Roddy MacKay

Abandoned Children of Britain 1850-1950 Roddy MacKay

Abandoned Children of Britain 1850-1950: A Forgotten Child at Fairbridge Farm School is the story of a six-year-old boy taken from his parents, without warning, and shipped off to Fairbridge Farm School in Canada. Roddy Mackay's is one of hundreds of thousands of stories of children taken from their families by the British government and shipped to institutions-masked as boarding schools for orphans-in Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. These institutions focused on transforming the children into full-time farmers, then pawning them off as cheap laborers to local families. From the 10 years spent at Fairbridge Farm School to serving in the Canadian Army to making a fresh start in the U. S., and reuniting with his family, Mackay's life has been a series of hardships and emotional turmoil, filled with unanswered questions. His research eventually led to a well-hidden, scandalous British government program, "The Scheme," enacted nearly 200 years ago. Hundreds of thousands have been negatively impacted by it and little has been done to make up for all those wronged.