Search Results

Films/Videos Small Axe, Series 1, Alex Wheatle 2020 The true story of writer Alex Wheatle who grew up in care and his spell in prison after the Brixton riots. Alex Wheatle follows the true story of award-winning writer, Alex Wheatle (Sheyi Cole), from a young boy through his early adult years. Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds not only a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, but his identity and ability to grow his passion for music and DJing. When he is thrown in prison during the Brixton Uprising of 1981, he confronts his past and sees a path to healing. External Website

Authors C Jack Maggs ➝ The Mousetrap ➝ Back to Top

Academic Books & Book Chapters Orphans Real and Imaginary Eileen Simpson 1987 Eileen Simpson (1918–2002) was an American writer and psychotherapist. Simpson’s mother died when she was 1 years old and she and her sister were placed in a Catholic orphanage. Neglected by the nuns, she almost died of tuberculosis and, after their father died when she was 7, she and her sister were sent by relatives to a “preventorium” in New Jersey. Her Orphans, Real and Imaginary. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. It is personal history; it is also social and literary reflection. The first part is about her growing up spending time in a convent-orphanage and a sanatorium due to tuberculosis. The second part of the book is a brief survey of the treatment of orphans; the history, present day -1980s, as well as orphans in autobiography and literary orphans. External Website

Authors G Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter Vol. 1: Abomination (Mary Shelley Monster Hunter Tp) Vol 1-5 ➝ Lord of the Flies (graphic novel) 2023 ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos Christmas Child 2004 Christmas Child (2004). After his adopted father dies, a mysterious photograph, which may be a clue as to his origins, leads a journalist Jack Davenport (William R. Moses) to a small Texas town at Christmastime. External Website

Actors Alain Delon When Alain Delon (1935-2024) was 4 years of age, his parents divorced and abandoned him into foster care. Later, his parents shared custody of the boy who was put into multiple boarding schools (as he was regularly expelled). Alain Delon enlisted in the French army at the age of 17 (some sources say he did so voluntarily, some say his parents forced him to). In 1956 and back in Paris, the good looking Alain was 'discovered' by actor Brigitte Auber and through Auber, Alain met filmmakers and photographers. After his first film role he quickly became a success, a French star of the 1960s and 1970s. External Website

Films/Videos Resistance 2020 Resistance was inspired by French actor Marcel Marceu's work during WWII taking orphaned Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied France. It is said that he was directly involved in the safe removal of 100s of children and that 1000s were saved. External Website

Radio & Podcast Dickens vs Tolstoy Intelligence Squared 2023 This event by Intelligence Squared is an attempt to decide who is the greatest novelist—Charles Dickens (1812-1870) or Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)? Both Dickens and Tolstoy had experiences of displacement from family as children. Dickens was left in a foster care situation while his father was in debtors’ prison, and Tolstoy was orphaned at age 9. John Mullan argues for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy. The debate is augmented by a cast of actors who read from both authors’ works. External Website

Films/Videos Anne of Green Gables (tv film) 1985 Canadian television film based on the 1908 book by Lucy Maud Montgomery. 13-year-old orphan Anne Shirley is living in servitude with the cruel Hammond family in Nova Scotia. When Mr. Hammond dies, his wife sends Anne back to the orphanage. After six months, she receives the news that she has been adopted by a family in Prince Edward Island. Upon arriving in the small town of Avonlea, Anne is met at the train station by the elderly Matthew Cuthbert, who is surprised to find her there. Matthew and his sister Marilla had requested a boy to help them on their farm, Green Gables, but Anne was sent due to a miscommunication. Although Matthew takes a liking to Anne, Marilla refuses to keep her, saying a girl is of no use to them. However, she has a change of heart when she finds out Anne would be sent to live with the unpleasant Mrs. Blewett. Marilla decides to put Anne "on trial" before making up her mind. Anne is delighted but soon finds herself in trouble with Marilla's friend and the local gossip Rachel Lynde, who criticizes her looks and red hair. Anne loses her temper at Rachel and refuses to apologize, preferring to go back to the orphanage, but Matthew convinces her to do so. Rachel accepts Anne's apology and suggests to Marilla that Anne attend a Sunday School picnic so she can make friends. External Website

Authors F Jazz singer ➝ Choir director, gospel musician ➝ Rap Artist, motion graphic designer ➝ Comedian, author, screenwriter ➝ Back to Top

