ABSTRACT
During the latter decades of the 19th century child support, protection and safeguarding in the UK were organised through a combination of state services and voluntary agencies. One such voluntary or philanthropic agency was the Waifs and Strays Society, established in 1881. The central goal of the Society was to set up homes for destitute children in connection with the Church of England that, as far as possible, would provide children with a family environment rather than an institutional one. Now known as the Children’s Society, the agency has become one of Britain’s leading child support agencies. This chapter will shed light on the practices and language around safeguarding and mental health in case files of children supported and taken into care by the Waifs and Strays Society from its inception in 1881 until 1918. The children’s case files consist of correspondence highlighting the perception of custodians, educators, medical officers, church officials, practitioners linked to asylums and industrial schools, parents and children (during and after care). Drawing on critical realist ontology and thematic content analysis, this chapter will critically analyse causal mechanisms that generate events (in a non-linear and stratified way), how these events are experienced by individuals, and processes and support mechanisms in place or missing.
