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Radio & Podcast Guilty feminist Deborah Frances-White Conversations 2022 Deborah Frances-White of The Guilty Feminist fame grew up in Queensland knowing that she had been adopted as a small baby. Now based in London, in the 2nd half of this podcast you can hear Deborah speak of finally deciding about 10 years ago to check out her biological family. By then, she says, she was ready to face whatever happened, including rejection. External Website

Television Shows Carlo & Malik 2018 Carlo & Malik is an Italian television crime series featuring an adoptee character. 28 year old Malik Soprani arrived by boat as a boy from the Ivory Coast. His mother did not survive the journey and he was adopted by an Italian woman and becomes an Italian citizen and a detective. Malik is partnered with the more senior Carlo Guerrieri who has to overcome his racist attitudes for the partnership to work. External Website

Authors E The Life and Work of Muhammad ➝ The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found: The Costa Book of the Year 2018 ➝ Back to Top

Dr. Lisa Cherry Dr. Lisa Cherry is a leading activist and one of the early pioneers to bring trauma-informed knowledge into the care experience arena. Recognising long before it was widely understood that trauma shapes the lives of children and young people in care. Lisa has fought to reshape systems, services, and support networks with compassion, science, and lived experience at their heart. Through decades of work as a trainer, speaker, and consultant, she has empowered thousands to understand the true impact of adversity — and to create environments where care-experienced people can heal, belong, and thrive. Trauma-Informed Advocate and Trainer As founder and previous director of Trauma Informed Consultancy Services Ltd (TICS), Lisa leads efforts to embed trauma-informed practices into schools, social services, and justice systems—helping professionals (educators, social workers, probation staff) recognise and respond sensitively to the legacy of trauma.   Care-Experienced Researcher and Voice for Belonging Drawing from her own lived experience in foster care and school exclusion, and DPhil research: How do care experienced adults who were also excluded from school make sense of belonging? at Oxford, explores how care‑experienced adults understand their identity and sense of belonging—particularly those who faced exclusion from school.   Author and Connector of Conversations Her award-winning books— The Brightness of Stars, Conversations That Make a Difference, and Weaving a Web of Belonging: Developing a Trauma-Informed Culture for All Children —blend scholarly insight, personal narrative, and frontline experiences, emphasizing the power of relationship-based discussion to support children and vulnerable young people.   International Trainer & Changemaker Over 35 years, she has trained more than 35,000 professionals across the UK and globally (including US, Australia, Pakistan), bridging research and real-world. In 2024 she was named one of the Big Issue’s Top 100 Changemakers , spotlighting her role in transforming how schools and services engage with trauma.    Community Builder & Founder of ‘No More Labels’ Lisa began a “No More Labels” initiative in 2017, where she challenged problematic terminology (like “care leaver”) and supported care‑experienced adults with free online coaching focused on trauma recovery and identity beyond care. myfamilycoach.co.uk + 3thetcj.org + 3rightresolutioncic.org +3 Dr. Lisa Cherry channels her lived experience, research, writing, training, and grassroots leadership to reform how society understands and supports care‑experienced, excluded, and trauma‑impacted individuals. She fosters belonging, resilience, and systemic compassion—making her a powerful activist and driving force in child welfare and trauma-informed care today.

By David Akinsanya I was born to a Nigerian father and English mother in Essex. After 18 months in a private foster home, my mum was forced to stop paying so I was taken into care. I stayed in the same family group children’s home run by Auntie Betty. I was really happy there until she left - I acted out and didn’t understand why she didn’t come to see me. I later learned that she was told not to reply to my letters and cards (they were given to me by her family at her funeral). One of the worst periods of my life was after being excluded from primary school (soon after Aunty Betty left) - I was sent to a Mal adjusted school. I can remember crying in the car with the social worker because I knew it was where “all the bad kids” were sent. It was a scary place and kids often violently assaulted other kids and staff. I’ll also never forget my first night in an independent living project and my first night in a prison cell age 17. My transition into adulthood was very difficult. The best thing I did was to leave my home town after I left custody. I started doing voluntary work and trying to prove that I was not a bad person - I left that image behind and never committed any crimes after that. Not long after leaving youth custody, I got involved with a group called Black and In Care. I helped make a powerful video about the experiences of youngsters in the system. The film was used to train social workers and to raise important issues. I often showed the film and watched people come to more understanding just by hearing the lived experiences. That was when I decided I wanted to get into the media. It took me a long time and many applications before I got my “big break” – a full time job at the BBC. To get that job I had done research at The Sunday Times, worked as an undercover researcher on The Cook Report and Dispatches (C4) and made many community films for the GLC and others. Most of my colleagues had been to University and were older than me when they started. I got in young and had so much to offer the programmes I worked on. I was a researcher on a daily topical programme called Kilroy. I often found other teams on the programme coming to me when they wanted “real people” – not spokes people but people like me – ex offenders, those with real life experience and just normal people – they often had to find people through press officers, my route was quicker. I went on to work on this programme 4 times. I then took all my contacts and ideas and concentrated on documentaries and current affairs programmes. One of my achievements was being the youngest producer working with Channel 4 on a series called Sex Talk. We produced 10 studio discussions and 5 films which gave me more experience of film making. I enjoyed making films “with” people and often got to the bottom of stories because of my background and experience. I made a number of tv and radio programmes in the early days of the rise in Gangs in London, Manchester and Birmingham and even got reports onto the 10 O’clock News (that really impressed my dad). I occasionally left the BBC and went to work for Central TV, Sky News and Channel 4 as I never felt they appreciated me and the money was always better away from the beeb. My best job where I felt I had the most control over my work was at Sky News. I could basically make 26 minute films about whatever I wanted. I made the first positive progamme about Notting Hill Carnival which won awards, I produced the Book Show and other features. I went back to the BBC and worked in Current Affairs on programmes like Black Britain, Correspondent and This World and made a few programmes about my life in the care system and my sexuality. The work I am most proud of was made with Channel 4 – called “Find me a family” it addressed the need to find people to adopt older kids and siblings. Since doing less media work I have done health and well being training, Outreach Coordinator and now work in Health care as the lead on Equalities. Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAkinsanya

