Children's Fiction Jamberoo Road Eleanor Roberts Spence et al. 1969 Five years ago, in 1825, Missabella and her ten orphans—the “Switherby Pilgrims”—had voyaged from England to New South Wales, in primitive Australia. Missabella, now, is determined to provide for the future of her orphans according to each one’s character. Not an easy task, with such a varied, ragtag, yet lovable set of personalities and backgrounds as they represent. Selina will train in Sydney to be a milliner; Paul may become a midshipman; Francis loves to farm. But what will satisfy clever, independent Cassie, who has ambitions to be a writer? The “Jamberoo Road” leads her inland, to the discomforts and enticements of being governess in a wealthy colonial family. Cassie’s story, interwoven with that of all the other orphans’ and their former farmhand Eben’s, is both an account of personal growth and a vivid journey into early-day Australia. External Website

Television Shows Decline and Fall 2017 Decline and Fall (2017) is British comedy series based on the 1928 epynomous novel by Evelyn Waugh, Paul Pennyfeather is 'sent down' or expelled from Oxford unjustly. Because his guardian won't give him access to his inheritance, he has to make a living as a teacher at an obscure boarding school in Wales. The affable, kind and naive young man falls in love with a woman who traffics women. Because she is enormously wealthy, she is popular and 'respectable.' External Website

Television Shows The Gloaming 2020 Australian television series which features a story line of children in foster care and which has a Senior Detective who has been in foster care as a child. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Glasgow Boys Margaret McDonald 2024 Winner of the 2025 Carnegie Medal 2025 Two boys can't remember the last time they had a hug. Meet Finlay. He's studying for his nursing degree at Glasgow University, against all the odds. But coming straight from care means he has no support network. How can he write essays, find paid work and NOT fall for the beautiful boy at uni, when he's struggling to even feed himself? Meet Banjo. He's trying to settle in with his new foster family and finish high school. But he can't forget all that has happened, and his anger and fear keep boiling over. How can he hold on to the one good person in his life, when his outbursts keep threatening his already uncertain future? External Website

Authors L John Lennon ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos A child of the state 2012 TED Talk with Lemn Sissay. Literature has long been fascinated with fostered, adopted and orphaned children, from Moses to Cinderella to Oliver Twist to Harry Potter. So why do many parentless children feel compelled to hide their pasts? Poet and playwright Lemn Sissay tells his own moving story. External Website

Television Shows Three Pines 2022 Three Pines is a mystery television series starring Alfred Molina based on the novel series by Louise Penny, centered on Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec police force. His parents died when he was a child and he was raised by an adoptive grandmother. Episode 1-2 It's Christmas in Three Pines- and once again Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team are called to investigate another murder CC who everybody disliked - even though she was killed with the entire town present...no one saw a thing. Gamache is also looking into disappearance of an Indigenous woman Blue Two-Rivers. Episode 3-4 begins with a murder in an old orphanage. It transpires that the old school, St. Anthony’s, was intricately linked to the history of Three Pines, a place where indigenous children who had been taken from their families were tortured and kept prisoners for years. Fans of Agatha Christie will enjoy the series. External Website

Comics, Comic books & Graphic Novels Valda Valda ➝ Warrior Nun Areala Ben Dunn ➝ Little Orphan Annie Harold Gray ➝ Nubia: Real One Written by L.L. McKinney; illustrated by Robyn Smith. ➝ Palimpsest: Documents From a Korean Adoption Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom ➝ Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter Vol. 1: Abomination (Mary Shelley Monster Hunter Tp) Vol 1-5 Adam Glass (Author), Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (Author), Mike Marts (Editor), Hayden Sherman (Artist) ➝ Zenobia Morten Durr; Lars Horneman ➝ The Mythmakers John Hendrix ➝ Modesty Blaise Peter O'Donnell, Jim Holdaway ➝ The Adoption Zidou (Author), Arno Monin (Artist) ➝ Orphan Black Orphan Black ➝ Lord of the Flies (graphic novel) 2023 William Golding, Aimee de Jongh ➝ Sunny Taiyō Matsumoto ➝ Manga - The Promised Neverland Kaiu Shirai (Author), Posuka Demizu (Illustrator) ➝ Back to Top

Television Shows Hunt for Raoul Moat 2023 The Hunt for Raoul Moat (2023) is a 3-part true crime drama. It tells the story of what many claim to be Britain’s “biggest manhunt.” The hunt for Raoul Moat began after he shot 3 people only days after being released from prison; he had served 18 weeks for assaulting a 9-year-old child. Moat was on the run for 6 days during which time he threatened to kill any police officer who tried to stop him. For some people, that Moat had injured one police officer and was willing to kill others made him a hero. As a child, Raoul Moat was often in kinship care with his grandmother (and brother) as his mother was unwell and in hospital. External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors Kemosha of the Caribbean Alex Wheatle 2022 The YA adventure story of 15 year old Kemosha and her younger brother who have lived their whole lives in slavery. External Website

