Fiction by Care Experienced authors Orphan Sisters Lola Jaye 2017 Their Nigerian parents have emigrated to England in search of a better life for their family. Nineteen Fifties London is a great adventure to the girls but not always welcoming. There are signs in windows of lodging houses warning: 'no blacks, no dogs, no Irish'. When tragedy strikes and the girls lose their father, their mother is unable to cope. When she fails to recover from the surprise birth of another child all three girls are sent to an orphanage. Lana is determined to keep her sisters together but when baby Tina gets adopted, she must admit their family is about to be torn apart – perhaps for ever... External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Shirley (novel by Ronnie Scott) Ronnie Scott 2023 The narrator of Shirley (2023) by Australian writer Ronnie Scott was in informal foster care as a teenager. The unnamed narrator is the daughter of a celebrity in the TV food industry. Celebrity mum fled Australia after she was caught out in an unflattering photograph and teenage daughter was left in the care of mum’s employees collectively named the Gerards. 20 years on and the daughter is buying her own apartment in an inner city Melbourne suburb, mum is selling the family home, and the young woman is wondering about the meaning of life. External Website

Television Shows Stranger Things 2016 Stranger Things is an American television series which 1st first aired in 2016. Set in the 1980s, it is a sci-fi horror series involving secret government experiments, supernatural forces & a girl called Eleven. Eleven is a main character in Stranger Things. She was born Jane Ives, removed from her mother at birth by Dr Martin Brenner, & raised in Hawkins National Laboratory. She is designated as “Eleven” by Dr Brenner & raised as a test subject to develop the telekinetic skills she was born with. Over the course of the series, Eleven escapes the lab & finds a “family”, a group she becomes part of her. Later, Jim Hopper becomes her adoptive father, protecting her from the government. Eleven also changes from a traumatized, isolated experimental figure to a courageous young women who is willing to protect the world from supernatural threats. External Website

Television Shows Prey 2015 Prey is a British thriller series. In the second series (2015) Philip Glenister stars as prison officer David Murdoch who is manipulated into freeing a woman prisoner in order to save his pregnant daughter. As events get out of control and Murdoch becomes complicit in crimes, it is revealed that the woman prisoner and her behind-the-scenes brother were in foster care. The foster care backstory is presented as sufficient explanation for criminal behaviour. External Website

Films/Videos August Rush 2007 August Rush (2007) is a musical drama film starring Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. When cellist Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) gives birth to a son, her father secretly organises the baby to be adopted. The baby, Evan Taylor (Freddie Highmore) is a musical prodigy. Because he is bullied in the orphanage where he’s been living since birth, he runs away to New York City. In New York, Evan meets a Fagan-type character, ‘Wizard’ Wallace (Robin Williams), who takes in homeless and orphaned children and teaches them to busk. He gives Evan Taylor the name August Rush. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Home Penny Parkes 2021 Anna Wilson travels the world as a professional housesitter – stepping into other people’s lives – caring for their homes, pets and sometimes even neighbours. Living vicariously. Growing up in foster care, she always envied her friends their secure and carefree lives, their certainty and confidence. And, while those same friends may have become her family of choice, Anna is still stuck in that nomadic cycle, looking for answers, trying to find the courage to put down roots and find a place to call home. External Website

Actors Jimmie Fails Jimmie Fails (born November 10, 1994) is an American actor. His first lead role in a feature film was the titular role in the semi-autobiographical film The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Fails was born and raised in San Francisco. He spent most of his childhood in foster care and public housing. Until he was three years old he had lived in a Victorian house that his grandfather, a Baptist preacher, had bought in the predominantly Black middle-class Fillmore district of San Francisco. After his grandfather died, the house was foreclosed on because his relatives could not afford the expense. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Banana Boy Frank Norman 1969 Frank Norman was born in Bristol in 1930 and abandoned by his natural parents. After an unsuccessful adoption he was committed to a succession of children's homes in and around London—the story of which is recounted in his childhood autobiography, Banana Boy (1969). After the homes came a succession of petty crimes for which he was imprisoned, finally leading to a three-year stretc. A Playwright and a novelist; he also spent time in a Dr Barnardo's home, Norman worked as a farm labourer and in a travelling fair as well as serving two short prison sentences (described in his successful autobiography Bang to Rights, 1958 and Stand on Me, 1961). He also worked, with Lionel Bart, on the successful musical Fings Aint Wot They Used T'be (1959). External Website

Actors Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna, born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in the Hindi cinema. Rahesh was adoped by relatives of his parents. He is referred to as the "First Superstar" of Indian cinema. He starred in 15 consecutive solo hit films from 1969 to 1971, a record unbroken. During his career he appeared in more than 168 feature films and 12 short films. He received the Filmfare Best Actor Award three times and the BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) four times. In 2014, his biography Rajesh Khanna – The untold story of India's first Superstar by Yasser Usman was published by Penguin Books. In 2018, a one kilometre fitness trail in Lajpat Nagar National Park was named after Khanna, which was inaugurated by his wife Dimple Kapadia. External Website

