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News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles ABC's Patricia Karvelas on her experience of Parliament's toxic 'sexist' culture and how a childhood tragedy shaped her. Natasha Johnson 2021 ABC's Patricia Karvelas on her experience of Parliament's toxic 'sexist' culture and how a childhood tragedy shaped her. When Karvelas was eight years old, her parents died suddenly and she was raised variously by her maternal grandmother and two sisters, Sue and Voula, who are 11 and eight years older. External Website

Radio & Podcast Jeanette Winterson: the storyteller's tale Jeanette Winterson 2016 In this conversation, Jeanette Winterson talks about her difficult childhood and path to becoming one of Britain's most successful writers. External Website

Films/Videos The Batman ​ 2022 There's much discussion of orphans and displaced children throughout the film and an orphanage (now in ruins) is at the centre of the story. One discussion is the very different experience of Bruce Wayne after his parents are killed compared to that of those in an orphanage where 30 children are crowded into a single room. Catwoman's back story is that she went into the 'care system' as a 7 year old after her mother was murdered. External Website

Films/Videos The Hurricane ​ 1999 African American professional boxer and activist, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (1937-2014), was in a boys' home as a child. Rubin Carter was born in Clifton, New Jersey, 1 of 7 children. He was 11 when he stabbed a man and was sent to Jamesburg State Home for Boys. He escaped after 6 years and enlisted in the army, where he did well. Rubin Carter began his boxing career in 1961. He and another man were convicted of murder in 1967, but the convictions were formally dismissed in 1988. This story is told in The Hurricane (1999) and Rubin Cartin is played by Denzel Washington. The film also tells something of the story of Lesra Martin. Martin was born in 1963. Illiterate at the age of 15, he moved in with 3 Canadians, read the 16th Round by Rubin Carter, wrote to Carter in prison, and - along with his foster family - helped to find the evidence that eventually led to Carter's conviction being overturned. Lesra Martin went on to become a lawyer and motivational speaker. External Website

Radio & Podcast A free lunch Life Changing with Jane Garvey 2022 This is a conversation with Sinead Browne who grew up in the UK care system. She ended up with an eating disorder and a law degree, went travelling at the age of 27 and was inspired by The Free Store https://www.thefreestore.org.nz/ in New Zealand to set up Compliments of the House back in the UK, in Brixton. Compliments of the House provides food and community for those who need it, and can be found here: https://www.complimentsofthehouse.org/ and Sinead's website is here: https://www.sineadbrowne.com/ External Website

Films/Videos The Illustrated Mum (TV movie) ​ 2003 The Illustrated Mum is a TV movie starring Michelle Collins, Alice Connor, and Holliday Grainger. Two sisters cope with the unpredictable behaviour of their depressed, alcoholic mother who was in care as a child. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles The One Percent compilation Inspired Youth 2018 This film features the voices of care experienced young people on different stages of the care journey. The film was written and performed by young people who developed a character and storylines through creative workshops culminating in a film coproduction with Inspired Youth. External Website

Plays & Musicals featuring Care Exp Hamilton (Musical) Lin-Manuel Miranda 2020 Hamilton: An American Musical is a sung-and-rapped-through musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical was inspired by Ron Chernow (2004) biography of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America's Founding Fathers, from orphaned immigrant to first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. The West End production opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London in December 2017, winning seven Olivier Awards in 2018, including Best New Musical. External Website

Performing Arts Willie Nelson Willie Nelson ​ Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American musician, actor, and activist. His mother left soon after he was born, and his father remarried and also moved away, leaving Nelson and his sister Bobbie to be raised by their grandparents, who taught singing back in Arkansas and started their grandchildren in music. Nelson's grandfather bought him a guitar when he was six, and taught him a few chords, and Nelson sang gospel songs in the local church alongside Bobbie. He wrote his first song at age seven, and when he was nine, he played guitar for local band Bohemian Polka. During the summer, the family picked cotton alongside other Abbott residents. Nelson disliked picking cotton, so he earned money by singing in dance halls, taverns, and honky tonks from age 13, which he continued through high school. His musical influences were Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Django Reinhardt, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Angelina Jolie's casting game with Cambodian orphans sparks outrage Harriet Alexander 2017 Angelina Jolie has come under fierce criticism for describing the casting of Cambodian children in her new film, in which the team gave the impoverished youngsters money and then pretended to take it away from them, awarding roles to the children who looked the most upset. External Website

Films/Videos Mothering Sunday (film) ​ 2021 Mothering Sunday, adaptation of Graham Swift's novel set in 1924 over one day. Mr & Mrs Evan give housekeeper, orphan Jane Fairchild, day off. They're set to go to neighbour's house to celebrate an engagement. Jane & the neighbour, Paul, have been having an affair for many years. External Website

Radio & Podcast Nina Bernstein and June Norton on Ella Fitzgerald American Masters ​ Before jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) became the First Lady of Song, she spent much of her teenage years as an orphan, at times living on the street, as journalist Nina Berstein discovered.. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Meet Karen Menzies, Australia's first Indigenous Matilda Karen Menzies 2021 Karen Menzies was taken from her parents when she was an eight month old baby and made a ward of the state. She was raised by a loving non-Aboriginal family in Sydney, who thought they had adopted her, but when she was 13, Karen ended up in institutions, including a girls' home in suburban Newcastle where she was encouraged to play soccer. Karen didn't find out about her Aboriginal heritage until she was 16. When she was selected to play soccer for Australia in 1983, she was the first Indigenous woman to do so. Karen is now a lecturer at the University of Newcastle and is a member of Football Australia's first Indigenous Advisory Group. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Christian Bale unveils plans to build 12 foster homes in California Christian Bale 2024 “Imagine the absolute pain and the trauma of losing your parents or being torn from your parents, and then losing your brothers and sisters on top of that. That’s no way to treat kids. Christian Bale co-founder of Together California, the organisation steering the development, is constructing 12 foster homes with the goal of keeping siblings in the foster care system together, ensuring they reside under one roof. Also there will be two studio flats to help children transition into independent living, and a 7,000 sq ft community centre. Photograph: JC Olivera/Rex/Shutterstock External Website

