Voluntary rights and statutory wrongs: the case of child migration, 1948-67
Voluntary rights and statutory wrongs: the case of child migration, 1948-67
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自愿权利和法定错误：儿童移民案例，1948-67
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发表时间：
2002
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通讯作者：
Julie Grier
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作者：
Julie Grier
近年来，战后儿童移民问题受到了相当大的关注，最终导致政府于1998年对送往澳大利亚的前儿童移民的福利进行了调查。这项调查的部分原因是，国家新闻和媒体的耸人听闻的报道促使公众对移徙计划的认识日益提高，这些报道侧重于移徙儿童令人痛苦的个人经历，而不是围绕这些计划的政治考虑。本文试图将儿童移民置于一个政治框架内，强调自愿±法定关系在儿童福利提供中的重要性，以及这对政策形成的影响。一项关于儿童移民的研究可能不会，首先，似乎增加了我们对自愿±法定关系的理解，因为地方当局照顾的儿童很少被移民，而且似乎很少有国家参与这些计划。然而，这一事实本身就很重要。自愿的社会移民计划（如国家儿童之家和巴纳多提供的计划）使英国政府能够对儿童移民给予“一步到位”的默许支持，而不会招致反对儿童移民的强大利益集团的谴责。通过拒绝监管相关志愿团体的活动，战后历届政府似乎可以支持澳大利亚的移民政策（该政策旨在鼓励儿童移民），并避免任何限制儿童移民的外交尴尬。决定性因素是政治上的权宜之计，而不是个别儿童的福利。在这方面，志愿部门可以为国家提供有争议的服务，国家可以在国内放弃责任，在国外获得荣誉。参与儿童移徙的志愿团体、中央政府和地方当局儿童部门之间的辩论揭示了一系列关系，这些关系远比将自愿/法定关系描述为“边界”或“移动边界”的模式复杂得多。这种模式把国家和志愿部门描绘成单独的独立实体，并以政府部门之间以及地方和地方之间的目标和意识形态一致为前提。
Introduction The issue of postwar child migration has received considerable attention in recent years, culminating in a governmental inquiry in 1998 into the welfare of former child migrants sent to Australia. This inquiry was partly in response to increasing public awareness of the migration schemes stimulated by sensational coverage in the national press and media, which focused on the distressing personal stories of child migrants, rather than the political considerations surrounding the schemes. This article seeks to set child migration within a political framework, highlighting the in ̄uence of voluntary±statutory relationships in child welfare provision and the e ect this had on policy formation. A study of child migration may not, at ®rst, appear to add much to our understanding of the voluntary±statutory relationship, as few children in local authority care were migrated and there appeared to be little state involvement in the schemes. However, this fact in itself is signi®cant. Voluntary society migration schemes (like those provided by the National Children’s Home and Barnardo’s) allowed the British government to give tacit support for child migration `at one remove’ without incurring the censure of powerful interest groups who opposed child migration. By refusing to regulate the activities of the voluntary societies concerned, successive postwar governments could appear to support Australian immigration policy (which sought to encourage child migration) and avoid the diplomatic embarrassment that would have followed any restriction on child migration. Political expediency, not the welfare of the individual child, was the determining factor. In this the voluntary sector could perform a contentious service for the state, which the state could disclaim responsibility for at home and take credit for abroad. The debates between the voluntary societies involved in child migration, central government and local authority children’s departments reveal a set of relationships far more complex than models which describe the voluntary/statutory relationship as a `boundary’ or `moving frontier’. Such models portray the state and the voluntary sector as single discrete entities and presuppose a unanimity of purpose and ideology between government departments and between local and