Radio & Podcast Trans-national adoption and "blending in" The Philosopher's Zone 2022 In 1953, at the end of the Korean War, an adoption program was launched by the South Korean government to care for orphans, most of whom went to white families in the States and in Europe. Since then, an estimated 200,000 South Korean children have been adopted into Western countries. The situation for many of these Korean adoptees is the aradox of feeling like they both belong and yet can't blend in with their adoptive country & culture. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles An evening with your life your story Amanda Knowles 2021 This poetry led discussion explores the experiences of children raised in the care of the state and their caregivers, the impact of abuse and the importance of truth. External Website

Authors F The Boys of the Dark ➝ Superheroes, Orphans and Origins: 125 Years in Comics ➝ Youth and the Mystery Wall ➝ Back to Top

Fiction Featuring Care Experience How To Stop Time Matt Haig 2020 How to Stop Time (2017) by English writer Matt Haig is an historical fiction novel featuring Tom Hazzard who is over 400 hundred years old, having been born in 1581. Tom Hazzard, who looks as if he’s 41, has a condition which causes him to age one year every 15 years. He manages his extended lifespan by adopting a new life every 8 years. Tom’s mother was murdered in 1599. His father was already dead, so Tom was now orphaned. Although 18 (but not yet an adult), he looked 13. Tom was taken in by his friend, 16 year old Rose Claybrook, who is caring for her younger sister, Grace. He plays the lute for cash, meeting Shakespeare along the way. Fearing for their safety, Tom later abandons Rose & their daughter Marion. He then spends the rest of his long life searching for Marion who has the same slow-aging condition as Tom. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Foundling (2020) Stacey Halls 2020 The Foundling (2020) by Stacey Halls is the story of Bess Bright who gives up her 'illegitimate' baby daughter to the Foundling Hospital in 1748. When Bess goes to reclaim her daughter 6 years later, she is shocked to discovered the child has been claimed by someone else. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Wild Pork and Watercress Barry Crump 2016 This rattling good yarn has now been made into a major movie- Hunt For the Wilderpeople. When Social Welfare threatens to put Ricky into care, the overweight Maori boy and cantankerous Uncle Hec flee into the remote and rugged Ureweras. The impassable bush serves up perilous adventures, forcing the pair of misfits to use all their skills to survive hunger, wild pigs and the vagaries of the weather. Worse still are the authorities, determined to bring Ricky and Uncle Hec to justice. But despite the difficulties of life on the run, a bond of trust and love blossoms between the world-weary man and his withdrawn side-kick. External Website

Writers Barbara Sumner (Writer) Babara Sumner was born in New Zealand and adopted when she was 10 days old. She has written for The New Zealand Herald and her first book, This Way of Life - based on her award winning film of the same name - was published in 2012. Sumner published her memoir of being adopted and tracing her family of origin (published by Massey University Press) in 2020. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Marriages Amy Witting 1990 Marriages (1990) by Australian writer Amy Witting (1918-2001) is a collection of short stories exploring the idea that marriage isn’t necessarily enough to bring together two people. The final story of the collection is entitled The Trap. Lawyer Bill feels he is trapped in his marriage with his beautiful wife, Ann. What Bill doesn’t realise—not until the end of the story—is that his wife has been deeply affected by her childhood. She told him 3 years ago she was an orphan raised in kinship care, now he knows she was ‘illegimate’. He has seen for himself how Ann’s extended family treat her as if she doesn’t exist, and how they have lied to her about who her mother is for years. A more sympathetic Bill concludes that he might need to spend the rest of his life reassuring Ann that she is not guilty for anything that happened in her childhood and that she doesn’t “have to be the perfect plastic model of the perfect human being.” External Website

Films/Videos The Missing Children 2021 A powerful documentary about an Irish scandal has won an award at the 2022 Baftas for best Specialist Factual. The Missing Children tells the story of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, which operated between 1925 and 1961. In 1975, 2 boys playing on the site discovered skeletons. There are 2 stories explored in the documentary. One is that as many as 800 children had died in the Home and been carelessly buried in the grounds. The others is that as many as 1000 children were illegally sent to the US for adoption. Survivors tell the stories - adoptees who grew up in the US, and siblings of children who died in the Home. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16022722/ External Website

Television Shows The Last Anniversary (tv series) 2025 The Last Anniversary (2025) is an Australian family drama series adapted from the eponymous novel by Liane Moriarty. Set on the fictitious Scribbly Gum Island, close to Sydney, journalist Sophie (Teresa Palmer) inherits a property from the now-deceased Connie (Angela Punch McGregor), one of 2 sisters who raised a child ostensibly not their own but abandoned by a couple decades ago. Connie & Rose – and their families – have been making a living out of telling the story of “Baby Munro”, abandoned by their parents who mysteriously disappeared; Scribbly Gum Island is now a tourist attraction. The truth revealed at the end of the series is that *spoiler alert* the baby, named Enigma, is the child of one of the sisters. External Website