Films/Videos We Have a Ghost ​ 2023 We have a Ghost (2023, Netflix) is an American comedy supernatural film with a kinship care story in the background. The film tells the story of a family of 4 who discover a ghost, Ernest (David Harbour), in the attic of their new home. Father Frank Presley (Anthony Mackie) wants to cash in on the phenomenon and starts posting video to YouTube. The family becomes famous. Youngest son Kevin Presley (Jahi Winston) befriends Ernest and discovers that the ghost has a daughter who was raised by Ernest’s in-laws. In the meantime, the CIA get involved … External Website

Plays & Musicals featuring Care Exp Wolfie (play) Ross Willis 2019 Something's not right. Children are being raised by animals. A mother is slowly sinking in the bath. The trees are left doing the paperwork. The air is filled with screams of children howling for help. And some twins want to tell you a story about how everything got so fucked up. A spiralling odyssey of dizzying theatricality, Wolfie is a bold, fantastical fairytale following two twins separated at birth and asks who is truly responsible for society's most vulnerable children. Ross Willis's debut play is a wildly imaginative, irreverent look at life in and after the care system. It was premiered at Theatre503, London, in March 2019, directed by Theatre503 Artistic Director Lisa Spirling. Wolfie was awarded Best Play at the 2020 Writers' Guild Awards, and Best New Play at the 2020 Off-West End Awards. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Hutchinson Heinemann signs Fagan's 'extraordinary' memoir in two-book deal Jenni Fagan 2022 Hutchinson Heinemann has signed Ootlin, a memoir by writer Jenni Fagan, in a two-book deal. Publishing director Ailah Ahmed acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Tracy Bohan at The Wylie Agency. The memoir will be published in hardback, e-book and audio on 24th August 2023. External Website

Performing Arts Édith Piaf Edith Piaf ​ Édith Piaf (1915 – 1963) was a French singer-songwriter, cabaret performer and film actress noted as France's national chanteuse and one of the country's most widely known international stars. Edith Piaf was born Edith Giovanna Gassion in the twentieth arrondissement, then a poor area of Paris. She was immediately abandoned by her mother, street performer Annetta Maillard, who left the tiny baby with her mother. Edith’s father, Louis Gassion, wasn’t impressed with the grandmother’s quarters and took his daughter to live with his mother in Normandy, France. Edith's paternal grandmother ran a bordello and sex workers helped care for the child. At 14 (or perhaps younger), Edith became part of her father’s troupe of itinerant street performers and acrobats. Night club owner, Louis Leplee, presented her as a talented street kid when she was 19. Although she was with Leplee for only 12 months until his death, she became a “huge success” and followed her night club appearances with radio, records and song-writing. She probably never really recovered from her difficult childhood, but by the Second World War, Edith Piaf “had become one of the top entertainers in Paris.” When the War ended, Edith Piaf toured internationally, endearing herself to many and becoming a household name. External Website

Non Fiction Behind The Wall. The Women of the Destitute Asylum Adelaide, 1852-1918 Mary Geyer 1994 Behind The Wall: The Women of the Destitute Asylum, 1852-1918 (1994) by Mary Geyer is a history of some women who once lived at the Destitute Asylum in Adelaide, South Australia. According to Mary Geyer, in March 1856, there were "65 women, 30 men and 43 children" housed at the Destitute Asylum. Amongst the vignettes of women Geyer includes in her book are those of woman born in the Asylum's Lying-in home. For example, Olive Doran (b. 1885) went into kinship care after her mother unmarried died, and Ada Deare (b. 1900) went into foster care. Adelaide’s Migration Museum (opened in 1986) now occupies the site on which the Destitute Asylum once existed. External Website

Plays & Musicals featuring Care Exp A Fortunate Life (Theatre adaptation) A.B. Facey 2019 In 2020, a striking collaboration between artists of stage and screen honours the trials and triumphs of extraordinary everyman A.B Facey, whose award-winning Australian classic autobiography, A Fortunate Life, has been adapted for theatrical presentation. Albert Barnett Facey born in Maidstone, Victoria, Australia, in 1894, the youngest of seven children. His father died when he was two of typhoid fever. When Bert was four, his Grandpa died. Bert's mother then left the rest of her children to be looked after by their grandmother to go to the Goldfields, but met and married another man and had nothing further to do with Bert's upbringing. Facey had been making notes on his life since an early age, at the urging of his wife, he eventually wrote them up into a full manuscript, by hand, in a series of exercise books, working at the kitchen table. He then had the manuscript typed up and sent it to Fremantle Arts Centre Press, requesting that twenty copies be printed and bound for family members and friends. Facey's story was so remarkable, however, that it was immediately accepted for commercial publication. It appeared just nine months before his death on 11 February 1982, in his 88th year. External Website