Films/Videos Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot 2018 This film is based on American cartoonist John Callahan's (1951-2010) memoir of the same name. It tells the story of how Callahan became a quadripelegic after a serious a car accident, his recovery from an alcohol addiction (rooted in the pain he felt because he was adopted) and how he became a regular cartoonist for the Portland, Oregan newspaper, Willamette Week. External Website

Writers Henry Fielding 1707-1754 Henry Fielding (1707 – 1754) was an English novelist and dramatist known for his earthy humour and satire. Henry Fielding was born at Sharpham Park, in Glastonbury, the home of his maternal grandparents.Henry’s father, Edmund Fielding 1680-1741), served in the British military and Henry’s mother, Sarah Gould (1682-1718) died when the boy was 10. Edmund then left his children – 5 girls and a boy plus Edmund, the eldest—with their maternal grandmother’s sister, Katherine Cottington at East Stour in Dorset, while he moved to London and quickly remarried. In 1720, Henry’s maternal grandmother, Lady Gould, took Edmund to court and gained custody of her grandchildewn in 1722. Fielding's comic novel Tom Jones is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders of the traditional English novel. He also holds a place in the history of law enforcement, having used his authority as a magistrate to found the Bow Street Runners, London's first intermittently funded, full-time police force. External Website

Writers Jean Genet 1910-1986 Jean Genet (1910 – 1986) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist and political activist. Jean Genet was abandoned by his mother when he was about seven months old and grew up in foster care with a working class family. He began stealing at the age of ten and at fifteen was sent to the notorious reform school, Mettray. Genet was in and out of prison nine times. It was in prison that he began writing and he was later mentored by Jean-Paul Sartre. His major works include the novels The Thief's Journal and Our Lady of the Flowers and the plays The Balcony, The Maids and The Screens. External Website

Writers Stephanie Shirley 1933- Stephanie (Steve) Shirley (b. 1933) was Vera Buchthal when she arrived in England via the Kindertransport at the age of 5 (with her older sister). The two girls lived with foster parents, continuing to do so when her birth parents came searching for her. Vera Buchthal became Stephanie Brooke when she was 18 (and Stephanie Shirley when she got married in 1962) Stephanie Shirley founded her own software development company in 1962, Freelance Programmers, in response to the widespread sexism in the computer industry and to provide opportunities for other women. Because she received no responses to her letters when she signed off as ‘Stephanie Shirley’, she started signing herself as ‘Steve Shirley’ and things turned around. By 1975, Steve Shirley was employing 297 women and 3 men. Stephanie Shirley retired in 1993 and became a significant philanthropist. She has written 3 books too, the proceeds of which go to charity. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Former Cranbrook student says he was sexually abused at private Sydney boys' school ABC News 2024 In a story which broke on 4 March 2023 we found that a former ward of the West Australian state, Travis Matthews, was allegedly sexually abused as a 13-year-old while at boarding school. Travis was sent to the prestigious Cranbook School in Sydney after his mother died; his sister was working near Cranbrook. The WA state paid for Travis’ fees at Cranbook. What should have been a good opportunity for the boy turned into a nightmare. Travis Matthews, now serving in the Australian Defence Force, is currently suing Cranbrook. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir And the clock struck thirteen: The life and thoughts of Kaurna Elder Uncle Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien as told to Mary-Anne Gale Lewis O'Brien 2007 And the clock struck thirteen: The life and thoughts of Kaurna Elder Uncle Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien as told to Mary-Anne Gale (2007) is the memoir of Lewis William Arthur O’Brien, usually known as Uncle Lewis O’Brien. Uncle Lewis O’Brien is an Aboriginal Australian elder of the Kaurna people. He was born at Point Pearce Mission on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia on 25 March 1930. He was raised in the care of his great uncle & aunt, Lewis & May Adams until he was made a ward of the South Australian state when he was 12 years old. He subsequently lived in a number of foster care placements and boys’ homes. During the 1960s, O’Brien became involved in several movements advocating for Aboriginal Australians. From 1977 he also began working in schools promoting Kaurna language & culture. In 2002, he cofounded Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi, a group developing & promoting Kaurna language. In 2025, O’Brien, in consultation with staff, chose the official Kaurna name for the new Adelaide University. Tirkangkaku means “place of learning”. External Website

