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Television Shows Vienna Blood 2019 Vienna Blood (2019-2024) is a British Austrian police procedural. It is set in Vienna, Austria in the early 1900s and is based on the Liebermann novels by English clinical psychologist and writer, Frank Tallis. The series follows Police Detective Oskar Rheinhardt (Jurgen Maurer) as he teams up with a student of Sigmund Freud, Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard). The pair use Max’s skills to explore the psychology behind several murders. In Series 2, Episodes 1 & 2 of “The Melancholy Countess”, we find out that a wealthy countess had her 9-year-old son sent away to a mental asylum because she was embarrassed by his behaviour. The boy was taken to another hospital at the age of 16. **Spoiler Alert** The abandoned son is not the killer. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir No Way Home: The terrifying story of life in a children's home and a little girl's struggle to survive Sue Martin 2007 Sue Martin was not three years old when she began life at her first children's home- a home that could at best be described as cold and regimented; at worst, torturous and terrifying.When her mother abandoned her to the protection of the home, Sue was soon to discover that behind the welcoming doors of this reputedly kind-hearted organisation lay a world steeped in lies, cover-ups, victimisation and abuse. At its heart was Boagey, whose perverse bullying was targeted at Sue. External Website

Academic Articles From Folktales to Fiction: Orphan Characters in Children’s Literature Melanie A. Kimball 1999 Orphan heroes and heroines are familiar characters in children’s literature, particularly in the fiction of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This type of protagonist has its roots in folktales. An analysis of fifty folktales from different cultures reveals that, while the details of or- phan stories vary, there are some universal elements. A comparison of these patterns to a literary orphan story, The Secret Garden, demonstrates how the patterns found in orphan folktales were adapted and applied in children’s fiction. External Website

Non Fiction History and Sociology of the Willowbrook State School William Bronston 2013 Willowbrook State School was used to warehouse as many as 6000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities between 1947 and when it was closed in 1987. In 1972 a journalist exposed the appalling practices within the 'school'. In this book the authors tell the story of what was happening at Willowbrook prior to the 1972 expose, and include a history of the treatment of people with disabilities in the United States. External Website

Authors T The Jungle Book ➝ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ➝ The Unadoptables: Five fantastic children on the adventure of a lifetime ➝ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ➝ Back to Top

Authors M My Mum Tracy Beaker ➝ McDonald & Dodds ➝ Murder is Easy ➝ Maryland ➝ Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries ➝ Marriage ➝ Manifest ➝ My Life with the Walter Boys ➝ My Parents Are Aliens ➝ Mystery Road: Origin ➝ Mr Mercedes ➝ Back to Top

Television Shows Hetty Feather 2015 With Isabel Clifton, Polly Allen, Dasharn Anderson, Eva Pope. Set in Victorian-era London of 1887, Hetty and her foster brother Gideon are forced to return to the foundling hospital where she was abandoned by her mother as a baby. Hetty and her friends hate the iron-fist regime of Matron Bottomly and gang leader Sheila. Hetty yearns to escape and go in search of her mother. External Website

Radio & Podcast Rousseau on Inequality Talking Politics: History of Ideas 2021 Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality (also known as the Second Discourse) is the subject of David Runciman's 1st talk for the second series of the Talking Politics and History of Ideas podcast. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was abandoned by his father (his mother died when he was 9 days old) when he was 10. The boy was left in kinship care with an uncle who in turn fostered him out for 2 years. David Runciman doesn't talk about this, but does talk about how Rousseau abandoned his own children, 5 of them, to a foundling home. He's not a 'nice' philosopher concludes Runciman. External Website

Authors A Ten Things Every Foster Child Wishes You Knew: A Guide to Fostering Hope ➝ Eden's Story ➝ Abby's Story ➝ We Were Once a Family ➝ Stella's Story ➝ Back to Top

Authors J Judge John Deed ➝ Jack Ryan ➝ Joe Swash: Teens in Care ➝ Back to Top

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Delma Hughes: I grew up in a world without parents Delma Hughes 2010 Delma Hughes spent most of her childhood in care. She didn't realise she had a mother and father – she didn't even know her date of birth – but her big sister meant the world to her. Taken into care at just 18 months old, Delma grew up without knowing she had parents, siblings, or even a birthday. Shuffled through 20 different placements and routinely medicated, she experienced a childhood devoid of love, stability, or identity. Her one anchor was her sister Lucy, but even they were separated by the system—an all-too-common practice that continues today, with 86% of children in care still split from their siblings. Determined to turn her pain into change, she founded Siblings Together in 2008, a charity that reunites siblings separated in care through holiday camps. Her work is a direct response to the system's failures, offering children the connection, memories, and healing that she was denied. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Mothering Sunday (book) Graham Swift 2016 From the Booker Award winner: a luminous, profoundly moving work of fiction that begins with an afternoon tryst in 1924 between a servant girl and the young man of the neighboring house, but then opens to reveal the whole life of a remarkable woman. Twenty-two-year-old Jane Fairchild, orphaned at birth, has worked as a maid at one English country estate since she was sixteen. And for almost all of those years she has been the secret lover to Paul Sheringham, the scion of the estate next door. On an unseasonably warm March afternoon, Jane and Paul will make love for the last time--though not, as Jane believes, because Paul is about to be married--and the events of the day will alter Jane's life forever. As the narrative moves back and forth from 1924 to the end of the century, what we know and understand about Jane--about the way she loves, thinks, feels, sees, remembers--deepens with every beautifully wrought moment. External Website

