Television Shows Based on a True Story 2023 Based on a True Story (2023) is an American comedy drama series which includes a kinship care character. Ava Bartlett (Kaley Cuoco) and her husband Nathan Bartlett (Chris Messina) have been caring for Ava’s sister, Tory Thompson (Liana Liberator) since her mother died. Tory is a college student, preparing for her final exams. She watches on bemusedly as Ava and Nathan become involved in making a podcast with a serial killer. External Website

Authors S Barbara Sumner-Burstyn ➝ Angela Shelton ➝ Jeffrey Seller ➝ Back to Top

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

Fiction featuring Care Experience A Thousand Moons Sebastian Barry 2021 Even when you come out of bloodshed and disaster in the end you have got to learn to live… Winona is a young Lakota orphan adopted by former soldiers Thomas McNulty and John Cole. Living with Thomas and John on the farm they work in 1870s Tennessee, she is educated and loved, forging a life for herself beyond the violence and dispossession of her past. But the fragile harmony of her unlikely family unit, in the aftermath of the Civil War, is soon threatened by a further traumatic event, one which Winona struggles to confront, let alone understand. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Doctor Who: The Timeless Children or Dr Who was a foundling Doctor Who 2020 "The Timeless Children" is the tenth and final episode of the twelfth series of the British television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 1 March 2020. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone. It is the second of a two-part story; the previous episode, "Ascension of the Cybermen", aired on 23 February. Doctor Who season 12 revealed the Doctor is not a Time Lord at all; rather, she is the Timeless Child, a billion-year-old being who became the base genetic code for the entire Time Lord race. A Shabogan (that’s an indigenous inhabitant of Gallifrey), specifically a female explorer called Tecteun, discovered a mysterious foundling on an alien planet. She soon realised the little girl had the ability to regenerate her body after suffering life-threatening injuries, so dedicated her life to experimenting on this immortal child to reproduce this regenerative effect in herself… which she eventually achieved.Then, over the aeons, Tecteun bestowed this regenerative ability on selected others, who become the ruling elite of Gallifrey and dubbed themselves ‘Time Lords’ after also conquering travel through Space and Time. But who was the curious foundling who begat all of Gallifreyan society? The Doctor. External Website

Authors Z Zoey to the Max ➝ Back to Top

Autobiography/Memoir The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames: A Foundling's Story Justine Cowan 2021 Growing up in a wealthy enclave outside San Francisco, Justine Cowan's life seems idyllic. But her mother's unpredictable temper drives Justine from home the moment she is old enough to escape. It is only after her mother dies that she finds herself pulling at the threads of a story half-told - her mother's upbringing in London's Foundling Hospital. Haunted by this secret history, Justine travels across the sea and deep into the past to discover the girl her mother once was. External Website

Academic Books & Book Chapters After the orphanage: life beyond the children's home Murray et al 2017 Authors: Suellen Murray, John Murphy, Elizabeth Branigan, Jenny Malone. While there is much literature on the experience of growing up in an orphanage, very few books examine life after institutional care. After the Orphanage is the first book to address how care-leavers adjust to life in the outside world. External Website

Writers John Masefield 1878-1967 John Edward Masefield (1878 – 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Masefield was born into a comfortable middle class family, lived in the country, went to boarding school, and was encouraged to read. But first his mother died and then his father became unwell and Jack (along with siblings) became the ward of paternal uncle, William Masefield. Jack was taken out of boarding school and sent off to sea which he did not enjoy. Among Masefield's best known works are the children's novels The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights, and the poems The Everlasting Mercy and "Sea-Fever". External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Damaged: Heartbreaking Stories of the Kids Trapped in Britain's Broken Care System Chris Wild 2018 Chris Wild lost his dad aged 11, leaving him to grow up in the care system. There, he witnessed the incessant physical and sexual abuse of children, with the only escape leading to the streets. So many others like him, failed by the systems put in place to protect them, ended up with nothing but drink, drugs, prostitution, and crime as their normality. Later, working in a care home himself became the only way Chris could help, but he was shocked to discover little had changed and vulnerable children were still being failed. In Damaged, he shares heartbreaking memories of the care system along with the stories of all the boys, girls, men, and women he met along the way—exposing why we must take action now to protect all of Britain's forgotten children. External Website

