A long time waiting has been a long time coming. It is based on not one but many true stories that began their genesis soon after the Second World War.
Duration: 31m 31s Written and Produced by Breanda Cross
The United Kingdom struggled to overcome the devastation caused by bombing when thousands of families lost their homes. Children lost parents, and all lost some part of their identity.
During the next fifteen years, it is estimated that nearly 150,000 children aged 4 to 14 were rounded up as part of the child migrant scheme. Over 7,000 orphans and children from disadvantaged homes were sent to Australia to enjoy a “better life.” In other cases, the parents, many of them single mothers, were forced to give up their child for adoption. This was due to poverty or social stigma, with the assumption of neglect. Parents and children were encouraged to believe they were going to a better life. Parents were told their children had a better chance in life. Yet few had details of where their offspring were sent.
The reality, for some of those children, was a childhood of servitude and hard labor. They were sent to foster homes: on remote farms, at state-run orphanages, and church-run institutions. They were often separated from siblings. Some were subjected to physical and sexual abuse.
