Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Taking control of the narrative with my debut novel Careless Kirsty Capes 2021 In this blog, Kirsty Capes writes about growing up in the care system in the UK, and being aware of an expectation of failure. External Website

Activists Foster Reformer, author, artist Louise Allen 1967- Born in 1967 in a mother-and-baby home, Louise Allen was adopted into a family with a known history of cruelty—despite official warnings—and endured years of neglect and abuse before running away at 15. Now a bestselling author and foster carer, she uses books like Thrown Away Children and Slave Girls to expose systemic failings and fight for those the care system leaves behind. Through Spark Sisterhood and the Care to Career programme, she empowers young women from care with skills, opportunities, and the belief that their futures matter. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Someone to Love Us Terence O’Neill 2010 The harrowing true story of the young boy who captured the heart of the nation when he testified in court, to find justice against those responsible for his brother’s death. Terry O’Neill was just ten years old when he stood up in court to testify against his brutal foster parents, accused of the manslaughter of his twelve-year-old brother, Dennis. Terry and his brother had been taken into care and moved through many foster homes until they came to live on the Shropshire farm owned by Reginald and Esther Gough in 1945. There they were to suffer brutal beatings and little care or love – they survived as best they could, looking out for each other, until the terrible morning when Terry couldn’t wake Dennis. In a time when the country was united by war and struggle, the case shocked the nation and made headlines around the world. Terry, a small figure in the courtroom, captured the hearts of mothers and families everywhere, and the public outcry against the foster services led to the instigation of the first provisions to protect other vulnerable children from neglect and cruelty. (see also The Mousetrap and Three Blind Mice by Agatha Christie) External Website

Authors O Visibly Invisible - The tale of a Black Female Social Worker ➝ Back to Top

Sport Douglas Jardine Douglas Jardine Infamous English cricketer, Douglas Jardine (1900-1958), was in kinship care as a child. Douglas Robert Jardine was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. His parents were both Scottish and his father, Malcolm, well regarded as a cricketer. At the age of 9, Douglas was sent from India to live in St Andrews, Scotland, with his Aunt Kitty. While living with his aunt, he became friends with scholar Andrew Lang, who encouraged the boy in his love of cricket. Douglas went first to Horris Hill and he then boarded at Winchester College but spent holidays with his aunt. At both schools Douglas developed as a cricketer and cricket captain. In 1919, Jardine began studying at New College, Oxford where he played cricket and “and obtained a fourth class in modern history.” He qualified to practice law in 1926, but earned his living as a bank clerk. Douglas Jardine played for England against Australia for the first time in 1926 and he captained the MCC against Australia in 1932. Jardine used 'leg theory' or 'bodyline' against the Australian side but controversy grew because of injuries. Bodyline was formally banned in 1935. External Website

Performing Arts Comedian, writer, director Stewart Graham Lee Stewart Graham Lee (b. 5 April 1968) is a British stand-up comedian, writer and director. Lee was born in Wellington, Shropshire. He was adopted as a child and grew up in Solihull in the West Midlands– his adoptive parents separated when he was four, and he was raised by his mother. He attended Solihull School, a local independent school, on a part scholarship, and received what he calls a "waifs and strays bursary" due to his status as an adoptee. He read English at Oxford. In December 2011, he won British Comedy Awards for best male television comic and best comedy entertainment programme for his series Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. External Website

Academic Articles Contemplating Fictional and Nonfictional Orphan Stories (2004) Dennis Leoutsakas 2004 Throughout our lives we move from one story to the next. Whether we are listeners, readers, writers, or tellers, “we live our lives immersed in stories” (Simpkinson & Simpkinson, 1993, p. 1). From the many stories we encounter, both fiction and nonfiction, the orphan-as-hero stands out as one of the most prominent figures in literature. This paper considers three powerful issues related to orphan stories. First, it analyzes the legendary orphan-heroes used in fictional literature. Second, it demonstrates the differences between imagined orphans and orphans. Finally, after comparing the previous findings, this paper concludes by discussing the value of a new form of fictional literature and suggesting examples of story blending that link traditional fiction with actual narratives. External Website

Actors Benjamin Zephaniah (Actor) Benjamin Zephaniah (1958-2023) was a British poet, writer and actor. Benjamin Zephaniah was born in Handsworth, Birmingham. He left school at age 14. He was spent time in a youth detention centre, and later in prison. Zephaniah moved to London in 1979 and his first collection of poems, Pen Rhythm, was published. He performed at demonstrations, protesting against racism and the British ‘justice’ system. He published The Dread Affair in 1985 and Rasta Time in Palestine in 1990, the latter combining poetry and travelogue after a trip to Palestine. Zephaniah continued publishing his poetry through the 1990s, becoming known as a ‘dub poet’, and he also wrote several novels including Refugee Boy (2001). His autobiography, The Life and Thymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, was published in 2018. Benjamin Zephaniah also had many acting appearances over the years, from minor roles in shows such as EastEnders (1993) to playing preacher Jeremiah “Jimmy” Jesus in Peaky Blinders between 2013 and 2022. Benjamin Zephaniah died on 7 December 2023 after being diagnosed with a brain tumour 8 weeks previously. Photo: Benjamin Zephaniah, Waterstones Piccadilly, London, 6 December 2018. Photograph by Edwardx, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. External Website

Biography of Care Experienced People Crackers and Milk Arlene Nelson 2006 Sarah Richards, the oldest of five children growing up in the early 20th Century rural Midwest, struggles to hold her family together as she and her three siblings attempt to survive illness, abandonment, abuse, negelct, hunger, institutionalization, and loss. In Crackers and Milk, Arlene Nelson retells her mother's amazing story of an unusually tarnished childhood, as her mother told it to her many years ago. External Website

