The Influences Upon Policy Making

Authors Avatar

P7.                                The Influences Upon

Policy Making

For this section, we had to choose a particular charity that focuses its work upon and around children. It had to be a charity that was large enough to focus upon their background information, their aims and how they meet them, about their funding and how they influence the work of the Government. As a result of this, I decided to focus upon Barnardo’s.  

History

Thomas John Barnardo was born in Dublin in 1845 and soon became one of the most famous men in Victorian Britain. When he was 16, he decided that he wanted to become a medical missionary in China and so set off for London so as he could train as a doctor.

When Thomas Barnardo first arrived in London, it was a city that was struggling to cope with the major effects of the Industrial Revolution. The population had dramatically increased and this had a big impact upon the East End where there was over-crowding, unemployment, poverty, bad housing, and disease. Shortly after Thomas Barnardo had moved to London there was an outbreak of Cholera, which swept through the whole of the East End, killing more than 3,000 people. Thousands of children were sleeping rough on the streets whilst many other children were forced to beg for what they needed. All of this had a big impact upon Thomas Barnardo and led him to take action.

As a result of this, in 1867, Thomas Barnardo set up a school where poor children were able to get a basic education. Thomas Barnardo met a boy here; Jim Jarvis and he decided to take Barnardo to see the children that were sleeping rough in the streets. Such children were sleeping on roofs of houses and in gutters. The encounter affected Thomas Barnardo so much that he decided he was going to devote himself to helping destitute children.  

In 1870, Thomas Barnardo opened his first home for boys. He often went out at night and brought destitute boys back to the home and gave them as much as they needed. One particular evening, an 11-year-old boy tried to take shelter in the home but was turned away because it was full. Two days later, he was found dead from malnutrition and exposure. As a result of this, Thomas Barnardo ensured that the home wore the sign – No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission.

Thomas Barnardo accepted all children for who they were and stressed the importance of every child being given the best possible start in life. This start in life was regardless of their background or any other factors that may have affected them in any way. This is a philosophy that still inspires Barnardo’s today.

Barnardo later opened a girl’s home, which could house a total of 1,500 girls. By the time a child left Barnardo’s they were able to make their own way in life and in the world. Barnardo ensured that the girls were equipped with domestic skills and that the boys learnt a craft or trade before leaving the home.

Join now!

Thomas Barnardo died in 1905, and had already founded and ran 96 homes caring for more than 8,500 children. Each child that walked through the doors was given a good start in life – a start in life that Barnardo believed and felt strongly about.

Between the 1940’s and the 1950’s, Barnardo’s began working a lot more closely with families. The charity began awarding grants to families that were in some difficulty because the ‘breadwinner’ was unable to work as a direct result of an accident or of illness. By the end of the 1900’s almost a quarter ...

This is a preview of the whole essay