Writers Xiaolu Guo 1973- Xiaolu Guo (born 1973) is a Chinese-born British novelist, memoirist and film-maker, who explores migration, alienation, memory, personal journeys, feminism, translation and transnational identities. Xiaolu Guo grew up first with her grandparents and later wih her parents. She published her first poetry as a teenager. After studying at the Beijing Film Academy she moved to England and studied at the National Film and Television School. Xiaolu Guo's books have been translated into 28 languages. Nine Continents: A Memoir In and Out of China won the National Book Critics Circle Award 2017. In 2013, she was named as one of Granta magazine's Best of Young British Novelists. She is also one of the inaugural fellows of the Columbia Institute of Ideas and Imagination in Paris. External Website

Writers Georges Perec 1936-1982 Georges Perec (1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. Georges Perec was born in Paris to Jewish migrants from Poland. His father died defending France in 1940. After the Nazis occupied France, Georges was taken by the Red Cross to Villard-de-Lans, to be cared for by his paternal aunt and her husband. Georges Perec stayed in the care of his relatives after the war. He went for some years to school in Paris and also boarded at Étampes, approximately 48km from Paris. In his final year at school, a philosophy teacher encouraged the boy to become a writer, but he was 30 before his first book was [ib;osjed/ External Website

Performing Arts British Singer, voice of an angel Colin Blunstone Colin Edward Michael Blunstone, born on 24 June 1945 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist of the influential 1960s band The Zombies. Blunstone was raised as the only son of Arthur and Dorothy Blunstone, having been adopted at birth. He knew from an early age that he was adopted, but only discovered the identity of his birth mother—his “aunt”—when he was nearly 30. She revealed that his conception resulted from a brief wartime affair with an American serviceman, who was later injured in France and returned to the United States. He is renowned for his distinctive voice on records such as She’s Not There, Tell Her No, and Time of the Season - often described as having the voice of an angel. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley et al. 2001 From hustling, drug addiction and armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned, in a dramatic prison conversion, to the puritanical fervour of the Black Muslims. As their spokesman he became identified in the white press as a terrifying teacher of race hatred; but to his direct audience, the oppressed American blacks, he brought hope and self-respect. This autobiography (written with Alex Haley) reveals his journey through the US foster care system, Malcolm's quick-witted integrity, usually obscured by batteries of frenzied headlines, and the fierce idealism which led him to reject both liberal hypocrisies and black racialism. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir The God Squad Paddy Doyle 1988 In 1988, Irish disability activist Paddy Doyle (1951-2020) published his memoir, The God Squad, about being sent to live in St Michael's Industrial School run by the Sisters of Mercy in Cappoquin, Counter Waterford. Paddy Doyle talks in The God Squad of being so badly abused at St Michael's that he was left with psychosomatic condiitions and confined to a wheelchair from the age of 10. The God Squad was groundbreaking, an immediate best-seller which won the Dublin Lord Mayor's Award, the Sunday Tribune Arts Award for Literature and the Christy Brown Award for Literature. Dermot Bolger, who published The God Squad, said the book "played a part in transforming Ireland." External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Almost 70 mass unmarked child graves discovered by ITV News investigation into mother and baby homes Sarah Corker 2025 An ITV News investigation has revealed that 67 babies who died at Hopedene Maternity Home, a Salvation Army institution for unmarried mothers in Newcastle (1950–1973), were buried in mass unmarked graves, often without their families' knowledge. Testimonies describe the home as cruel and prison-like, with forced labour, lack of care, and a high infant mortality rate, prompting renewed calls for a government apology over Britain’s forced adoption scandal. External Website

Television Shows Holiday Secrets 2019 Holiday Secrets is a 2019 German limited series which explores the relationships between 3 generations of women. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Eva has raised her 2 granddaughters while her daughter Sonja has been living overseas and struggling with an addiction to alcohol. External Website

