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Children's Fiction Close Your Pretty Eyes (11-13 years) Sally Nicholls 2013 Eleven-year-old Olivia has been in care since she was five, and is just beginning her sixteenth placement. Her new home is a secluded farmhouse, centuries old, where she slowly bonds with her foster family. But the house holds dark secrets. Olivia discovers that it was once a notorious baby farm, where unwanted children were left to die. She becomes convinced that the place is haunted. She is desperate to save her new family from the ghosts. The danger is real - but does it come from the twisted mind of a very disturbed child? A powerful and thrilling story from one of today's most exciting young writers. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Offla's Children: A Family Memoir Helena Ban Wilson et al. 2020 This is the poignant story of Zoltan Ban, a post-war Hungarian refugee living with mental illness, who desperately struggled to keep his young children after Jean, his English-born wife, died of breast cancer in 1963.Offla, as his children affectionately called him, was a highly intelligent, resourceful and eccentric man who demonstrated extraordinary determination to maintain the bond with his children while they grew up in State care in a church-run children’s home in Queensland. This memoir by Offla’s children, Paul, Helena and Liz, expresses strong emotion leavened with humour. They invite us to see through each of their eyes how their different inner worlds unfolded within the outer world of institutional life and against the historical backdrop of events such as Billy Graham’s crusade, the Cold War and man landing on the moon. External Website

Writers Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (Writer) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was born in Baltimore, Maryland and orphaned at the age of 3. She was then raised by her maternal aunt and uncle. Frances was much influenced by her uncle as the Reverend Watkins was a civil rights activist and abolitionist as well as a Methodist minister and founder of the Watkins Academy for Negro Youth. Frances took up paid work as a 13-year-old; she read and wrote in her spare time. She began publishing poems in anti-slavery journals in 1839. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1845, when she was only 20 years of age, making Francis Watkins one of the first African-American women to be published in the USA. In 1850, Frances moved to Columbus, Ohio to teach (domestic science) at Union Seminary. She was the first female teacher at the school. 3 years later, Watkins joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and gave many speeches while travelling for 8 years nationally and in Canada. She also wrote for anti-slavery newspapers—and for some she is the ‘mother’ of African American journalism—while helping slaves escape via the Underground Railroad. Watkins - who married Fenton Harper in 1860 - also became involved in the women's rights and temperance movements. She published her first (of three) novels in 1869. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles ‘Next time bring my daughter’: Barbara Demick reunited a Chinese family with the stolen ‘missing twin’ adopted in the US The Conversation 2025 In this review of Daughters of the Bamboo Grove (2025) by American journalist Barbara Demick, Australian academic Kathryn Shine recounts Demick’s journey through rural China in 2009 and how this eventually led to the reunion of Zanhua and her lost daughter, Fanfang/Esther. Shine writes: “Demick outlines the population growth that led to the introduction of the One Child Policy in 1979 and the rise of the State Family Planning Commission, set up to enforce the law limiting most Chinese families to one child.” Kathryn Shine also covers Demick’s account of Chinese babies became part of the lucrative international adoption business. She concludes: “Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is a testament to dogged reporting. Demick’s skills as a researcher, interviewer – and effectively, a detective – imbue the book with substance and credibility.” External Website

Television Shows The Haunting of Bly Manor 2020 The Turn of the Screw by Henry James has been adapted numerous times for film and television and in literature. The most recent of these adaptations appears to be the Netflix 2020 one when the novella was adapted as The Hunting of Bly Manor for the second season of Mike Flanagan's The Haunting anthology series. External Website

Artists Samuel Robin Spark Samuel Robin Spark (9 July 1938 – 6 August 2016) was a Scottish artist. He was the son of Sidney Oswald Spark and writer Muriel Spark. Muriel left Sydney Spark in 1940 and two years later she travelled back to the UK without her son; four year old Robin was left in a convent. In 1945 Muriel was able to secure passage to the UK for Robin too, but this time she left the seven year old with his maternal grandparents in Edinburgh while she lived in London. Prolific in his work, Spark created more than 1,000 paintings, photographs, and short texts and articles about art, Jewish culture, and his own family. External Website

