In this Cutting Edge film, journalist Rachel Roberts goes in search of the people with whom she once shared a children’s home, with only a photo and childhood memories to help her. Along her journey she meets a long-lost member of her family – who she did not even know existed – and hears stories both of tragedy and hope from former housemates. Although focusing on Rachel’s individual search, The Homecoming casts a wider look at the care system in general – and the long-lasting effects it can have on those caught up in it.
42 Comments
I was adopted, this could have be3n me. Very emotional
A very emotional, touching account of the lives of the carers and children. Thank you for sharing.💕💕
Tina us anything but irrelevant. The person that cam answer your questions ..show you pics of your young life .. is actually so essential to who you have become
Tina and Dennis gave all the children in their care, everything a child looks for, needs and deserves. A warm and loving home full of security, happiness and love.
Such an amazing little group of people, who had really come together as small children through sad, confusing and traumatic experiences. An exceptionally good documentry.
I think that the folk with dodgy parents, etc should not date folk from the same area. It is dicey as partners could be half siblings.
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A very good 1990s film. Good luck to them all. Our natural instinct is that children should be with their parents and there are some awful cases where they are wrongfully removed from parents BUT sometimes parents are so awful care is better.
She never found hef sister?
What that couple did for those children is amazing ❤
That was really very sad, but at the same time a pleasure to watch and I want to thank everyone who took part. I was not in the same children's home, but one in Sheffield. There were some things about it that seemed bizarre to me, but the Managers – who were a couple, like at the home Rachel and her sister were in – and the staff seemed kind and I remember my relatively brief time there fondly.
How lucky she was to have been put in a wonderful caring government home. And fostered out with her sister into a caring home.
All children need a Tina in their lives ❤
Was looking for a freind that i had in a childrens gome .found her 5 years ago 30 years after i had last seen her .the day i found her she mssaged me at 4am after just coming out of the labour ward after giving borth to her 2nd baby. She isnt doing to well at the minute. And i always thought she woukd have been a lawyer ir doctor because she was SO CLEVER but the ghosts of the past have affected her life and what it became.
I cried my eyes out when she met the landlord of the pub and it was her half brother. It really really shicked me so god knows how much it shocked her
Tina s an angel in disguise. I don't think she realised up until this moment tbe i.pact that she had in all these children . What an amazing women .i think she deserves a MBE , or some kind of recognition. She has a really kind face .
Brilliant .touching and very sad documentary.
I have a feeling that the reason why the mother left her kids with 49:12 is that he was beating the shit out of her.
And her family had probably gone crazy when they realised that at 15 she was having an affair with a married man whos wife had children and caner .
And it was a case of you've made your bed ,you lie in it . And when she realised she had made a mistake (the son said he was a chancer and in and out of jail ect and womaniser ) .
There wasnt the kind of services like there are today for domestic violence suffers.cand i personally think he looked after thise kids forv7 months not through love but for the family allowance,sungle parent benefit , ad income support. If he really loved his kids he wouldn't have abandoned his other boys after their mother died .
Also you would loose your council property if you signed your kids into care of the state because after all you don't need a family home once you give a family up .thru would have stuck him ina bedsit and he would have been forced to look for a job or lose benefits.
The father could say the young mother was immature ect and basically not let her have them out of spite because he had caught her with that west indian man. I teally WANT to believe thats why she left them behind snd always inteded to come back for them ince she was settled .and it probably didn't work put with the new man or if it did back then mixed relationships were still taboo and the gather could have outright told aocial services that he didnt want his chikdren living wth a west indian man and very young mother and they would have thought i unsuitable for a non white ma to be a step father to white children . I really wish she had given her mother the benefit of the doubt because it sounds like the mother was a victim as well. She was groomed and taken advantage of when she just wanted to earn pocket money by baby sitting. Her father sounded like a horrible person .if he could leave his wife and children whilst she's dying and then not visit his sons in the care home when he was allready there to seethe girls !!! And abandone 8 kids in total. That tells me everyting i need to know about him ALSO
How dare he say he had 2 nervous breakdowns!!!
