The Need for Access to Records

74. Many former child migrants want to discover and obtain documentation relating to their childhood years. This is of great importance to them as a means of coming to terms with their past experiences, achieving a fuller sense of personal identity, and (in some cases) making contact with surviving relatives in the UK and elsewhere. In addition, health difficulties may be caused by the absence of complete medical records. One former child migrant gave us an account of the ups and downs of her pursuit of relevant information:

"It has taken me 27 years to obtain the necessary documentation to enable me to locate my family. I finally undertook my own research in locating my family in England after having approached several Agencies including the Child Migrants' Trust to no avail. The financial burden was great and over the years the frustration in always hitting a 'brick wall ' with any enquiries deteriorated my health severely. By sheer luck on meeting my neighbour's friends visiting from England in 1995 they agreed to carry out certain investigations on my behalf when they returned to England. That couple located my family in August 1996 and this was the best day of my life.".[89]

75. In its Interim Report of November 1996, the Select Committee into Child Migration of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia dealt with some of the pitfalls faced by those seeking personal records:

"One of the repeated complaints expressed ... by former child migrants was the feeling that their files were incomplete, pages were missing or even information had been deliberately withheld or falsified. For many, it has taken years to accumulate all their evidence, which in some cases amounted to very little ... Some [sending agencies in the UK] admitted that, on occasions, information had been withheld due to third-part privacy considerations. Others remarked that some documents, such as birth or baptism certificates, would have been sent over with the children, but in some cases, these appear to have been lost. .... Many complain of the paucity of material on their files. ... In large part, the amount and type of material kept depended on the record-keeping policy of the institution. In addition, there would have been periodic purges of files; this was common practice even in Western Australian government departments, in which prior to 1965, a migrant child's personal information file was retained for five years after the person turned 21 and then was destroyed. While the absence of their personal records compounds a former child migrant's feeling of a lack of identity, it also presents practical difficulties, such as gaining Australian citizenship or obtaining a marriage licence."[90]

76. We received much evidence that—at least until recently—the various sending and receiving agencies and Governments involved have been less than helpful in dealing with requests for personal information from former child migrants. The Child Migrants' Trust claimed that:

" As adults seeking family information from the agencies in whose care they had been and from Government Departments, [former child migrants'] enquiries were often met with bureaucratic indifference and, at times, calculated deception when information has been made available.".[91]

One former child migrant we met in Australia suggested that, when searching for information in the UK, the "book gets closed" if the Child Migrants' Trust is mentioned.

77. In some cases legal constraints may inhibit the supply of information. The Christian Brothers Ex-Residents' Services told us that "there are legal reasons, such as the Privacy Act, which curtail our ability to provide all original documentation and to develop common policies".[92]

78. Canon Fisher of the Catholic Child Welfare Council pointed out that some former child migrants may have unrealistic expectations of the quantity of records relating to them still in existence, expecting voluminous detail "when, in fact, it might be one line in an admissions register at a children's home".[93] Canon Fisher had earlier said:

"There are records around but people are not aware of them ... I am not sure whether the information is being withheld or whether it is not being made known that there is the information available and people are not quite sure where to go."[94]

79. It will sometimes be desirable that former child migrants be prepared beforehand, through sensitive advice and counselling, for the shock of discovering facts such as that their parents—long thought dead—are still alive. The Child Migrants' Trust cited examples where such information has been simply sent through the post without adequate preparation or counselling for the recipient.[95] It would, however, be wrong for agencies to use lack of resources to provide counselling as an excuse for not providing information. Mr David Lorente of Home Children Canada commented that:

"We have not met a single solitary person yet who on hearing the shocking news was not in the final analysis reconciled to the fact that it was better to know than not to know."[96]

80. Certain positive steps have been taken with regard to access to records. Following our visit to Australia, the Minister for Youth and Community Services in Victoria announced that "Freedom of Information fees will be waived for former child migrants, separated from their families of origin, who may now want to examine their personal records held by the Victorian Department of Human Services. ... We want to assist former child migrants in Victoria in whatever way we can so they can discover their history and—if possible and wanted—make contact with any existing family in Britain."[97] We welcome this initiative and hope that the example it sets will be followed by other states in Australia.

81. Mr Dennis Silver, President of the Old Fairbridgians' Association (Molong), whom we met in Australia, subsequently sent us a memorandum on Access to Information on Files, issued by the Fairbridge Foundation, Sydney.[98] In his covering letter Mr Silver states:

"The media over the past decade have given adverse publicity to the accessibility of former child migrants' files. For your Committee's information the Old Fairbridgians' Association (Molong), the Fairbridge Foundation NSW and Fairbridge London negotiated a satisfactory procedure for all parties and persons to gain information from these files."[99]

Full access to records is granted to Old Fairbridgians, and limited access to relatives of Old Fairbridgians after the death of the person concerned. Bona fide researchers are given limited access.

82. The overall picture remains one of unnecessary delays and difficulties being put in the way of former child migrants seeking to locate and retrieve information about their past and their birth-families. We are certain that the sending agencies, in particular, could do more to assist them in this task. We recommend that sending and receiving agencies, local authorities and governments should accept the principle that all relevant information held on former child migrants should be passed on, with due sensitivity, to those concerned, their descendants or representatives, on request.

83. An obvious way forward on the question of records and files would be the development of a comprehensive database. This should contain basic information which would allow individuals to track down more detailed information. Scepticism about this proposal was expressed by Mr Luce of the DoH, who told us:

"It is not particularly clear to us that it would be sensible to try to collect all these voluntary body records and put them onto one database ... if we or somebody else actually did that there would be a period during which the records would become more or less inaccessible because they would all have to be gathered in and sorted."[100]

We do not accept this reasoning. In circumstances where confusion and uncertainty often abounds (we met one former child migrant in Australia who even today does not know his true name or identity), we believe it would be desirable for those concerned to be able to access information through a 'one-stop shop' rather than, as at present, to have to trawl hopefully around a succession of possible agencies. We do not envisage that a comprehensive database would itself contain all records—it would be a facility pointing inquirers in the direction of the repositories containing relevant records. A central database which was not funded or staffed by the sending agencies themselves would also have the merit of being more approachable for former child migrants who do not wish to have any further contact with their sending agencies.

84. We note that the Catholic Child Welfare Council has "had a developed database since 1994, containing details of all known former child migrants sent to Australia through Catholic agencies and institutions". This could form part of the basis for a centralised database. The CCWC told us they have contributed to setting up a "Sending Agencies Group where discussion has taken place regarding the need for an international database".[101]

85. For the reasons set out above we support the proposal that governments and sending agencies should develop a comprehensive central database of records relating to former child migrants. We set out this proposal in more detail in our general recommendations (paragraph 102 below).

90   Interim Report, p 44. Back

91   CM 13A. Back

92   CM 248 Back

93   Q 299. Back

94   Q 247. Back

95   Qq 183 and 184. Back

96   Q 68. Back

97   Press notice dated 3 July 1998. Back

98   CM 238. Back

99   Ibid. Back

100   Q30. Back

101   CM 107B Back