Writers Rico Hinson-King Rico Hinson-King originally wrote his story "Strong and Tough" during homework club at Manchester City FC in 2020 based on his own experience of being fostered and then adopted. He went on to win the Premier League Young Writer of the Year competiton. He plays for the U13s at Manchester City football club. His second book Football is for Everyone: A heart-warming story about bravery and inclusivity was published in 2024 and is illustrated by Nick Sharrat. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles ‘The hardest thing is to forgive yourself’: actor Samantha Morton and writer Jenni Fagan on the trauma of growing up in care The Guardian 2024 Kate Kellaway talks to Samantha Morgan & Jenni Fagan about how both women have used their work to process childhoods ravaged by neglect and abuse. Meeting for the first time, they discuss survival and anger, Fagan’s new memoir, and the state of the UK’s care system today. The interview highlights the shared experiences and deep connection between writer Jenni Fagan and actor Samantha Morton, who meet to discuss Fagan’s memoir, Ootlin. Both women endured traumatic childhoods in the care system, marked by abuse, neglect, and instability—Morton had 12 foster placements, Fagan had 27 by age 16. Despite this, they have transformed their pain into art: Fagan through her novels and poetry, and Morton through acting and directing, including her film The Unloved. Their creative work explores themes of resilience and survival. Ultimately, Ootlin is described as a “lighthouse” offering hope to others, exemplifying the strength to find beauty and purpose amid suffering. Both Fagan and Morton are committed to shining a light on the care system’s shortcomings while celebrating the resilience of children who endure it. 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

Films/Videos Memoir of a Snail 2023 Memoir of a Snail (2024) is an Australian adult stop-motion animated tragi-comedy film. The film tells the sad story of twins who become orphans after their father dies. Grace & Gilbert Pudel are separated and sent to foster homes on different sides of the country. Grace lives in Canberra with the benignly negligent Ian and Narelle, and Gilbert is in Perth with a family of religious fundamentalists. Much of the story centres on Grace who obsessively collects snails. External Website

Films/Videos Housesitter 1992 Newton Davis builds his dream house and presents it to Becky with a proposal of marriage. She turns him down. He leaves the house, still with a ribbon around it and returns to the city, smitten with Becky. He meets Gwen, an orphan who was in foster care as a child and who has an interesting relationship with the truth. He spends the night with her, but leaves while she is sleeping. She takes his description of the house, searches it out, and moves in. The residents of Newton's hometown become curious and Gwen invents a marriage, a courtship, and and an entire history. Newton's parents meet Gwen and are immediately taken with her. By the time Newton finds out, the whole town thinks he's married, and Becky tells him that Gwen has made her see him in a whole new light. Gwen and Newton agree that she can pretend to be his wife and get free rent while Newton works on Becky until they can announce a divorce. The trouble is that nobody in the town wants them to separate and they keep trying to help them reconcile. External Website

Non Fiction Foster Focus Magazine Chris Chmielewski 2015 Chris Chmielewski is the Creator, Owner and Editor of Foster Focus Magazine, America's only monthly foster care magazine. He spent five years in foster care and was expelled from high school just before graduation when he aged out of foster care. He created Foster Focus so that others in care would have the most up to date information. The magazine has consistently grown as Chris is entering his sixth year of the magazine. He has interviewed celebrities such as Maia Mitchell and Jimmy Graham. And writers from all over the country contribute articles to the magazine, making it one of the leading sources of foster care news and information in the country. Chris has developed a unique outlook on what a kid from care can achieve.Chris talks about his early life as a poor kid in the coal region of Pennsylvania and the humorous ways he found to earn money. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina Michaela Deprince 2014 Michaela Mabunty DePrince (1995-2024) was known as girl Number 27 at the orphanage, where she was abandoned at a young age and tormented as a "devil child" for a skin condition that makes her skin appear spotted. But it was at the orphanage that Michaela would find a picture of a beautiful ballerina en pointe that would help change the course of her life. Michaela DePrince was known as girl Number 27 at the orphanage, where she was abandoned at a young age and tormented as a "devil child" for a skin condition that makes her skin appear spotted. But it was at the orphanage that Michaela would find a picture of a beautiful ballerina en pointe that would help change the course of her life. At the age of four, Michaela was adopted by an American family, who encouraged her love of dancing and enrolled her in classes. She went on to study at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre and is now the youngest principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has appeared in the ballet documentary First Position, as well as on Dancing with the Stars, Good Morning America, and Nightline. In this engaging, moving, and unforgettable memoir, Michaela shares her dramatic journey from an orphan in West Africa to becoming one of ballet's most exciting rising stars. Michaela Mabunty DePrince tragically died September 10th 2024 at the age of 29 and her mother Elaine DePrince, who adopted her as a young girl, died Sept. 11 "during a routine procedure in preparation for a surgery," according to a family statement shared on Facebook - the two deaths were not connected. To date no cause of death for Michaela has been shared. External Website

