Website of the Department of Health

Earlier this century, several thousand British children mainly in the care of voluntary organisations were emigrated to former Dominions - mainly Australia, Canada and New Zealand - under several schemes involving the British Government, the Governments of the receiving countries and the voluntary organisations who operated the schemes.

The measures set out were to help former British child migrants were set up as part of the Government's response to the report by the Parliamentary Select Committee for Health into the Welfare of Former Child Migrants, following an enquiry in 1998. These provisions apply only to those children who were migrated from institutional care in the UK under Government approved schemes. They do not apply to wartime evacuees or to those migrated under other assisted schemes.

The UK Government recognised that the priority for most children who were separated from their families through these schemes was to re-establish contact and - where possible - to reunite with their family. The Government therefore offered two new kinds of help:

a. an Information Index to help those who wish to find their family;
b. a Support Fund to help those without means who have found their family to reunite.

In addition, the Government has also made available extra funding for the Child Migrant Trust, which offers an independent, specialised service for former child migrants and their families.

Information about these measures (and about other groups or organisations that might be able to offer assistance, including details of useful contacts in Australia, Canada and New Zealand) can be downloaded from the links below in Portable Document Format versions of webpages maintained by the Department of Health up to April 2004. One version contains active (clickable) links; the text-only version is a smaller file which will be quicker to download.

• Download pages on information for former British child migrants - clickable version (PDF, 651K)
• Download pages on information for former British child migrants - text only (PDF, 156K)