Films/Videos Something to be proud of - a film by Kinship 2021 “Something to be proud of” (2021) is a short, animated film, using balls of knitting wool, to tell the story of one child’s experience of ending up in kinship care. The film was made by UK organisation, Kinship, in conjunction with production company My Pockets. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Christine Falls Benjamin Black 2006 Benjamin Black is the pen name for Irish writer John Banville. Black's character, Quirke, was in an orphanage until he was removed and adopted by Judge Garret Griffith. He subsequently became a pathologist working at the Holy Family Hospital, Dublin. In the first book of the Quirke series, Christine Falls (2006), Benjamin Black takes up the story of Irish babies being sent to the US for adoption by ‘respectable’ American families. According to The Irish Times (1 February 2021), up to 4,000 Irish children were sent to the US for adoption between the 1940s and 1970s. In the case of Christine Falls, it’s Quirke’s own family which is implicated in this practice External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Robert Duvall and Martin Sheen to join Luke Wilson in upcoming Fort Worth film ’12 Mighty Orphans' Michael Granberry 2019 A review 12 Mighty Orphans, the movie version of the bestseller by Jim Dent that’s set in Fort Worth. External Website

Films/Videos Trade Secrets 1: Maria Amidu on making a living and working internationally 2012 Maria Amidu talks about her practice as a socially engaged artist - walking, talking and making something. External Website

Television Shows The Outlaws 2021 The Outlaws is a 2021 British crime/dark comedy television series which centres a kinship care family. Christian/Ben (Gamba Cole) is a young man who organised for child protection services to have his sister removed from their mother and placed in his care. Christian/Ben is one of 7 strangers who meet while they're completing community services hours for minor offences. The 7 are from different walks of life and need to work through their differences in order to 'save' Ben. External Website

Behind the Scenes Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (née McDonald; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant. At 8 years old, Josephine began working as a live-in domestic for white families in St. Louis. One woman abused her, burning Josephine's hands when the young girl put too much soap in the laundry. At 11, she witnessed the devastating 1917 East St. Louis riots, a traumatic event that marked her childhood. By 12, Josephine left school and lived on the streets, dancing for money. She had two brief marriages by age 15, using the surname Baker from her second husband professionally throughout her life. Despite her mother's disapproval, Josephine pursued a career in entertainment, joining vaudeville troupes and eventually moving to New York. Her talent led to international fame, particularly in France, where her career flourished. Despite the distance, she supported her family with gifts and financial aid. During World War II, Josephine Baker served as a spy for the French Resistance, using her fame to gather intelligence for the Deuxième Bureau. She charmed German, Italian, and Vichy officials at embassies and social events, relaying crucial information to French counterintelligence. After the German invasion of France, she sheltered Resistance members at her château and carried messages written in invisible ink on her sheet music while traveling under the guise of an entertainer. Relocating to North Africa in 1941, she continued her espionage and supported the Free French, even enduring severe health challenges, including a miscarriage and life-threatening infections. Post-war, Baker was honored with the Resistance Medal, Croix de Guerre, and the Légion d'honneur for her contributions. During her participation in the civil rights movement, Baker began to adopt children, forming a family which she often referred to as "The Rainbow Tribe". Baker wanted to prove that "children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers." Altogether she adopted 12 children! External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Children in care are not just numbers: we must challenge the stigma Jimmy Paul 2017 Jimmy Paul writes about his experience of going into care at the age of 11 and the stigma that still hampers Care Experienced People. External Website

Radio & Podcast Foundling: Found - a new podcast series Julian Brown 2021 A podcast series by Care Leaver Julian Brown who is also a Story of care Ambassador for Voices Through Time. The podcast series looks at the Found Hospital archives from 1739 until the present day, along with media representations of people in care and perceptions of the care system from young Care Leavers. External Website

Performing Arts USA, songwriter Eden Ahbez George Alexander Aberle, known as eden ahbez, (1908 – 1995) was an American songwriter best known for writing the 1948 hit "Nature Boy" for Nat "King" Cole. Eden Ahbez wrote the 1948 hit "Nature Boy" for Nat "King" Cole and it became a huge hit. Born to a poor Brooklyn family, after his mother died, Eden spent his early years in the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York. He traveled on an orphan train to Kansas, adopted in 1917 & raised as George McGrew. Later he moved to Los Angeles, where he adopted a simple, nature-focused lifestyle that influenced the hippie movement. Many other artists sang 'Nature Boy' including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, George Benson, David Bowie & many more. Eden used lower case letters for all words, explaining that only God & Infinity deserved upper case. A documentary ‘As the Wind: The Enchanted Life of Eden Ahbez,’ is in production. His psychedelic album ‘Eden’s Island’ was released in 1960. Ahbe's wife, Anna, b.1919, died of bone cancer in 1963. Their son, Zoma, born in 1948, died of a drug overdose in 1969. These losses profoundly affected Ahbe, inspiring many songs and daily reflections on Anna. On the TV show “We the People,” in 1948, Ahbez told host Dwight Weist, “All the money in the world will not change my way of life. Because all the money in the world could not give me the things I already have. Anna and I have learned that nature and a simple life will bring you peace and happiness. We sleep on the ground in sleeping bags in the California mountains and deserts.” The greatest thing You'll ever learn Is just to love And be loved in return. - Nature Boy External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors State Ward Alan Duff 1994 State Ward (1994) is Alan Duff’s fictionalized account of being incarcerated as a child. Charlie Wilson is a boy sent to Riverton Boys' Home as a state ward until such time he is seen fit to return to society. Writes Duff: 'I'm thirteen and I'm in a cell. A cell. It's got real bars, up there protecting that high window. I can jump up and touch them. I'm in a cell. That door is for real; it's made of solid steel, and it's got a peephole. So they can spy on me. But I ain't gonna bust. I damn well ain't.' There’s also the name “George” scrawled on the walls of Charlie’s cell, along with ‘kehua’ which means ghost. External Website

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