutions have done similar for people in Scotland.<ref name=sorrylive>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Rp McCourt praised the government ministers' apologies; they had "sat and thought out and listened to what it was we said", but said that the institutions had failed to do this, leading to some victims having to leave the room while they were speaking, "compound[ing] the hurt".<ref name=sorrylive/>Template:Rp
Others angry at the institutions' apologies included Caroline Farry, who attended St Joseph's Training School in Middletown from 1978 to 1981, overseen by nuns from the Sisters of St Louis,<ref name=sorrylive/>Template:Rp Pádraigín Drinan from Survivors of Abuse,<ref name=sorrylive/>Template:Rp and Alice Harper, whose brother, a victim of the De La Salle Brothers, had since died.<ref name=sorrylive/>Template:Rp Peter Murdock, from campaign group Savia, was at Nazareth Lodge Orphanage with his brother (who had recently died); he likened the institution to an "SS camp". He said "It's shocking to hear a nun from the institution apologising ... it comes 30 years too late ... people need to realise that it has to come from the heart. They say it came from the heart but why did they not apologise 30 years ago?"<ref name=sorrylive/>Template:Rp
Music
During the 1950s, children from the homes made recordings, including appearing on Petula Clark's 1952 recording of "Where Did My Snowman Go?".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They also made recordings as a vocal group for Polygon and Pye Nixa Records.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Barnardo's Barkingside regeneration programme
Barnardo's employs approximately 450 staff in Barkingside in Ilford, eastern Greater London, including secondments and visitors. Since September 2013, operations were consolidated in one, smaller, building on the Barkingside site.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The new building was financed by housing developments undertaken after public consultation and discussions with local residents in Barkingside.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Affiliations
Barnardo's is a founding member of Fostering Through Social Enterprise (FtSE), a consortium of voluntary and non-profit fostering agencies that advocate for children in respect of regulation, as well as representing its membership at central government level.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In January 2016, it was announced that Barnardo's would be one of the chosen charities for Santander's The Discovery Project alongside Age UK. As well as giving financial donations to the charities on Track project, Santander will also allow staff to volunteer in their charity shops.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the Commonwealth
Spinoff charities Barnardos Australia and Barnardos New Zealand (now spelt without an apostrophe following local practice) were set up in the 20th century with the same mission. Barnardos Australia uses a similar slogan to the UK organisation, "We believe in children", while Barnardos New Zealand uses the slogan "Do more for Kiwi kids."Template:Citation needed
See also
References
External links
- Barnardo Official website
- childrenshomes.org.uk – has details of every former Barnardo's Home
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- Barnardo's Child Sponsorship