Children's Fiction The Star Outside My Window (8-11 years) Onjali Q. Rauf 2019 I've always wanted to be a Star Hunter. But I don't want to be the kind that looks for old stars that have already been burning for millions of years. I want to find the brand new ones - the ones that have only just been born and are searching for the people they've left behind...' Following the disappearance of her mum, 10-year-old Aniyah suddenly finds herself living in foster care. With her life in disarray, she knows just one thing for sure: her mum isn't gone for ever. Because people with the brightest hearts never truly leave. They become stars. So when a new star is spotted acting strangely in the sky, Aniyah is sure it's her mum, and she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to make sure everyone else knows too -- an adventure that involves breaking into the Royal Observatory of London, a mischievous scurry of squirrels and the biggest star in Hollywood... Told through the innocent voice of a child, this is a story that explores the subtle faces and endless impacts of domestic violence, and celebrates the power of hope and resilience, from Onjali Rauf, the award-winning author of The Boy at the Back of the Class. External Website

Films/Videos Slumdog Millionaire 2008 Slumdog Millionaire (2008) is a British drama film about Jamal Malik, an orphan from the slums of Mumbai who becomes a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Accused of cheating when he reaches the final question, Jamal recounts his life story to explain how his difficult experiences on the streets, including losing his mother and struggling to survive with his brother, uniquely prepared him to answer the quiz questions. Through these flashbacks, he also seeks to reconnect with Latika, a girl from his past whom he loves. External Website

Radio & Podcast Today in Focus: Bangladesh The Guardian 2023 A three part series on the Bangladeshi children who were taken from Bangladesh in the 1970s. As a consequence of the Bangladesh Liberation War 1971, and the birth of thousands of babies born to women who had been captured and raped by Pakistani troops, an international adoption campaign was launched. Thousands of “war babies” were adopted overseas, for example, in Denmark, England, Sweden and Canada. External Website

Authors N Not Normal: The uncensored account of an extraordinary true life story ➝ Acceptance: A Memoir ➝ Banana Boy ➝ The Truth about My Fathers ➝ Bridge Across My Sorrows ➝ Twelve Years a Slave ➝ Half and Half: The Memoirs of a Charity Brat 1908-1989 ➝ The Fish Ladder: A Journey Upstream ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos The Cider House Rules (1999) 1999 The Cider House Rules (1999) is an adaptation of the eponymous book by American writer John Irving. Homer Wells (Toby McGuire) grows up in an orphanage in Maine, run by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine). Children are treated well at the orphanage. Dr Larch trains young Homer to become an obstetrician. After Larch’s death, Homer Wells returns to the orphanage to become the new director. External Website

Academic Books & Book Chapters Goodna Girls Adele Chenowyth 2019 Goodna Girls (2019) by Adele Chynoweth is an account of children, including state wards, being incarcerated in the adult psychiatric facility, Wolston Park Hospital, Queensland. Part of the rationale was that 'juvenile delinquents' needed medical intervention, including the use of chemical restraints. Goodna Girls includes the oral histories of former inmates as well as former staff of Wolston Park. 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

Television Shows Savage River 2022 Savage River (2022) is an Australian crime drama set in country Victoria. There are 3 teenagers who joyride in an abandoned vehicle and find blood in the boot of the car. One of these 3 is in foster care with a local lawyer running for mayor and her partner, the local pharmacist. Apart from that 1 event, the child in foster care doesn't commit any crimes, unlike a 'respectable' and protected member of the community. External Website

Films/Videos Marilyn, Her Final Secret 2022 "Marilyn, Her Final Secret" (2022) is a French-made documentary which traces the search for Marilyn's DNA from hair samples owned by a collector. The DNA from the hair samples is then compared with the DNA of 2 granddaughters of Charles Gifford. The results confirm the man long thought to be Monroe's father was her father. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles I'll never know where I'm from': plight of the adopted children of Bangladesh's Birangona women Thaslima Begum, Rosie Swash 2023 In this article, Thaslima Begum and Rosie Swash report on the Bangladeshi children who were taken from Bangladesh in the 1970s. As a consequence of the Bangladesh Liberation War 1971, and the birth of thousands of babies born to women who had been captured and raped by Pakistani troops, an international adoption campaign was launched. Thousands of “war babies” were adopted overseas, for example, in Denmark, England, Sweden and Canada. External Website