Children's Society

Children’s Society

In the late nineteenth century, Edward Rudolf, a young Sunday school teacher in South London, found himself confronted by the brutal effects of poverty on the lives of children.

When two young boys failed to turn up for his Sunday school, he went to look for them and was shocked to find them begging for food on the streets. Their father had died, leaving their mother struggling to bring up seven children under 11 years old.

Theirs was not an isolated experience and Rudolf was moved to act. He approached Archbishop Tait to express his concern for children living on the margins of society and suggested that the Church of England should be at the forefront of social action for such children. The Archbishop agreed enthusiastically and, soon after, the Church of England Central Home for Waifs and Strays was established.

Edward Rudolf founded The Children's Society in 1881. He envisioned a charity that gave poor, homeless children a loving and secure family environment.

In the last quarter of the twentieth century the Children’s Society changed its focus towards helping young people solve their own problems and in the 1990s they moved into a new era of working for social justice.

Over the years the work of The Children's Society has changed but their child-centred values and intentions remain the same.

To find out more about the work of the Children's Society, click on their website here.