Films/Videos First Christmas 2020 First Christmas (2020) Given up for adoption and placed in fostercare at a young age. Writer Halle, has come to spend Christmas with the biological family she never knew she had. Everyone's happy to see her, but Halle struggles to find her place in this new chaotic family. External Website

Television Shows Queens of Mystery 2019 Queens of Mystery (2019) is a British crime comedy series starring Olivia Vinall as 28yr old Detective Sargent Matilda Stone. We find out in the 1st episode of Series 1 that Matilda was raised in kinship care with her 3 aunts after her mother mysteriously disappeared when Matilda was a small child. Matilda’s aunts (played by Julie Graham, Sobhan Redmond & Sarah Woodward) all write crime mystery stories & Matilda was immersed in these & other crime stories they sold in their Murder Ink bookstore in the village of Wildemarsh. American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) – who was in foster care as a child - is referenced in episodes 5 & 6 of Queens of Mystery & acknowledged as the inventor of detective fiction with his stories of C. Auguste Dupin “The Raven” is a narrative poem by Poe first published in January 1845 & its publication made him popular; it remains one of the most famous poems ever. One of the mysteries in the Queens of Mystery series is that an Edgar Allan Poe manuscript has been stolen from a library & been replaced by a raven feather. This is connected to the disappearance of Matilda’s mother & ravens are regularly featured in each episode. External Website

Children's Fiction Pippi Longstocking Astrid Ross Lindgren et al. 2002 Pippi is nine years old, lives alone with a horse and a money, and does exactly as she pleases. She has no mother and her father is king of a cannibal island, so she has learnt to look after herself. She gets up when she likes, never goes to school, talks a great deal, keeps a chest of gold coins under the bed, and is unexpectedly strong. The book is full of her marvellous escapades. External Website

Films/Videos Instant Family 2018 Instant Family is a movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, and Isabela Merced. A couple find themselves in over their heads when they foster and finally adopt three children. External Website

Films/Videos Inside 2024 Inside (2024) is an Australian prison drama film created by Charles Williams. Vincent Miller stars as Mel Blight, a young offender who has just been transferred from juvenile detention to an adult prison. He begins the process of being paroled but is wondering whether he should be. In the adult prison, Mel is mentored by Mark Shepard (Cosmo Jarvis) who is regarded as Australia’s most notorious criminal, and long-term prisoner Warren Murfett (Guy Pearce) who is also applying for parole. During one of the flashbacks we find out that Mel Bright’s father was also in prison and we suspect that his behaviour while on parole is the reason for Mel questioning the wisdom of parole. We also find out that Mel was in juvenile detention as a teenager because he killed a boy. External Website

Radio & Podcast Joseph Conrad: From Russian Exile To The Heart of Darkness Empire 2025 The great Polish-British writer, Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), was orphaned at the age of 11. In S24, Ep 5 of the Empire podcast, hosts Anita Anand & William Dalrymple are joined by Maya Jasanoff to discuss the life & writing career of Joseph Conrad & how his firsthand experience of colonial brutality shaped his fiction. Maya Jasanoff also recognises Conrad as a man of his time & critiques the stereotypes he uses when talking about Black & Jewish people. External Website

Television Shows Young Sherlock 2026 Young Sherlock (2026) is a mystery series created by Matthew Parkhill & inspired by Andrew Lanes books series, Young Sherlock Holmes. Hero Fiennes Tiffin stars as 19-year-old Sherlock Holmes. He is currently at Oxford University & a series of murders there inspires him to solve his first murder case. Donal Finn plays James Moriarty, Sherlock’s new friend & Max Irons is Mycroft Holmes who is often stepping in to bail his younger brother out. During the series we find out that Cordelia Holmes (Natascha McElhone) was institutionalised by her husband, Silas (Joseph Fiennes) when Sherlock was about 7 years of age. Their father disappeared overseas shortly after & the boys went to boarding school. Sherlock & Mycroft were told there had been an accident & that their younger sister, Beatrice (Holly Cattle), was dead & that was the reason for their mother’s distress. *Spoiler Alert* Beatrice Holmes was not dead but sent away to live with another family until she was about 14. After that, she lived with her father. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Leatherstocking Tales James Fenimore Cooper 1841 The Leathingstocking Tales is a series of 5 novels featuring Natty Bumppo who is a white man raised by Delaware Indians and educated by members of a Protestant church, the Moravians. He is a courageous warrior with a number of nicknames, including Hawkeye. One of Cooper's stories featuring Natty Bumppo, "The Last of the Mohicans" has been adapted for film several times. Some historians believe that Nathaniel Shipman, who was a close friend of the Mohican Indians, was the inspiration for Natty Bumppo. External Website

