The Education (Scotland) Act 1918 transferred the management of schools from school boards to regional educational authorities, meaning that schools could be more closely observed and regulated by qualified authorities. Therefore, from 1919, the Orphan Homes School was officially maintained and managed by the Renfrewshire Education Authority.
Between 1870 and 1933, a total of 80,000 children went to Canada, with around 7,000 children coming from The Orphan Homes of Scotland. It is estimated that there are around 250,000 descendants of these emigrants living in Canada today.
Throughout the 1940s and especially after the end of the war, child welfare became an increasingly important issue for both the government and the public, and The Children’s Act was introduced in 1948.
1948 also saw the establishment of the NHS, which meant that medical facilities such as the Consumption Sanatoria were now run by local health boards.
Recognising that children in the homes were far less likely to be orphans due to changes in healthcare and the falling rates of diseases like smallpox, the Orphan Homes of Scotland changed its name to Quarriers Homes in 1958.