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Radio & Podcast Darcey & Chloe - How the system failed to save two baby girls Background Briefing (3) ​ In this 2-part series (originally aired February 2023), we hear the distressing story of 2 tiny girls – Darcey (2) and Chloe (1) —who died, in part because of the failure of the Queensland, Australia Department of Child Safety to heed ‘red flags’. Darcey and Chloe died after they were left in a car for 9 hours by their mother who is now serving a prison sentence for manslaughter. The ABC’s Background Briefing podcast revealed that there were repeated warnings to the Department, including by Darcey’s father, in the weeks prior to the children’s deaths. Darcey had already been in foster care for a time, and was returned to mother with a “safety plan” in place. However, when alarms were later raised by the father, the Department decided they were the result of a custody dispute and therefore took no action. External Website

Performing Arts Faith Hill Faith Hill ​ Audrey Faith McGraw (née Perry; born1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and record producer. She was born in Mississippi and then adopted when she was a baby. Faith was already performing in public at the age of seven. At nineteen she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a career as a country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide.Hill's first two albums, Take Me as I Am (1993) and It Matters to Me (1995), were major successes and placed a combined three number ones on Billboard's country charts. She then achieved mainstream and crossover success with her next two albums, Faith (1998) and Breathe (1999). Faith spawned her first international success in early 1998, "This Kiss", while Breathe became one of the best-selling country albums of all time, led by the huge crossover success of the songs "Breathe" and "The Way You Love Me". It had massive sales worldwide and earned Hill three Grammy Awards. In 2001, she recorded "There You'll Be" for the Pearl Harbor soundtrack and it became an international success and her best-selling single in Europe. Hill's next two albums, Cry (2002) and Fireflies (2005), were both commercial successes; the former spawned another crossover single, "Cry", which won Hill a Grammy Award, and the latter produced the singles "Mississippi Girl" and "Like We Never Loved at All", which earned her another Grammy Award. Hill has won five Grammy Awards, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, six American Music Awards, and several other awards. Her Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 with McGraw became the highest-grossing country tour of all time. External Website

Radio & Podcast Remembering Randall Remembering Randall 2022 Remembering Randall is an important podcast to honour Professor Kerry Carrington's brother Randall Scott Carrington. Randall Carrington was made a ward of the (Qld) state at age 17 and incarcerated in the now notorious Wolston Park Mental Hospital from 1978 to 1979. Rather than be returned to Wolston in 1980, he chose to kill himself. Kerry Carrington is calling for an inquiry into Wolston Park Mental Hospital. Access to records, she says, is prohibited for 100 years, “till no-one is alive to remember the shocking human rights abuses carried out at Wolston Park Mental Hospital." https://rememberingrandall.com/ External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 Rita Mae Brown was born in 1944 in Hanover, Pennsylvania to an unmarried teenage mother and her mother's married boyfriend. Brown's birth mother left the newborn Brown at an orphanage. Her mother's cousin Julia Brown and her husband Ralph retrieved her from the orphanage,[1] and raised her as their own in York, Pennsylvania, and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.[2] Rubyfruit Jungle is the first novel by Rita Mae Brown. Published in 1973, it was remarkable in its day for its explicit portrayal of lesbianism. The novel is a coming-of-age autobiographical account of Brown's youth and emergence as a lesbian author. The term "rubyfruit jungle" is a term used in the novel for the female genitals. Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Molly Bolt, the adoptive daughter of a dirt-poor Southern couple who boldly forges her own path in America. With her startling beauty and crackling wit, Molly finds that women are drawn to her wherever she goes—and she refuses to apologize for loving them back. This literary milestone continues to resonate with its message about being true to yourself and, against the odds, living happily ever after. Winner of the Lambda Literary Pioneer Award | Winner of the Lee Lynch Classic Book Award. External Website

Performing Arts Ray Charles Ray Charles ​ Ray Charles Robinson (1930 – J2004) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray." He was often referred to as "The Genius." Charles was blinded during childhood due to glaucoma. Ray's mother, Aretha Robinson, found a local school to accept him; he then attended a special school in Floriday from 1937-1945. After his mother died when Ray was 14, the boy moved to Jacksonville to with a friend of his mother's. He played piano in bands and gained a reputation as a talented musician. In 1947, Charles moved to Tampa and then on to Seattle, Washington where he formed his own band. He pioneered the soul music genre and received numerous awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. External Website

Radio & Podcast Christmas with Charles Dickens BBC You're Dead to Me 2022 Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is included amongst our Care Experienced Writers because he was living in a foster care type arrangement at the age of 11 or 12 while his family was in a debtors' prison. In the podcast, there's a discussion about the influence Dickens has had on Christmas celebrations in the UK and beyond. For some he’s even “the man who invented Christmas”. Even the idea of a ‘white Christmas’ has been influenced by the fact that the first 8 Christmas’ Dickens experienced as a child were indeed icy cold. According to Greg Jenner, "A Christmas Carol is the most famous Christmas story ever" (it sold out in 5 days when it was 1st published) with many adaptations including something like 30 films. External Website

Radio & Podcast Robi Walters (podcast) A life made beautiful by rubbish ​ Robi Walters is a London-based artist who creates mesmerising, colourful collages out of discarded materials. He’s been hugely successful, with celebrity buyers, and packed-out exhibitions. Robi is driven by an obsession with taking materials that have been abandoned by other people, and transforming them into something that’s beautiful, and wanted. It's been part of a cathartic process, giving hope to the child who felt unwanted, in the aftermath of a tragic fire. External Website

