Intentions abandoned

“A safe haven for all children deprived of adequate care at home.”

A description of what Bellevue House in Rutherglen was supposed to provide for the youngsters it was meant to look after.

The Daughters of Charity was heavily investigated as part of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and asked numerous questions about its history and purpose.

One of those questions was:“What did the organisation see as its function, ethos and/or mission in terms of the residential care service it provided for children?”

The following response was given: “Function – the organisation saw this as being the providers of a safe haven for all children deprived of adequate care at home.

“The ethos was Catholic, as the establishments were primarily opened to care for Catholic children.

“Its mission was to nurture, educate and care for the children in its care.”

Archbishop Charles Eyre, who served in Glasgow from 1878 until 1902, wanted to found a children’s refuge.

This work was undertaken by the Daughters of Charity at Whitehill Street in Glasgow, with funds from the St Vincent De Paul Society.

In 1912, the Children’s Refuge transferred to a new building in Bellevue, Rutherglen, where nuns continued to run the refuge for boys and girls in acute need and for emergency cases.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry report states:“Families placed their children here when they could not cope and removed them when their circumstances changed.”