Editing Action for Children (section)

==History==
[[Image:Fred and George Grey.jpg|thumb|The first boys to be admitted to The Children's Home in 1869]]

The first 'Children's Home', a renovated stable in Church Street, [[Waterloo, London|Waterloo]], was founded in 1869 by [[Methodist]] minister [[Thomas Bowman Stephenson]], who had been moved by the plight of children living on the street in London. The first two boys were admitted on 9 July 1869.<ref>{{cite news |author=BBC |title=A childhood worth living|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8141000/8141274.stm|date= 8 July 2009|accessdate=15 July 2010|work=BBC News}}</ref> In 1871 the home was moved to Bonner Road, [[Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets|Victoria Park]], and girls were admitted. The home was approved by the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Conference]] in the same year. A year later, in 1872, a second home opened in [[Edgworth]], Lancashire.<ref name="TheirHistory">{{cite web|title=History of a Child in Care: Administrative Biographical History | url=http://www.theirhistory.co.uk/70001/info.php?p=13&pno=0 | accessdate=8 October 2012}}</ref>

The homes were divided into small family units run by a 'house mother' and 'house father', which was in marked contrast to the large institutions and [[workhouses]] common at the time.<ref name="AFC">{{cite web| title=140 years of Action for Children | author=Action for Children | url=http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/about-us/our-history/celebrating-140-years | date= 8 July 2009 | accessdate=8 October 2012}}</ref> Training was also an important aspect. A childcare course was set up in 1878, and the graduates of this programme—who were called 'the Sisterhood' or 'the Sisters of the Children'—went  on to work in the home.<ref name="AFC"/>

An industrial school at [[Milton-next-Gravesend|Milton]], Gravesend, was taken over in 1875, and a children's refuge in [[Ramsey, Isle of Man|Ramsey]] on the Isle of Man was established in 1882. With the opening of the Princess Alice Orphanage in [[Birmingham]] the home was renamed 'Children's Home and Orphanage'.<ref name="TheirHistory"/>

Further properties in [[Alverstoke]], Hampshire; [[Chipping Norton]], Oxfordshire; [[Frodsham]], Cheshire; and [[Bramhope]] near Leeds were acquired, and, by 1908, the charity had grown to become the 'National Children's Home and Orphanage'.<ref name="TheirHistory"/><ref name="AFC"/>

In 1913, work began on a large site in [[Harpenden]], which became home to over 200 children, with a print works for apprentices. It subsequently became the charity's head office.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Children's Home | url=http://www.harpenden-history.org.uk/page_id__131_path__0p4p65p.aspx | publisher=Harpenden and District Local History Society | date=May 2002 | accessdate=8 October 2012}}</ref>

Many other new branches and schools were founded, including the first residential nursery branch in [[Sutton Coldfield]] in 1929<ref name="TheirHistory"/> and the first Scottish branch in [[Glasgow]] in 1955.<ref name="TheirHistory"/> The charity became an adoption agency in 1926.

The Rev. Gordon Barritt, who became the head of NCH in 1969, started the process of closing the organisation's children's homes and starting to offer support to keep children with their families.<ref name="Barritt_obit">{{cite news |last1=Philpott |first1=Terry |title=The Rev Gordon Barritt obituary: Methodist minister who as principal of National Children's Home oversaw a period of radical change |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/22/gordon-barritt |access-date=5 July 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=22 November 2015}}</ref>

In 1994, the charity changed its name to 'NCH Action for Children'. Fourteen years later, in September 2008, it became 'Action for Children'. The changes were part of the shift away from providing children's homes (most of which have now closed) to a wider range of services.<ref>{{cite web|author=CorpComms Magazine|title=Action for Children Rebranding|url=http://www.corpcommsmagazine.co.uk/news/575-best-rebranding-exercise|publisher=CorpComms Magazine|accessdate=15 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006032349/http://www.corpcommsmagazine.co.uk/news/575-best-rebranding-exercise|archive-date=6 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In December 2016, [[Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge]], succeeded [[Queen Elizabeth II|The Queen]] as patron of the organisation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kate Middleton Shares Emotional Letter with Charity During This 'Hugely Unsettling Time'|url=https://people.com/royals/kate-middleton-shares-emotional-letter-with-charity-during-this-hugely-unsettling-time/|url-status=live|website=People|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428024950/https://people.com/royals/kate-middleton-shares-emotional-letter-with-charity-during-this-hugely-unsettling-time/ |archive-date=28 April 2020 }}</ref>