Radio & Podcast The Sunday Read: 'The Blind Side' Made Him Famous. But He Has a Different Story to Tell The Daily 2024 Michael Oher was born in 1986 into a very large and poor African American family in Memphis, Tennessee and became a Ward of the State at some point in his young life. Michael Oher is the subject of a 2009 book by Michael Lewis and the 2009 movie, The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock. He published his own book in 2011. In this The Daily podcast, American journalist Michael Sokolove discusses the fact that Michael Oher is currently suing the Tuohy family, the family who took him in and encouraged him to play professional football. According to Michael Oher, the Tuohys claimed they had adopted him. They never did. Instead, they had a conservatorship agreement, taken out in 2004 when Michael was 18. The conservatorship was ended in 2023. Michael Oher is also alleging the Tuohys exploited the football star, using him to promote their speaking engagements over the years which have earned them around $8 million. External Website

Television Shows Lessons in Chemistry (TV Series) 2023 Lessons in Chemistry (2023) is an American drama adapted from the eponymous novel by Bonnie Gamus. Elizabeth Zott is a lab technician at the Hasting Research Research Institute during the 1950s. Because she is a woman, she is not allowed to develop her own chemistry research projects. Elizabeth becomes friends with Dr Calvin Evans, who is a star research chemistry researcher at the institute. We find out during the course of the series that Calvin Evans was in a boy’s home as a child. External Website

Children's Fiction Peter and Lotta's Christmas Elsa Beskow 2021 Peter and Lotta’s first Christmas with Aunt Green, Aunt Brown, Aunt Lavender, and Uncle Blue is full of magic — decorated trees, gingerbread, and gifts from the mysterious Christmas Goat. The children try to uncover the real source of the presents and prepare their own gifts for their adoptive family. On Christmas Eve, their thoughtfulness is unexpectedly rewarded. A warm, humorous tale by Elsa Beskow, it highlights Swedish festive traditions, neighbourliness, and the gentle adventures of two orphans finding family. Originally published 1929 this is part of a series of books about Peter and Lotta. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Death of an Avid Reader Frances Brody 2014 Book 6 in the Kate Shackleton mysteries. Kate Shackleton's sterling reputation for courageous sleuthing attracts the attention of the venerable Lady Coulton. Hidden in her past is a daughter, born out of wedlock and given up to a different family. Now, Lady Coulton is determined to find her and puts Kate on the case. External Website

Authors E Life After Care: From Lost Cause to MBE ➝ Detained: A boy's journal of survival and resilience ➝ Love Child ➝ Born To Survive: You Can't Break A Broken heart ➝ The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano ( ➝ Back to Top

Performing Arts singer, songwriter, record producer, composer Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He was born in Pennsylvania. After his parents divorced, he went to live with his maternal grandparents. While in high school he joined a band. He is the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, which he founded in 1988 and of which he was the sole official member until 2016.He has contributed to the albums of artists such as Marilyn Manson, whom he mentored, and rapper Saul Williams. Alongside his wife Mariqueen Maandig and long-time Nine Inch Nails collaborators Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan, he formed the post-industrial group How to Destroy Angels in 2009.Reznor and Ross scored David Fincher's films The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Gone Girl (2014), and Mank (2020). They won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The duo also scored the films Patriots Day (2016), mid90s, Bird Box (both 2018), Waves (2019) and Soul (2020), the documentaries Before the Flood (2016) and The Vietnam War (2017), and the TV series Watchmen (2019), winning a Primetime Emmy Award for the lattermost. In 1997, Reznor appeared on Time's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music". External Website

Sport Colin Kaepernick Colin Kaepernick African American Colin Kaepernick (b. 1987) was adopted into a white family when he was a baby. He moved with his family from Wisconsin to California at the age of 4 and began playing sport at the age of 8. In high school he played football, basketball and baseball and excelled in all codes. Wanting to play football, he accepted a scholarship from the University of Nevada in 2006 and he began playing professional football in 2011. He played with the San Francisco 49ers for 6 years. Colin Kaepernick is the recipient of many awards including a 2018 WEB Du Bois Medal from Harvard University. External Website