I've been negligent reading more books on the topic because it is so distressing and close to me, but I probably should.
I'm really quite amazed that all this is not taught in school and I had no idea about any of it until much later.
My grandfather would not speak of it to his children or wife until decades after the fact and being approached about the book may finally have been the catalyst. If you happen to read Phyllis Harrison's "The Home Children", I believe his story is titled "I was told it was a lovely farm, boy what a jolt I got" (I don't have it at hand). With his first farmer he slept in a pile of straw in the barn for the first 6 months, worked 16 hours a day and had to pull raw veg from the garden to sustain himself. He received no further formal education. He was 14. I take some comfort in the fact that the farmers in the last two years of his contract were much kinder to him with the last treating him 'like a son'.
His report from the agency in all this time is a few lines. Saying... he is doing well, healthy, giving satisfaction to his employer.... and "unable to attend church".
What makes it most sad is he had some family back in England (all whom he never saw again, except his brother), and an uncle in Canada who said he would have adopted him, had he known at the time. But after his mother died, his father - a Naval officer - made the decision to send him off and that was that.