Children's Non-fiction Oprah: The Little Speaker Carole Boston Weatherford 2010 At age three, Oprah began performing in churches, becoming known to adoring crowds as the Little Speaker. When she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she answered, "I want to be paid to talk."Here is the story of Oprah Winfrey's childhood, a story about a little girl on a Mississippi pig farm with her grandfather who grew up to become one of the most famous women in the world. External Website

Films/Videos Finding Neverland (film) 2004 Finding Neverland is a biographical drama exploring the relationship between playwright JM Barrie (1860-1937) with the family of Sylvia and Arthur Davies who inspired him to create Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Never Grew Up. Barrie was a guardian for the Davies' boys when their mother died. External Website

Television Shows Lord of the Flies (TV Series) 2026 Lord of the Flies (1954) is the debut novel of British writer William Golding. In the midst of war, a plane evacuating a group of schoolboys from Britian is shot down over a deserted tropical island. A central character in the novel is Piggy who is an orphan & living in kinship care with his aunt before the crash. Piggy has asthma & wears thick glasses; he is often mocked by the other boys. Yet Piggy is the most intellectual of the boys. Piggy (David McKenna) is the subject of the first part of the 4-part series developed by Jack Thorne & released on 8 February 2026. As in the novel, Piggy was living with his aunt before the plan crash, & per the novel, he is often mocked by the other boys. The mini-series is directed by film-maker Marc Munden. External Website

Authors P Neil Morrissey's rags to riches tale of growing up in Stoke-on-Trent care home ➝ Benjamin Perks: Blogsite ➝ Point Puer ➝ Lorraine Pascale's Story: From Foster Child To Food Network Favorite Read More: https://www.mashed.com/1910240/food-network-host-lorraine-pascale-transformation/ ➝ I wasn't told why I was taken into care. For years I thought it was my fault ➝ Children in care are not just numbers: we must challenge the stigma ➝ Neil Morrissey revisits his children's home roots ➝ Back to Top

Autobiography/Memoir Would It Surprise You To Know…? Ronnie Archer-Morgan 2023 For decades, Ronnie Archer-Morgan has brought to life the fascinating, often surprising backstories behind our most cherished heirlooms and household objects on the Antiques Roadshow. Now, he tells his own unlikely story. Born in the fifties to a Sierra Leonean mother battling mental health problems, Ronnie spent his childhood in and out of care. After difficult beginnings, marked by abuse, racism and brushes with both criminals and the police, he got into music, managing to get DJ gigs and, later, worked as a celebrity hairdresser for Vidal Sassoon and Smile in the height of seventies London. A flair for spotting antiques led him to start his own Knightsbridge gallery, ultimately becoming one of the most respected figures in the industry, culminating in a regular spot as an expert on the nation's Sunday favourite, Antiques Roadshow. Told with rich warmth, this is an extraordinary journey from deprivation and abuse to adventure and success against the odds - with stories of the incredible objects which shaped the way. External Website

Authors Y You Are My Home ➝ You be the Judge ➝ Back to Top

Biography of Care Experienced People Muhammad Maxime Rodinson 2021 Maxime Rodinson, a distinguished professor at the Sorbonne, first published his biography of Muhammad in 1960. The book, which is a classic, has been widely read ever since. Rodinson, though deeply versed in scholarly studies of the Prophet, does not seek to add to it here but to introduce Muhammad, first of all, as “a man of flesh and blood” who led a life of extraordinary drama and shaped history as few others have. External Website

Authors Q Vivaldi's Virgins ➝ Back to Top

Fiction featuring Care Experience The joyful condemned Kylie Tennant 1953 The Joyful Condemned is Kylie Tennant's first attempt at writing about the NSW child protection system. A longer version of the story was published as Tell Morning This in 1967. External Website

Films/Videos White Oleander (film) 2021 White Oleander is a 2002 American drama film directed by Peter Kosminsky. Fifteen-year-old Astrid Magnussen (Alison Lohman) is living in Los Angeles with her mother, the free-spirited artist Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer). Since her father left before she was old enough to remember him, Astrid depends heavily upon her passionate but largely self-centered mother's care. Ingrid's current relationship with a writer named Barry (Billy Connolly) ends when she discovers he is cheating on her with younger women. After she murders him with a poison made from white oleander, Ingrid is arrested and sentenced to life in prison, leaving Astrid under the care of the state of California. Astrid is sent to live with foster mother Starr Thomas (Robin Wright), a former stripper who is a recovering alcoholic and born-again Christian. External Website