Dr Margaret Humphreys CBE AO

Director of the Child Migrants Trust honoured by the International Federation of Social Workers - 12th July 2020

The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) has awarded the Andrew Mouravieff-Apostol Medal, its most distinguished honour, to Margaret Humphreys for her outstanding contribution to international social work.

Margaret Humphreys exposed the scandal of child migration in the late 1980s. It is now accepted that thousands of young British children were deported without their families as part of the Commonwealth Child Migration Schemes, designed to promote Britain’s interests overseas with ‘Good White Stock’. The last children were sent in 1970.

Since 1987, Margaret has helped thousands of former child migrants reclaim their identities and reunite with family across the UK and many other countries, following decades of separation and loss. Most former child migrants did not even have a birth certificate.

Margaret led the campaign for acknowledgement and recognition of the terrible loss and injustice suffered by former child migrants and their families. Her work established specialist, independent services to restore personal identity and promote recovery from the trauma and painful legacy of childhood institutional abuse.

Margaret’s pioneering work ultimately led to public inquiries and national apologies by the British and Australian governments, for the flawed and damaging policy of child migration across the Commonwealth.

Margaret Humphreys is one of only a few social workers across the world whose professional work features in a major film – ‘Oranges and Sunshine’ – released in 2011. In receiving this award on 11th July, Dr Humphreys said: “I thank the IFSW for this honour, particularly welcome from a global organisation whose values mirror those of the Child Migrants Trust. Social workers must now work together to ensure accountability of those well-known institutions that have controlled the lives of our most vulnerable citizens for decades. It is time for a change of culture to promote a more open and fair society, where justice for past historical abuse is no longer out of reach for those who have suffered the terrible trauma of childhood abuse.”

Describing Margaret Humphreys’ work, former child migrant John Hennessey said in 2015: 'For decades, child migrants were lost and forgotten by our countries - both old and new. We didn't belong anywhere, we had no words to explain what had happened to us, or who we were. We were truly lost in the wilderness. Margaret found our families and brought us home, one by one. She gave us a voice to help governments listen, and finally, to understand. National Apologies in the UK and Australia are testament to her work and our refusal to give in or be silenced.'