By Catherine “Catt” Burland of Portsmouth, UK   Born in 1988 and as part of the first generation of 'The Children's Act '89', Catherine was removed from her biological mother pending a protection order based around Emotional Neglect. Catherine has vivid memories of being in multiple foster care placements and moved around the country (sometimes on a whim, sometimes for safety). She also recalls trying to tell parents and carers what it was like—her thoughts and feelings—for a young person in this scenario. In 2012 Catherine became aware of 'Attachment Disorder' which gave light to her difficult experiences growing up with her adoptive family, and having postbox contact with her biological family.   Adoption is when a child is ‘legally freed’ to become part of another family. Until more recently Catherine believed this was like a ‘marriage’, that an adoptive family would promise to love and care for you, but in reality it is more like a contract of ownership.   This was not explicity her experience although it was enlightening for Catherine to learn the legal implications. Usually, adoption involves changing your name and birth certificate, something which always baffles Catherine as she asked for ‘previous name’ including for DBS certifications, technically her birth name doesn’t exist ‘legally’. But it still means something to her!   Postbox contact is something that happens in the UK Child Protective system. It means (often for safety reasons) you aren’t allowed ‘regular’ contact with your birth family. For Catherine, it was because her birth father especially was deemed to be a threat to her emotional wellbeing; when he and Catherine’s birth mum died it became much easier to manage.   Catherine would have managed contact twice a year between her various birth families (her birth father, mother, grandparents, and aunt and uncle, although she believes her birth father had his rights rescinded due to control and manipulative behaviour). It meant that social workers could not disclose Catherine’s address or new name. It was something the courts decided when Catherine was adopted to keep her safe and manage her emotional wellbeing in her new family. However, this came with challenges, including Catherine not being told her birth father had died until many months later and being acutely aware of her birth mother’s mental health states depending on her handwriting, and cards sent. Catherine’s birthday and Christmas are very Close together and some years she would receive multiples of one and none of the other.   Attachment is the biological function whereby children (and other infantile creatures) learn societal and emotional behaviour to keep them safe, and identify who primary care givers are. When this is disrupted, children may struggle to identify who is safe, and sometimes, in cases like Catherine’s, they become the caregiver instead.   A real turning point for Catherine was becoming aware of Jessie Hogsett, US Detached: Surviving Reactive Attachment Disorder And Donald Craig Peterson November 16th - The Peterson Family — The FASD Project   An activist since 2012, Catherine has expressed support and ideas to parents, carers, and fellow care experienced individuals of all generations. She has, as well as working in a residential children's home and being a Child Protection Advocate, managed an Independent Visitors project, later becoming an 'IV' herself.   With both biological parents having passed away, in 2015 Catherine gained her 'files', which have since been donated to her employer (and care-provider!) Portsmouth City Council.   Catherine has managed numerous projects for Portsmouth City Council and is in support of an Employability Academy for Care-experienced young people.   Highlights of Catherine’s activism include speaking twice at the 'Open Nest' Fostering and Adoption conferences, once alongside Lemn Sissay; appearing on the Adoption and Fostering Podcast (you can hear Catherine here ); assisting a fellow Korean/American adoptee with their dissertation 'The Role of Perspective on Human Development'; supporting other traumatised and incredible young people across the globe to find their place in the world (including at Google HQ!); and making lifelong friends with shared and varied experience.   With many others from Mexico to Scotland, Catherine has also been involved in forming 'PATCHES Family Foundation' (still on Facebook ), a support group for families with children who have RAD - which is the American definition of attachment disorder – ‘Reactive Attachment Disorder’. This was Catherine’s first attempt at being involved in such a venture. On one occasion she was invited to explain the purpose of the group informally to a founder of both ‘ One Small Thing ’ – where the focus is on understanding the impact of trauma – and the ‘ Hope Street ’ women’s prisoner rehabilitation centre.     Catherine also has had a professional career in Horticulture, which she credits as giving her an ability to nurture and grow, not something which came naturally to her. Until she became unwell, she ran her own business: Waterfront Garden Centre .   Also until she became unwell, Catherine chaired a local community allotment (as a volunteer) and believes there is more to be done around care experience and horticulture.   Catherine’s current project is for Portsmouth City Council as a project manager, funded by Arts Council England and commissioned by the central government (the Department for Culture, Media and Sports) for the Cabinet Member (Culture, Leisure and Economic Development Portfolio and City Council Leader). You can see and hear Catherine talking about the Volunteer Futures Project during this 16 February 2024 meeting ( at the 36.38 minute mark ).   If you're an ACIVIST for the Care Experience community and would like us to feature you and your activism, contact us via email: careexperienceandculture@gmail.com