Writers Georges Perec 1936-1982 Georges Perec (1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. Georges Perec was born in Paris to Jewish migrants from Poland. His father died defending France in 1940. After the Nazis occupied France, Georges was taken by the Red Cross to Villard-de-Lans, to be cared for by his paternal aunt and her husband. Georges Perec stayed in the care of his relatives after the war. He went for some years to school in Paris and also boarded at Étampes, approximately 48km from Paris. In his final year at school, a philosophy teacher encouraged the boy to become a writer, but he was 30 before his first book was [ib;osjed/ External Website

Writers The Right Honorable Lord Andrew Adonis PC 1963- Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, PC (b.1963) Adonis's Greek father, Nikos, emigrated from Cyprus as a teenager, becoming a waiter in London, where he met Adonis's English mother. His mother left the family when he was 3, and she has had no communication with him since. Shortly thereafter Adonis and his sister were placed in care, because their father was working long hours and was not able to cope with sole parental responsibilities. Adonis lived in a council children's home until the age of 11, thanks to the matron called Auntie Gladys, he was awarded a local education authority grant to attend Kingham Hill School, a boarding school in Oxfordshire and Gladys became a sort of surrogate mother. Adonis studied at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern History in 1984. He pursued further studies at Oxford receiving a doctorate with a thesis entitled, The political role of the British peerage in the Third Reform Act system, c. 1885–1914 at Christ Church, before being elected a fellow in History and Politics at Nuffield College. Adonis is a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author of 11 books, who served in HM Government for five years in the Blair ministry and the Brown ministry. He served as Secretary of State for Transport from 2009 to 2010, and as Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission from 2015 to 2017. He is also Chairman of the European Movement, having previously served as Vice-Chairman from 2019 to 2021. He is currently a columnist for The New European. From 1991 to 1996, he was an education and industry correspondent at the Financial Times, eventually becoming their public policy editor. In 1996, he moved to The Observer to work as a political columnist, leader writer and editor. External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors The Sunlight Pilgrims Jenni Fagan 2017 The Sunlight Pilgrims is set in a caravan park in the north of Scotland. Here. a group of people who live on the margins are waiting out an extreme winter. One character, Stella, is a transgender teenager who is terrified at the relentless march of puberty and who we see struggling to gain acceptance. External Website

Performing Arts Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, actor. Prince Prince Rogers Nelson (1958 – 2016) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. Prince was born in Minneapolis to jazz musician, John Nelson, and jazz singer, Mattie Shaw. His parents separated when Prince was about 10. From then he alternated living with both of them, even after his mother remarried. Hayward Baker, Prince’s stepfather, took the boy to see James Brown, an important influence on Prince’s songwriting and performing. Prince became good friends with Andre Anderson (to become known as Andre Cymone), a newcomer to Prince’s school at around age twelve. After Prince became tired of moving between his mother’s and his father’s house, he ran away and moved in with Andre and his family. Prince was still in his teens when he signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. His second album, Prince (1979), sold more than 1 million copies. External Website

Actors Gary Coleman Gary Wayne Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. An adoptee, Coleman is one of the highest-paid child actors in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was rated first on a list of VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars" on television, and received several awards and nominations throughout his career, including winning two Young Artist Awards and four People's Choice Awards. He was best known for his role as Arnold Jackson in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986), for which he received the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Comedy Series, as well as three other Young Artist Award nominations. Despite having a successful acting career, Coleman struggled financially in later life. In 1989, he successfully sued his parents and business adviser over misappropriation of his assets, only to declare bankruptcy a decade later. External Website

Television Shows Died in the Wool (TV Show) 1978 Died in the Wool was part of an anthology series adapting the murder mysteries of Dame Ngaio Marsh. MP Flossie Rubrick has been found dead in a wool bale, and it's up to Inspector Roderick Alleyn (English actor George Baker, from Z Cars and I, Claudius) to unravel the secrets of a South Island sheep station. The tale of a cultured Englishman amidst World War ll spies and seamy colonial crimes found a global audience. Ngaio Marsh Theatre was the first New Zealand television drama to screen in the United States (on PBS). Included is a Cluedo-style sitting room inquest and a wool shed reveal. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Beyond the Orphanage. A journey of hope and aspirations Deborah Dzifah Tamakloe 2020 Beyond the Orphanage tells Deborah’s story from when she first went into foster care. Deborah was born into a Catholic polygamous family in Nkawkaw, south Ghana, which means, as she says, she had “three additional mothers”. One day, her life changed inexplicably; her mother took Deborah to live with a friend in a nearby village, supposedly because school was closer and Deborah would not be punished for arriving later than 7am anymore. Deborah returned to her mother on weekends and for holidays. In January 2005, about a year into this new living arrangement, 11-year-old Deborah was expecting to go to boarding school but was instead taken to the Baptist School Complex and Orphanage (BASCO). External Website