Performing Arts Poet, musician, and author Gil Scott-Heron Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) born Gilbert in Chicago to singer Bobbie Scott-Heron and soccer player Giles Heron, was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. Not long after Gilbert’s birth, his parents separated and Gil was sent to live in Tennessee with his grandmother, Lillie Scott. Lillie Scott bought a piano and young Gil learnt how to play by ear. His grandmother also introduced him to the work of Langston Hughes. After his grandmother’s death, Gil moved to New York to live with his mother. At DeWitt Clinton high school in the Bronx, an English teacher was impressed by Gil’s writing ability and recommended him to receive a scholarship so he could attend Fieldston School, a private university preparatory school. Wanting to reach a wider audience, Scott-Heron recorded his first alum in 1970. External Website

Poets Pat Schneider Pat Schneider Pat Schneider (1934-2020) was an American writer and poet. She was born in Missouri and placed in an orphanage by her single mother for around twelve months. Encouraged by her mother and local church community, Pat earned a Masters from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California and was a graduate of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was the founder and director of Amherst Writers & Artists and editor of Amherst Writers & Arts Press. An annual poetry contest was established in her honour by Amherst Writers & Artists in 2011. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles How Truman Capote Was Destroyed by His Own Masterpiece Literary Hub (5) 2023 In this article, Ebs Burnough asserts that Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” – an initial part of which was published in The New Yorker in 1965 – “catapulted [him] from a mere darling of the literary world to a full-fledged global celebrity on a par with the likes of rockstars and film legends.” Capote had read a New York Times article about the brutal murder of a family in Kansas. He set out to investigate, in 1959 going to visit the affected Kansas community. By 1965 his “non-fiction novel” was almost complete; he was waiting for the final moment when the 2 young men convicted of the crime were executed. Capote was deeply affected by the executions, says Burnough, who has long been a fan and is creator of the 2019 documentary, The Capote Tapes. The deaths, Burnough goes so far as to say, precipitated Capote’s decline into drug and alcohol addiction. External Website

Films/Videos Enola Holmes 2020 16 year old Enola Holmes is left in the kinship care of her oldest brother, Mycroft, when her mother disappears. Enola travels to London in search of her mother, resisting attempts by Mycroft to have her sent to a finishing school. At the conclusion to the film, Enola decides to follow in the footsteps of her famous brother, Sherlock, and become a detective. External Website

Television Shows The Tower 2022 The Tower (2021) is a British police procedural adapted from Kate London’s Metropolitan book series. It stars Gemma Whelan as police officer Sarah Collins. In the 2nd series, there is a dangerous man who has been beating up his partner. Mark Brannon (Charley Palmer Rothwell) was in foster care as a child and is aided in evading the police by his friend, who was also in foster care. There is, as well, a less stereotypical story when a ‘posh’ man is charged child sexual abuse and murder. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou 1993 This is Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings published 1969 by Random House. The book follows Marguerite's (called "My" or "Maya" by her brother) life from the age of three to seventeen and the struggles she faces – particularly with racism – in the Southern United States. Abandoned by their parents, Maya and her older brother Bailey are sent to live with their paternal grandmother (Momma) and disabled uncle (Uncle Willie) in Stamps, Arkansas. Maya and Bailey are haunted by their parents' abandonment throughout the book – they travel alone and are labeled like baggage. This is the first of her autobiographical books. Angelou structures her book so that it presents a series of lessons about how to resist racism and oppression. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Different Genes Claire Baldry 2017 Different Genes (2017) by Claire Baldry is the story of 61-year-old Louise who learns after the death of her mother that she was adopted. Louise and her new partner, Simon, then embark on a quest to discover the secrets of Louise’s past. The story begins in Claire Baldry’s home county of East Sussex and finishes in Kent where Louise & Simon visit Louise’s birth mother’s grave in Chatham. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Sixkill Robert B Parker 2012 A bad-boy movie star named Jumbo pushes the limits of his reputation when he's accused of rape and murder. When the Boston PD calls on Spencer, he meets Jumbo's young bodyguard, Zebulon Sixkill, and the two form an unlikely alliance. It's a high profile case for Spenser, but the Hollywood secrets he uncovers are sordidly unsavory- and not just those of the accused... Zebulon Sixkill was in kinship care as a child, living with his grandfather after his father disappeared and his mother died when Z was 10. External Website

Biography of Care Experienced People Raven Mother Jane Messer 2026 Raven Mother (2026) by Australian writer Jane Messer is a work of history, biography & memoir. Jane Messer set out to understand why her Jewish German grandmother Bella took her 2 children from Berlin & abandoned them in an English boarding school. After a few initial visits, Bella didn’t see her children for 13 years. Messer visited Berlin, Tel Aviv & Melbourne & along the way interviewed historians & other scholars in Germany as well in Israel. Along the way, she gains an understanding of how world events affect personal lives. External Website

Children's Fiction The Water Babies Charles Kingsley 2025 The Water Babies was first published in 1863. It tells the story of a poor orphan called Tom who is employed by the villainous Grimes, as a chimney sweep. One day he is accused of stealing from a rich household and runs away. As he is running he falls into a beautiful little stream and falls asleep, and becomes a Water Baby. In this new life, he meets all sorts of aquatic creatures, including an engaging old lobster, other water babies, and at last reaches St Branden's Isle where he encounters the fierce Mrs Bedonbyasyoudid and the motherly Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience My Last Confession Helen Fitzgerald 2009 An important character in this novel is 28 year old adoptee, Amanda, whose birth mother is murdered shortly after the 2 women meet for the first time. External Website