Who were Switzerland’s ‘slave children’?
Verdingkinder podcast 310115
Clare O’Dea speaks to victims of historic abuse and neglect in Switzerland’s inadequate care system of the 1920s to 1970s and takes a closer look at the social and economic pressures at play.
After years of campaigning by survivors, Swiss society now recognises that children in the past care system were badly let down. The Swiss government has finally agreed to pay state compensation to victims. Foster families and carers in institutions have been portrayed as villains exploiting “slave children” but the reality is more complex.
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