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Behind the Scenes Larissa FastHorse ​ ​ Native American playwright, Larissa FastHorse, Larissa FastHorse grew up in South Dakota. She was adopted as a small child by a white family, but the open adoption meant she continued to be in contact with her community from the Sicangu Lakota Nation. Larissa began her career as a ballet dancer but, after 10 years, an injury forced her to retire. She then worked in film and television before writing and directing her own award-winning plays. In April 2023, Larissa FastHorse became the first Native American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. “The Thanksgiving Play” is a satire about performers trying to stage a historically accurate and respectful play about Native peoples while not offending the audience or leaving them feeling bad. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Tortured Victoria 2015 The truth about one of Britain's most sadistic mothers by the daughter who survived her reign of terror. As a child, Victoria Spry was brutally beaten, neglected and starved by the woman she called Mummy. To the outside world Eunice Spry was a devoted parent, but behind closed doors she was an evil tyrant. Instead of protecting, loving and caring for Victoria, she forced bleach and urine down her throat, knocked out her teeth, tied her up naked and made her live in squalor. It took eighteen years of heartache and despair before she found the courage to expose her mum. Due to severe mental health problems from the abuse Victoria took her own life in 2020, aged just 35 years old. External Website

Authors T Charles Dickens: A Life ➝ Back to Top

Autobiography/Memoir Thursday's Child Eartha Kitt 1958 This is Eartha Kitt's first autobiography and recalls her impoverished childhood, rejection by her mother and time in foster and kinship care, and becoming a performer from the age of 16. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Success Stories and Sad Statistics?? Wayne Biffa 2019 A blog about the two paths stories about Care Experienced People usually go down, the 'success' path and the 'sad' one. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Mercy's story Coram 2021 Read the story of Mercy, who was a pupil at the Foundling Hospital, England’s first dedicated children’s charity, in the 18th Century. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Child Migrant Trust Child Migrant Trust 1987 The Child Migrants Trust was founded in 1987 by its Director, Margaret Humphreys CBE, AO, to address the devastating impact of British child migration schemes. In 1986 Margaret Humphreys, a Nottinghamshire Social Worker, received a letter from a woman who claimed that at the age of four she was shipped to a Children's Home in Australia, and now wanted help to find her parents or relatives in Britain. Gradually, the enormity of child migration was exposed. Incredibly over 130,000 children had been deported from Britain and shipped off to a "new life" originally to distant parts of the Empire and, more recently, across the Commonwealth. This long history of forced migration ended in 1970. The Trust campaigns to raise public awareness of the long-term impact of child migration schemes for former Child Migrants overseas and their families in Britain. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Mary's story Janette Bright 2021 Meet Mary, who grew up in the Foundling Hospital in the 18th Century. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Our Fathers Cleared the Bush: Remembering Eyre Peninsula Jill Roe 2016 Renowned historian Jill Roe, whose grandparents were early settlers of South Australia's west coast, revisits her mid-century childhood in what was one of Australia's most remote regions, including living in kinship care with her grandparents. Rhythms of work and play were punctuated by moments - the annual show, a visit from young Queen Elizabeth - that connected farming lives, however briefly, to a changing world.With urbanisation comes uncertainties. As her story unfolds, Jill Roe contemplates the future of Eyre Peninsula and the role of regional Australia. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Hannah's story Carol Harris 2021 Read about Hannah. who grew up in the Foundling Hospital in the 19th Century including becoming a maid at the age of nine. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Category:Fictional orphans Anon 2020 This category is for fictional orphans, i.e. characters who have had one or both parent(s) and/or legal guardian(s) die or otherwise abandoning them permanently, during the character's childhood. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Care Experience Conference Care Experience Conference 2019 The Care Experienced Conference – Past, Present & Future? was a national conference for care experienced people and care leavers of all ages to enable a much-needed debate about the care system past and present. The conference took place on the 26th April 2019 at Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool. The aim was for Care Experienced community of all ages and diversity to share their experience and views of how the care system can be improved in future. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles A ladder to the stars: Ian Dickson’s reflections on 70 years of the care system Ian Dickson 2022 A ladder to the stars: Ian Dickson’s reflections on 70 years of the care system Between January and July 2022, Article 39’s Director, Carolyne Willow, and Ian Dickson held a series of conversations over Zoom to record his reflections on growing up in care, and how he has devoted his adult life to making sure children are loved, valued and can fulfil their dreams. Ian Dickson 16 February 1950 - 31 December 2022 External Website

Autobiography/Memoir The Sixteenth Round Rubin Carter 1974 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. Written from prison, The Sixteen Round tells of Carter's struggles and triumphs and in the wake of publication, a number of celebrities took up his cause, with Bob Bylan writing his now classic, "Hurricane" in Carter's honour. External Website

Authors K Bessie Smith: A Poet's Biography of a Blues Legend ➝ Back to Top

Biography of Care Experienced People Women of Power: The Life and Times of Catherine de' Medici Mark Strage 1976 Catherine de' Medici was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II and the mother of French Kings Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. She was born 13th April, 1519 in Florence, Republic of Florence, the only child of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, the countess of Boulogne. Both parents died within the first month of her life. At first Catherine was looked after by her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini for a year but then she died too. Catherine was then raised by her aunt, Clarice de' Medici. The death of Pope Leo in 1521 briefly interrupted Medici power until Cardinal Giulio de' Medici was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523. Clement housed Catherine in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, where she lived in state. The Florentine people called her duchessina ("the little duchess"), in deference to her unrecognised claim to the Duchy of Urbino. In 1527, the Medici were overthrown in Florence by a faction opposed to the regime of Clement's representative, Cardinal Silvio Passerini, and Catherine was taken hostage and placed in a series of convents. The final one, the Santissima Annuziata delle Murate was her home for three years. Mark Strage in Women of Power: The Life and Times of Catherine de’ Medici (1976), described these years as "the happiest of her entire life". In October 1529, Charles V's troops laid siege to Florence. As the siege dragged on, voices called for Catherine to be killed and exposed naked and chained to the city walls. Some even suggested that she be handed over to the troops to be used for their sexual gratification. The city finally surrendered on 12 August 1530. Clement summoned Catherine from her beloved convent to join him in Rome where he greeted her with open arms and tears in his eyes. Then he set about the business of finding her a husband. External Website

Academic Books & Book Chapters What Works for Young People Leaving Care? Mike Stein 2004 What Works for Young People Leaving Care? Assesses the implication of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and explores related research in the context of history, law, practice and social and economic structures. The author examines the problems and challenges faced by young people leaving care, the services that are being provided to meet the needs of young people leaving care, the outcomes of leaving care services, and the relationship between research and theory. This wide-ranging appraisal of evidence-based practice will be invaluable for all those involved in developing and providing services for young people leaving care. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Blog: Stigma and the care experience Denisha Killoh 2018 In this blog, Denisha Killoh talks about her experience of stigma as a Care Experienced person. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Ploughshares at Emerson College Kelly Amber 2015 In the wide realm of literature, having parents is a convenience that escapes many characters. The Orphan is one of the most prominent characters in literature, in part because the absence of parental figures automatically fuels so many possible motivations. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles The PhD question… Rosie Canning 2021 Back in November 2020, we held The Challenges and Pleasure of Being a Care Experienced Person Working and Studying in a University. Rosie Canning spoke about doing a PhD: When did you first consider… External Website