IGRATED’, AGED 11

INNOCENT Rex, 11, in passport picture REX WADE ON BEING REJECTED A SECOND TIME AS A CHILD CLOSE: Rex, left, with half-sister Karon & Bruce HOPE CHILD migrants were identified for transportation by local authorities who classified them as orphans, even although the majority were not.

The children were often sent away without the knowledge of parents or relatives, and were often denied information about their families.

The cruel practice was exposed in the 1980s by Nottingham-based social worker Margaret Humphreys.

She got a letter from a woman who said she had been shipped to Australia at the age of four. She wanted help to find her parents or relatives.

Margaret investigated and found children as young as three had been sent abroad to orphanages, farm schools and other institutions.

Many were treated as slave labour and denied even a basic education. Some experienced dreadful abuse.

Parents were also deceived and often told that their children had been adopted by people in Britain.

Margaret set up the Child Migrants Trust, offering support to victims and helping them trace their families.

Commenting on the migrant programme, PM Theresa May commented: “We must never forget the harm caused to child migrants and the distress caused to thousands of families who were unjustly broken up by the child migration scheme.

“While we cannot undo their suffering, we owe it to victims and survivors to learn from the mistakes of the past.”