Terra's Children

Terra's Children is a network of voluntary youth associations active in the human colonies. Sponsored by the United Earth Government, they organize various leisure activities as well as educational and cultural events. Though their specific activities and organization vary by colony and region, they are usually targeted at youth of both genders between the ages of 5 and 20.

Though it professes to be non-ideological and non-political, Terra's Children is usually identified as being philosophically aligned with Terra Firma and the UEG. The organization claims to promote equality, peace and harmony, and professes its goal to be the teaching of basic life skills as well as understanding of a broader perspective, such as the cultures of other human worlds and humanity's cultural heritage, especially Earth's history. One of their goals is to keep the youth "off the streets" by providing healthy activities, and educating children and teens to become responsible members of their respective communities. Various outdoors activities such as camping, sports and hiking are common, as are excursions and trips and charities. Their more well-off Terra's Children chapters are known to even arrange trips to other worlds, especially Earth. Though mainline Terra's Children branches provide no formal military training, many of their activities and organization are rather military-like, including uniforms, a basic rank structure and ceremonial drills. They have links to the wider network of Pan-Humanist and Pan-Terran organizations across human space, including various similarly-minded academic associations operating under the "Pro Terra" banner.

While centrally organized, with a headquarters on Earth, planetary branches of Terra's Children enjoy considerable autonomy. On worlds with Insurrectionist or separatist leanings, Terra's Children have frequently come under fire or even been forced to withdraw. Critics of Terra's Children argue that the organization is designed to brainwash colonial youth into conformity for Earth-sympathetic viewpoints. Although not formally profiled as a UNSC recruitment organization, Terra's Children is often accused by its critics of grooming children for UNSC military service, being sometimes called "Colonial Militia for kids". Some colonies have also seen violent confrontations between members of local Terra's Children branches and insurrectionist-minded youth organizations. In two known cases, Terra's Children chapters were covertly infiltrated and taken over by Insurrectionist sympathizers without the knowledge of the organization's Earth-based headquarters. Such activities caused an uproar within the organization in 2515, leading to major reforms and a closer oversight of the colonial chapters. This also led to further ideological and cultural lines being drawn between the group and many colonists, resulting in the organization becoming increasingly unpopular on many Outer Colonies.