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HomeSourcesmirror.co.ukChannel 5 show shines a light on the shocking lives of 'farmed'...

Channel 5 show shines a light on the shocking lives of ‘farmed’ foster children

Between 1955 and 1995, more than 70,000 West African children were privately fostered by White Britons, and many of them have lived with the long-lasting impact

When Ore Ogungbayi was little, like many children, she asked her parents where babies come from. “My mummy told me, ‘You get them from a catalogue’,” she says.

In Ore’s case, this was the truth. Her British parents had seen her baby photo in a newspaper, advertised by her Nigerian parents for private fostering while they studied in the UK. “After an interview with my Nigerian parents, they fostered me from two months old until I was seven,” Ore, now 57, says.

“I thought they were my parents. I knew they loved me – they had given me so much love. It never occurred to me that they were White and I was Black – or that the people who sometimes visited were my real parents.” Between 1955 and 1995, more than 70,000 West African children were privately fostered by White Britons, in a practice known as ‘farming’.

Many of them have lived with the long-lasting impact of this controversial and unregulated practice on their life and identity ever since – often in silence. Ore’s experience of ‘farming’ ended abruptly when her mum and dad panicked that her British foster parents were about to try to adopt her.

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