In 2004, the Scottish Parliament commissioned an independent review ofabuse in children’s residential establishments between 1950 and 1995. In 2007, thereview’s findings were published in a report entitledHistorical Abuse SystemicReview: Residential Schools and Children’s Homes in Scotland 1950 to 1995, alsoknown as theShaw Report. In this article, theShaw Reportprovides the jumping offpoint for a case study of the social justice impact of records. Drawing on secondaryliterature, interviews, and care-related records, the study identifies narratives thatspeak to the social justice impact of care records on care-leavers seeking access tothem; it also assesses the potential of the surviving administrative records to serve asa foundation on which to construct historical narratives that speak more generally tothe experience of children in residential care.