EXCLUSIVE
A SMALL boy cruelly forced to perform at a circus in Glasgow. A little girl viciously beaten by her adoptive parents in a New York slum.
These two unfortunate children may have been an ocean apart, but their sad stories are forever connected.
They lie behind the birth of one of Scotland’s largest and most respected charities, CHILDREN1st, which marked its 130th anniversary this month.
Formerly known as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, it was founded on July 23, 1884, by Glasgow man James Grahame after a trip to the circus six years earlier.
It was supposed to be an evening of fun with his family, but it quickly took a dark turn when an acrobat and his troupe appeared in the ring.
Among the tumbler’s group of performers was a boy, no more than four years old. It soon became clear to James all was not well.
The lad was appallingly treated, forced into terrible contortions that left the kindly James sickened to the pit of his stomach. Before long he could take no more and, gathering his family, he left in disgust.
Next morning he went to the police, but by that time the circus had left town for England, where the laws surrounding child protection were different to those in Scotland. Nothing could be done and the monstrous acrobat escaped justice.
Fast forward three years to 1871. James was visiting NewYork when he read that an acrobat had been arrested for child cruelty. He immediately went to a shelter run by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and discovered it was the same callous brute he’d seen in Glasgow.
The New York organisation had been formed on the back of a case of an eight- year- old girl called Mary Ellen who had been beaten on a daily basis by her adoptive parents ( see panel) and witnessing firsthand how effective such a society could be, James returned to Glasgow fired with the ambition of founding something similar.
Three years later the organisation that was to become the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children – and eventually CHILDREN1st – was born.
To begin with, it concentrated on rescuing children living rough on the streets of Scotland but, as the years went on, it became better known for investigating child abuse and neglect.
By 1934, more than 274,000 cases had been reported to the RSSPCC with 823,000 children coming under its care.
Ne w legislation introduced in 1968 gave responsibility for child abuse and neglect cases to local authority social work departments. As a result, the role of the RSSPCC evolved and in 1995 the charity changed its name to CHILDREN1st. Although much of its work is very different from those early years, the charity is, sadly, as relevant and necessary today as it was in the 19th and 20th Centuries. There are still children being beaten and abused. But it’s not all about the extreme cases. Nowadays, CHILDREN1st also plays an important role supporting youngsters with troubled family lives who are finding it hard to cope with life.
One of those children is Emma. The 13- year- old has already been through much in her young life and her home life, one of domestic violence and parental alcohol misuse, had a profound effect on her. Although her mum and dad hadn’t fought for a long time, she had to live with the fear it might happen again. She was also worried she’d have to go searching for them if they went out drinking.
It was a tremendous burden for young shoulders to bear and, not surprisingly, the strain started to show. Her social worker, worried that Emma was feeling very low, turned to CHILDREN1st. At first her mum was dismissive of the idea, but she agreed to let her Emma make the choice. And so began the delicate process of building trust with the