He dissapears for a entire week and doesnt tell the young mother where he's gone and if he's coming back .and we only have his word for the fact he caught her with another msn in the house and that hecwas west indian ect ect . Thats probably just the sob story he used to the kids home to get them to take yet more of his children. !!! Yet he kept on having bloody kids .MEN LIKE THAT MAKE ME SO ANGRY!!!!
The full brother hit the nail on the head when he said . "he leaves his dying wife for a 15 year old and then thinks that starting ANOTHER family is a good idea despite having alltwafy abandoned 6 boys and put them in care because his e wife is dead !!
And he was in ad out of jail .drinking heavily ,and blamed a nervous breakdown for the reason for abandoning 2nd family .AND I AM 99.9 PERCENT SURE HE WOULD HAVE GONE ON TO IMPREGNATE MORE WOMEN AND THEN LEAVE THEM
BRIAN (the bully) managed to bring his two children up all on his own and they've turned out well and respectfull. So why couldn't he !!!
Wow, I chanced upon this video tonight and I had to continue watching it, I lived in Cantley Doncaster until the early 1960’s. I had moved away so I do not know of the children’s home, but what a moving story.
Tina & Dennis are tops , I would like to live with them.
What an amazing story of trauma, separation but ultimately of deep connection in a system that is often much maligned. Tina did a wonderful job!
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What a beautiful reunion.
The pain on the faces of her biological brother and the half brother was so plain to see. I think Rachel had a soft spot for the father when reading about him trying to care for them going to prison and having the 2 strokes. For me it shows how we see a story and have different opinions.
It's amazing how happy their memories of the care home are. You often hear horror stories about the care system.
Tina and Dennis are special people.
I'm amazed that Tina and Dennis can remember all the kids they've cared for. I'm sure there have been many.
It's sad to think there are some children who literally spend their entire childhood in care and are never fostered or adopted.
Thank you, Rachel Roberts, for such an important documentary. And, yes, Tina deserves the HIGHEST HONOURS that Britain can bestow.
Beautiful story. Tina & her hubby Derek are the few house parents who truly cared for the children they raised and this reflects on all the lovely comments from those whom were raised in the children’s home.
What a lovely, eternal thing Rachel @North One, did by meeting up with her 'family' from the children's home. I would love to hear that they all get together regularly with their 'mom and dad', Tina and Dennis, and do life together, hopefully bringing healing to all the children who are now adults. It makes one want to go out there and make a difference in some children's life ♥
What a wonderful Documentary. So heartwarming. They were all very lucky children to have been placed in the care of such wonderful people a young age. Love the ending that she will volunteer with home to mentor. It is what all homes should have. Volunteers are helping raise our next generation.
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Gosh! This was a heart wrench story. But so good. What sweet kids. And Tina and her husband are precious.
It is so nice to hear that she has fond, loving, bonding memories of the foster care mum, that cared for her and her sister. Mostly we hear "horror stories" of the treatment in care, and the damage that was left behind.
This was very interesting to see these kids finding each other after a long time.
What lovely people Tina and Dennis are.
Rachel, I commend you for your bravery and hard work in your research and tracking down everyone. God bless you! Thank you for the work that you do today!
What a wonderful reunion to go & find each one is amazing they turned out vary well all of them Tina & husband are really amazing couple I pray each one finds peace ❤ RIP to the one they lost look over them all you were loved ❤❤❤
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My goodness what a beautiful story. Sometimes Family is what you make, from those around you. I hope everyone of them have bonded and hold on To each other. I hope they let love into their hearts and they heal. these are amazing people. God Bless everyone of them. they are aol truly lovely.
“this is why I’ve not got many memories. Because I choose not to have them.” 😢😢😢
Love Brian’s freckles when he was a wee lad, so deeply sad for him.
God Bless him and give him peace & love.
really lovely.Love has no boundaries
Should have an epilepsy warning on this film!