Sport Kevin De Bruyne Kevin De Bruyne ​ Kevin De Bruyne (born in Belgium 28 June 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester City and the Belgium national team. At 14 years old the Belgian club put him with a foster family for 12 months while he completed his education and played in their academy. After a year, the foster family didn't want him to come back because they said he was quiet. This rejection spurred him on to become on of the best players in the world and of his generation. He has written his autobiography Keep It Simple, which was published by Borgerhoff & Lamberigts in October 2014. External Website

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Radio & Podcast When Robert met Maida Robert Tickner 2020 Former politician Robert Tickner grew up in country NSW, 'showered with love' by his adoptive parents. When he began the search for his biological mum Maida in his 40s, he discovered she was living close by. External Website

Films/Videos The Secret Garden ​ 2020 In 1947, orphaned Mary Lennox is sent from her home in India to her uncle in Yorkshire, England. Mary discovers that her cousin, Colin Craven, is bedridden. Seeking the help of her friend, Dicken, Mary persuades Colin to join her in a garden on the estate which has been disused since Colin's mother dies. This proves to be a healthful adventure. The film is based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. External Website

Radio & Podcast A Reading Life, A Writing Life A Reading Life, A Writing Life 2022 Sally Bayley is a writer and Lecturer in English at Hertford College, Oxford, England Sally was so neglected at home as a child that she put herself into the care system at the age of 14. She didn't see her family for the next 12 years. Sally now lives on a boat on the River Thames in Oxford. In this podcast she talks about living on the river and amongst nature, and about her reading and writing life. External Website

Radio & Podcast Karen Menzies' hidden Aboriginal heritage Karen Menzies 2016 The truth of Karen Menzies' Aboriginal heritage was a shock that took her more than a decade to fully comprehend. She was removed from her foster parents and spent her teenage years in instituions, later playing soccer for Australia. External Website

Films/Videos Vidal Sassoon: The Movie ​ 2010 Vidal Sassoon: The Movie (2010) recounts the story of Vidal Sassoon ((1928-2012) and his brother being put into a Jewish orphanage when their parent separated and because their mother was impoverished. They were in the orphanage for about 6 years and Vidal fondly remembers being in the choir. He also remembers running away from the orphanage and going to his dad’s house. His dad’s response, however, was to return Vidal to the orphanage as soon as possible. “I think that moment was when I lost any love that I had for him” says Vidal Sasson during the documentary. “I never saw him again.” Like other children during WWII, Vidal Sassoon was also evacuated to the countryside “…where we lived with cows and sheep for the next few years.” External Website

Poets Pat Schneider Pat Schneider ​ Pat Schneider (1934-2020) was an American writer and poet. She was born in Missouri and placed in an orphanage by her single mother for around twelve months. Encouraged by her mother and local church community, Pat earned a Masters from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California and was a graduate of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was the founder and director of Amherst Writers & Artists and editor of Amherst Writers & Arts Press. An annual poetry contest was established in her honour by Amherst Writers & Artists in 2011. External Website

Films/Videos Star Wars: The Force Awakens ​ 2015 This is the 7th episode of the "Skywalker sage" and the first film which introduces Rey, a scavenger and orphan character. External Website

Poets Shane McCrae Shane McCrae ​ African American poet, Shane McCrae (b. circa 1976) was born in Portland, Oregon to a white mother and Black father. He was 3 years old when he was kidnapped by his white grandparents who told the young Shane that his father had abandoned him. Shane dropped out of high school, but later went on to a community college. In addition to other degrees, he has a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School (2007) and a Master of Arts from the University of Iowa (2012). Shane McCrae now teaches creative writing at Columbia University. He has published 10 volumes of poetry. Shane McCrae has recently released his memoir, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun, in which he explores life with his racist grandparents (which included being beaten), occasional visits from his mother, his unhappy experience at school, and how he found his way to poetry. External Website

Poetry Morning Breaks In The Elevator Lemn Sissay 2016 Published in 2003, Morning Breaks in the Elevator Lemn Sissay establishes his reputation as a foremost UK poet with a collection that moves from protest to reflection. External Website

Radio & Podcast Demon Coperhead New York Times Book Club (Demon Copperhead) 2024 Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead (2022) is a retelling of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield with a contemporary Appalachia, USA setting. The New York Times Book Review’s MJ Franklin discusses thes book with colleagues Elisabeth Egan and Anna Dubenko. External Website

Performing Arts Ruby Hunter Ruby Hunter ​ Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter (31 October 1955 – 17 February 2010) was an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist. A member of the Stolen Generations and a proud Ngarrindjeri woman, Ruby was born in the Coorong region of South Australia. At eight years of age Ruby was removed from her family along with four siblings. Initially deposited in the Seaforth Children’s Home, for the next eight years Ruby was in and out of foster care and other institutions. At 16 Ruby was released from state control. While she was homeless on the streets of Adelaide, Ruby met Archie Roach at a Salvation Army drop in centre. The couple struggled with alcohol addiction but Ruby encouraged Archie to begin transmuting his pain into songs. After Ruby and Archie moved to Melbourne, Ruby worked for the Margaret Tucker Hostel for Girls which provides accommodation for homeless Aboriginal girls. The hostel is named after one of Australia’s distinguished Aboriginal activists. Ruby continued this work with Archie when the couple cared for children in a group home and later as they cared for young people in their own home. In 1994 Ruby Hunter became the first Aboriginal Australian woman to record with a major label with her first album, Thoughts Within. 6 years later she won Best Female Performer at the 2000 Deadly Awards. Ruby Hunter also performed in the 2001 film, One Night the Moon, starring Paul Kelly and directed by Rachel Perkins. Ruby’s Story was a 2004 collaboration between Ruby, Archie Roach, Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra using songs to tell Ruby’s story and performed at the Message Stick Festival. Ruby Hunter performed with Archie Roach in Melbourne’s Federal Square for the 2008 Apology to the Stolen Generation given by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. She always maintained that keeping her family together was her biggest achievement. External Website