The Children's Homes website aims to provide information on all the many and varied institutions that became home for thousands of children and young people in Britain. They range from orphanages, homes for those in poverty, or with special needs, through to reformatories, industrial and approved schools, training ships, and hostels. As well as each home's location, history etc. the site includes many maps, census listings, and historic images of the buildings and their inmates.

To find a particular institution, organization or locality, use the red Menu button menu bar at the left, or the Search box near the top of the screen.

NEW! Nobody's Child: The True Story of Growing up in a Yorkshire Children's Home — Gloria Urquhart's utterly compelling and beautifully written true-life memoir of growing up in the 1950s in the care of Leeds Council, and the search for the baby brother she was separated from at the age of three. By turns heart-rending and heart-warming, if you liked Call the Midwife, you will love Nobody's Child. More...

Children's instutions in France — over 2000 now catalogued. Use 'List by Location' option on side menu to browse entries.

'Magnificent' (Church Times) — Children's Homes surveys the many and varied alternatives to children's 'natural' homes — charitably funded orphanages, homes run by religious or occupational groups, institutions for those who had 'gone astray', establishments for children with special needs, homes run by the poor law authorities, and by local councils. What happened to all these institutions? What was life like for their inmates? And where can their records be found? More details...