Radio & Podcast The Strange Life of Ingrid Von Oelhafen The History Listen 2024 In this History Listen podcast, Ingrid von Oelhafen, a German physiotherapist, recounts the story of her incredible childhood. First, she and her brother were left in an orphanage for 5 years. Then the 2 were returned to their tyrannical father. After her brother disappeared one day, Ingrid found out he was a foster child. Later, she found out she was a foster child. It was decades before Ingrid found out who her parents were. External Website

Artists Madge Gill Born 19 January 1882, an illegitimate child in East Ham, Essex, (now Greater London), Madge Gill spent much of her early years in seclusion because her family could not tolerate the embarrassment. At age nine, despite her mother still being alive, she was placed in a Barnardo’s Girls’ Village Home orphanage at Barkingside, Ilford, Essex. She was sent by Barnardo's to Canada in 1896 and then worked as a domestic servant, nursemaid and nurse before she married. Following her death in 1961, thousands of Madge's drawings were found in her home and later exhibited internationally. External Website

Authors S Don't Ever Cry ➝ How the Light Gets In: Writing as Spiritual Practice ➝ The Long Way Home ➝ Back on the block: Bill Simon's story ➝ Palimpsest ➝ Better than Happiness: The true antidote to discontent ➝ A pavane for another time ➝ The Autobiography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley ➝ Barbara Sumner ➝ A Tertiary Moment ➝ Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood ➝ Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands ➝ A Tuesday Thing ➝ The Bridgeburn Days ➝ Our Betty ➝ The Boy Adeodatus ➝ Tortured ➝ Fight The Fear ➝ No Ordinary Liz: An extraodinary story of life and family ➝ A personal journey towards healing and redress ➝ Poum and Alexandre: A Paris Memoir ➝ Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn’t Ours ➝ Burnished: Burnside Life Stories: A collection of life accounts from residents of Burnside Children's Homes, Sydney ➝ My Name Is Why ➝ Out of the Forest ➝ To Learn is to Live: Education Nourishes Self-Worth ➝ The girl in the locker: the true story of twins abandoned by their mother to a life of abuse, and their survival and fight for freedom ➝ Desperate Hearts ➝ The Boy Who Loved Books: A Memoir ➝ Beyond the Orphanage Years ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos The Protege 2021 The Protege (2021) is an action thriller with an orphan character as the protagonist. Anna (Maggie Q) is a professional assassin based in London and running an upmarket book shop as her cover. She was rescued from Vietnam 30 years earlier by Moody Dutton (Samuel L. Jackson), a legendary assassin. Early in the film, Care Experienced writer, Edgar All Poe (foster care), gets a mention as a first edition of his poetry sells for more than 250,000 pounds. External Website

Writers Annie Besant 1847-1933 Annie Besant (1847 – 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator, educationist, and philanthropist. Annie Wood was born to Irish parents, William Wood and Ellen Morris, who left Dublin, Ireland for England in 1845 because of the famine. William Wood died of tuberculosis when Annie was 5 years old. Instead of taking charity, Ellen took over the running of a boy’s boarding house at the Harrow School. Because Ellen considered it unsuitable for Annie to live at the boarding house, the child was put into foster care in Dorset with Ellen Marryat until she was 16. Annie Besant became a prominent member of the 1880s revival of socialism, along with George Bernard Shaw, and it was Shaw who encouraged Besant to join the Fabian Society. She was active in a number of social reforms, including the London matchgirls strike of 1888—which she called “white slavery”—when she successfully challenged the match manufacturers to improve working conditions. Besant was involved with Theosophy from the late 1880s and moved to Madras, India in 1893. There she became involved in the independence movement and in education, founding the Central Hindu College which later became the Central Hindu School. Besant also encouraged Madan Mohan Malaviya in establishing the Banaras Hindu University. External Website

Radio & Podcast Patricia Cornwell (podcast) World Book Club 2008 American crime writer, Patricia Cornwell, was in foster care for a while when her mother was hospitalised because of serious depression. In this podcast, Patricia Cornwell talks about her experience in foster care briefly and how she wishes she had someone like the character she has created, Kay Scarpetta, to turn to. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Life After Care: From Lost Cause to MBE Mark Edwards 2017 In this book, we follow Mark's journey with anxiety, panic attacks and depression, and we learn about the enduring impact his childhood had on his mental health.His diary entries bring to life the thoughts and feelings of Mark, as a teenager, struggling to understand how he came to be placed in care, and how to deal with his adolescent feelings of loss and love.On the verge of breakdown, Mark tried to take his own life and he was sectioned under the mental health act. We follow his journey from local authority care to the wards of a crumbling Victorian psychiatric asylum, and beyond into life on the streets. External Website

Television Shows Alex Rider 2020 Based on the Alex Rider novels by Anthony Horowitz, Alex Rider is a British spy thriller. London teenager, Alex Rider, who has been living with his uncle since his parents died, is recruited by a subdivision of MI6 upon the death of his uncle. Alex's job in Series 1 is to infiltrate a 'reform' school for wayward rich kids. In the 2nd series, he doesn't have a formal role but does much of 'The Department's' work for them. There is an additional orphan character in Series 2, Kyra Vashenko-Chao, who is a skilled gamer, hacker and programmer (reminiscent of Lisbeth Salander of the Dragon Tatoo). At one point Kyra suggests that she and Alex form "an orphan club". He counters by saying they need a 'survivors club'. Kyra is not a character in the books by Anthony Horowitz, but appears to be an innovation of the screenwriter for the series. External Website