Radio & Podcast Blood Relatives The New Yorker In The Dark 2025 In The Dark is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative podcast by The New Yorker. In their 6-part Blood Relatives series (2025), they take up the story of an infamous UK killing on 7 August 1985. 5 family members were shot dead in their Whitehouse Farm home in Tolleshunt D’arcy, Essex. Jeremy Bamber was convicted of the mass murder & is serving a life sentence. The victims were Jeremy Bamber’s adoptive parents, Nevill & June Bamber, along with his adoptive sister, Sheila Caffell & Sheila’s 6-year-old twin sons. Journalist Heide Blake says that even though the case looks like a straight-forward one, “almost nothing about this story is as it seems”. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Care Experienced student behind new John Lewis Partnership brand: Made with Care John Lewis 2023 The John Lewis Partnership unveils Made With Care. A new lifestyle brand that combines great design and desirable products while creating a platform for talented people who have grown up in the care system. First design from the new brand launched at event to mark one year of the Building Happier Futures programme. The first product is designed by Michael Archibald, an 18-year old aspiring artist from Glasgow who has experienced care. Michael has crafted an inspiring piece of art to feature on a fashionable tote bag. Michael applied to take part in Made with Care through Who Cares? Scotland, the Partnership’s charity partner. He has worked with the John Lewis in-house design team and creative partners Saatchi & Saatchi to create his unique design. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir The Mother Knot Kathryn Harrison 2004 American writer Kathryn Harrison (b. 1961) was raised in the kinship care of her grandparents from the age of 6. Harrison was born in Los Angeles, California. Her young parents divorced when Kathryn was 6 months old. At the time, Kathryn and her mother were living with the maternal grandparents and they stayed there until, when Kathyn was 6 years old, her mother left home. The Mother Knot (2004) tells the story of Harrison’s panic when her son develops asthma. Because she had asthma when her mother left home, Harrison worries she is at fault for her son’s illness. She decides it’s time to let her mother go. External Website

Authors E Louis Esson (Australian theatre) ➝ Back to Top

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Indian orphans weave award-winning movie magic Sujoy Dhar 2008 When 10-year-old Sahiful Mondal from a children's shelter in eastern India won an international film award three years ago, many thought it was just a flash in the pan. Now he is 14 and with four accolades. External Website

Television Shows White House Farm 2020 White House Farm (2020) is a British true crime series based on events that happened in August 1985. On 6 August 1985, 5 members of the Bamber-Caffell family were murdered at White House Farm in Essex. Initially, it appeared that Sheila – the adopted daughter of June & Nevill Bamber – had “gone berserk” & killed her adoptive parents, her twin sons, & herself. However, as the investigation continues suspicion falls on Sheila’s brother, Jeremy Bamber, who was also adopted by June & Nevill Bamber when he was 6 months old. *Spoiler Alert* Jeremy Bamber has been in gaol since 29 September 1985. He was convicted of the murder of 5 family members in October 1986. He is serving a whole life tariff, meaning he is not eligible for parole. Despite the conviction, Bamber has maintained his innocence & has filed several appeals. External Website

Authors I Most Popular Orphan Girl Movies and TV Shows ➝ A digital archive of care experienced people in fiction, on screen and in real life ➝ A Conversation with Daniel Ingram-Brown ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos The Proposal 2009 The Proposal is a 2009 American romantic comedy film. The plot centers on a Canadian executive who learns that she may face deportation from the U.S. because her visa renewal application was denied. Determined to retain her position as editor-in-chief of a publishing house, she convinces her long-suffering personal assistant to temporarily act as her fiancé. It transpires 'Margaret Tate's' parents died when she was 16, and she is portrayed as unable to have romantic relationships. External Website

Performing Arts Composer Erik Satie French composer and writer, Erik Satie (1866-1925), was in kinship care from the age of 6 for 6 years. Erik was born in Honfluer, in France’s Normandy region, about 198km north-west of Paris. His father, Alfred, was French and his mother, Jane, was English. When Erik was about 4, the family moved to Paris, but Jane died 2 years later, in 1872. Erik and his young brother, Conrad, were sent back to Honfluer and lived with their paternal grandparents until their grandmother died in 1878. Alfred then had the children return to him in Paris and home schooled them. Satie lived in Paris during his adulthood. His eccentricities—which included wearing 1 of 7 identical grey suits for 10 years (purchased on receipt of a small inheritance in 1898) and a claim that he only ate food that was white—alienated him from the ‘establishment’. Where during his 20s he’d hung out with the ‘who’s who’ of Paris, in 1898 he moved into the unfashionable working class suburb of Arcueil, living there for 27 years in a small flat. Satie’s work did not catch on for some years, not until long-time friend Claude Debussy made popular his Gymnopedies in 1911, by which time Satie was 45 years old. Erik Satie is now regarded as a significant influence on 20th century music. External Website

Authors D Alan Duff ➝ Wayne Dyer ➝ Mary Douglas ➝ Trent Dalton ➝ Alan Dapré ➝ Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson ➝ Philip Doddridge ➝ Jenny Diski ➝ Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) ➝ Henry Darger (writer) ➝ Robert Dessaix ➝ Arthur Conan Doyle ➝ Charles Dickens ➝ René Descartes ➝ Stella Dadzie ➝ Back to Top

Children's Fiction Home For a While (4-8 years) Lauren Kerstein 2021 Natalia Moore (illustrator). Calvin is in foster care, and he wants to trust someone, anyone, but is afraid to open his heart. He has lived in a lot of houses, but he still hasn’t found his home. When he moves in with Maggie, she shows him respect, offers him kindness, and makes him see things in himself that he’s never noticed before. Maybe this isn’t just another house, maybe this is a place Calvin can call home, for a while. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Butterfly Lampshade Aimee Bender 2021 When Francie is 8 years old, her mother is institutionalised and Francie is sent to with relatives. 20 years later she maintains a relationship with the family who raised her and, sometimes, with her mother. She also begins to revisit what happened when she was 8. External Website