— The —
Daily Prophet
Daily Prophet
Price One Knut
June 13th, 1889
Ministry To Resettle Muggle Children
Memory Charms and Workhouses for Hatfield's Victims
The Ministry has unveiled its plan for the children who have been reclaimed from gardens around the country over the past weeks who may not have come from magical roots.
Children who are unable to be reunited with their original families due to coming from a Muggle background will have their memories altered by professional obliviators. Following this procedure, they will be placed in Muggle orphanages or workhouses around England, Scotland, and Ireland.
"It isn't a perfect solution," said Ministry representative Lloyd Colwater, who announced the plan. "Obviously we would prefer to get these children back home, but where that isn't possible, we do want to give them some sort of chance at a normal life, untouched by malicious magic."
The scheme has met with criticism already. One argument is that obliviation, usually used only for short term memory alteration in incidences where Muggles have witnessed accidental magic, may have serious detrimental effects on the minds of the children if used to obscure such a long period. "These children have been in the Ministry's care for weeks," argued mother and charity coordinator Eleanor Gulliver. "You can't just remove weeks of someone's life without consequences." One worry is that obliviators may impact other areas of the children's minds and cause brain damage, or that they may remove what few remaining memories these children have of their original families by painting with too broad a brush. "These children, many of them were loved. It would be cruel to take that knowledge away from them."
Another point of contention is the plan for resettlement. Workhouses particularly have been decried by Muggle authors and activists as cruel in the way that they treat children and in the labor expected from them. Many who enter a workhouse will stay there until they die — often at a younger age than expected, due to living in poor conditions for extended periods.
"We're dooming them to a terrible fate for the crime of not having magic," commented one employee of the Muggle Liaison Office, who asked to remain anonymous. "There has to be a better way, but the truth is no one is looking. The Ministry is ready to have this issue taken care of, so they can focus on other things — and they don't really care how it's taken care of or what these children have to go through."
Children who are unable to be reunited with their original families due to coming from a Muggle background will have their memories altered by professional obliviators. Following this procedure, they will be placed in Muggle orphanages or workhouses around England, Scotland, and Ireland.
"It isn't a perfect solution," said Ministry representative Lloyd Colwater, who announced the plan. "Obviously we would prefer to get these children back home, but where that isn't possible, we do want to give them some sort of chance at a normal life, untouched by malicious magic."
The scheme has met with criticism already. One argument is that obliviation, usually used only for short term memory alteration in incidences where Muggles have witnessed accidental magic, may have serious detrimental effects on the minds of the children if used to obscure such a long period. "These children have been in the Ministry's care for weeks," argued mother and charity coordinator Eleanor Gulliver. "You can't just remove weeks of someone's life without consequences." One worry is that obliviators may impact other areas of the children's minds and cause brain damage, or that they may remove what few remaining memories these children have of their original families by painting with too broad a brush. "These children, many of them were loved. It would be cruel to take that knowledge away from them."
Another point of contention is the plan for resettlement. Workhouses particularly have been decried by Muggle authors and activists as cruel in the way that they treat children and in the labor expected from them. Many who enter a workhouse will stay there until they die — often at a younger age than expected, due to living in poor conditions for extended periods.
"We're dooming them to a terrible fate for the crime of not having magic," commented one employee of the Muggle Liaison Office, who asked to remain anonymous. "There has to be a better way, but the truth is no one is looking. The Ministry is ready to have this issue taken care of, so they can focus on other things — and they don't really care how it's taken care of or what these children have to go through."
Gulliver Doran