Bella is a young Scottish Traveller. Through the generations, her family has been broken apart by social services. She explains to Davie how she’s fought to keep her daughter from being taken into care and, in the process, been forced to cut herself off from her Traveller culture.
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29:07
4. Paper Children
Rosanne McPhee’s dad joked about volunteering to be measured by a Nazi racial scientist because he knew each time his head was measured he would receive a shilling. Davie discovers this was just a part of a wider Nazi Eugenic Policy, which lead to the murder of millions of Roma in the Nazi death and concentration camps.
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25:17
3. Finland
In Helsinki, Davie meets former members of a Roma children’s home once visited by William Webb. He discovers the forced assimilation of Roma and Travellers in Finland mirrors much of what happened to Scottish Travellers. Then, in the course of his investigation, Davie uncovers a frightening secret, buried in Scotland’s past.
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30:24
2. Fear and Sacrifice
Suspicion falls on William Webb, a Chaplain from The Church of Scotland. His “Cruelty Van” would arrive at Scottish Traveller camps and take children from their families. Then, Davie’s trip to Leeds turns up clear evidence of the actors involved in the forced removal of Scottish Travellers.
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36:51
1. Truth and Half Truths
The Unknown Bairn’s siblings tell Davie frightening stories that motivate him to look into the disappearance - and forced removal - of Traveller children. And as yet more Travellers come forward, Davie starts to question the scale of the state’s historic intervention into the lives of Traveller families in Scotland.
In 2021, Davie Donaldson sought to solve the long-standing mystery of the Unknown Bairn, a young boy whose body washed up on a Scottish beach and was never claimed. Since that time, a number of Scottish Travellers have contacted him with stories of children being forcibly removed from their families. This becomes the catalyst for Davie's investigation into why this happened and whether it was sanctioned by the church and state. Along the way, the mystery that began it all re-enters Davies' life, taking him to a truth that's been hidden in the shadows for too long.
Ireland