ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part explores the impact of receiving information cannot be properly understood without first understanding where the person is coming from. It explains how people saw themselves as children growing up in care, their experiences of life in residential care or foster homes, memories and feelings about their birth families, about loss and separation and about the importance of the blood tie. The part describes and analyses their attitudes towards Dr Thomas Barnardo's and their struggles to achieve a sense of identity as they grew up. It examines why people wanted to seek out information about their past - what triggered their request at that point in their lives, their differing motivations and emotions, and their hopes and fears about what they might find. The part explores whether - or how - these factors might be linked to people's experiences and feelings about the past.
