1. Returning the Gaze:
Reflections on research
(1969-1973) into Residential
Child Care in Scotland and
England
Keith J. White, SCI
Kilkenny March 2012

2. Introduction
The thesis dealt with history, and has now
become history
It was done to inform my own life and
practice, and I share it with you so that
you can do the same in your context
Taking stock and learning from history

3. Part One
Seven reflections on re-reading the thesis
fully for the first time forty years after the
event
They are not representative or arrived at
systematically
(Today’s presentation draws from a full
paper, with references.)

4. Reflection 1: The Marginalisation
of Children
Children were effectively “nobodies”: the Poor
Laws were not designed with children in mind
1763 In English workhouses 93% of babies
died
1834 In an Edinburgh poorhouse 8 out of 73
children died, and others were sick
“Institutionalisation”: the incarnation of a system

5. Reflection 2: The meaning of
childhood?
Frustrating and confining to find few even asking
what childhood is about
There is a constant recording of activities and
statistics, routines and rules…
Doubly “poor” children: children and poor
“Children’s services”, not “children’s spaces”

6. Reflection 3: Economics
Why wait so long to name the elephant in
the room?!
Whatever is said about the advantages of
a system of care, the “bottom line” is
about costs
1851: an example from St Cuthbert’s,
Edinburgh

7. Reflection 4: Separation
4.1 Fear of contagion
4.2 Attractiveness of “clean starts”
4.3 Emigration
4.4 Gender separation
4.5 Residential and field staff
4.6 Staff cut off from the rest of the world
4.7 Children separated from their life
stories

8. Reflection 5: Formal Religion
There is a lot of it about! Nearly four
hours for all children at Daniel Stewarts or
the Red House Home on a Sunday for
example…
The reason for many voluntary children’s
homes was because of the need for formal
religion: Smyllum, for example, had 700
places in 1910 to cater for RC children

9. Reflection 6: Theory and Training
(This was a major theme of my research.)
There is little of it about…
One outstanding example: Blackford Brae
Residential Nurseries closed eventually

10. Reflection 7: Forgotten
housefathers
They are in the system, but not of it!
Forerunners of fathers in foster care?
Representatives of the “village” that it takes to
raise a child
(N.B. Children’s Officers going on holiday with
the children in their departments.
“Corporate parenting” in Hull in 1593 with the
mayor and aldermen doing their part.)

11. Part Two
Returning the gaze
Looping back on the research with these seven
reflections in mind through the eyes of two
child care pioneers:
Pandita Ramabai (India)
and
Janus Korczak (Poland)

12. Question 1: Marginalisation of
children
Where are the practice examples and
models today where children are in the
midst?
Who is challenging the system from the
base of life lived with, among, and for
children and young people?
The Cloyne Report

13. Question 2: The meaning of
Childhood
Where are the places and adults that
rejoice to be alongside children at play?
How can the meaning be explored unless
we are beside them, aware of their
feelings of things little like insects, and
great like the constellations?

14. Question 3: Economics
Is it possible to realise a children’s
republic or village in a state-funded
system?
Can one live with integrity among, with
and for children except with the freedom
to experiment and choose radical options?

15. Question 4: Separation
To what lengths are we prepared to go in
order to counteract the way children and
young people in care systems are
separated from the rest of society?
Where are the inclusive “villages” in
evidence?

16. Question 5: Religion
What are the things we dare not challenge
or change in our contemporary world?
How do we create the spaces in which
children can explore everything from the
inner recesses of their hearts to the
infinity of space?

17. Question 6: Theory and Practice
How eager are we to learn about every
aspect of life with which children engage?
How adequate is our overall philosophy of
childhood, learning and care?
How integrated is our policy and practice
with child-focussed theories?

18. Question 7: Forgotten housefathers
Is this the sort of open-ended and serving
role one that we would embrace
ourselves?
How do we welcome and engage those
people and roles that do not fit neatly into
our structures and systems?

19. Conclusion
I have tried to bring some of this together in
The Growth of Love and Reflections on Living
with Children and would actively welcome your
input as a Study Guide nears completion.
Who is writing today from a practice base
alongside children in everyday life, and in the
light of history?
We owe it to our children today and future
generations to put into words what we believe.

20. History Lesson
Some of you may know this poem by
Steve Turner:
History repeats itself.
Has to.
No one listens.
Today we are bucking this trend by taking
stock: thank you for listening!