Films/Videos Batman Batman is a superhero character created by Bob Kane and first appearing in 1939 for DC Comics. Batman is the alias of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy businessman who's parents were murdered when he was a child. Wayne trains himself to fight against crime, working with Gotham's city's administration. Batman began appearing in film during the 1940s. This was followed by a series from 1989 until 1997, the Dark Knight trilogy from 2005 until 2012, and in a number of DC Extended Universe films from 2016. External Website

Authors W Robi Walters (podcast) ➝ Wards of the State ➝ The indestructible nature of Corey White ➝ Jeanette Winterson: the storyteller's tale ➝ Who does Australia lock up? ➝ Madam CJ Walker ➝ New Norcia’s nuns and the riddle of reconciliation ➝ Jeanette Winterson - Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit ➝ The language we use about children in care ➝ ‎The Penguin Podcast: Alex Wheatle with Nihal Arthanayake ➝ Mary Wilson — Dream Girl ➝ Back to Top

Authors M Lorraine Mafi-Williams ➝ Shane McCrae ➝ John Masefield poet) ➝ Yusuf P. McCormack (poet) ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos Slim and I 2020 Joy McKean (b. 1930) is recognised as one Australia's leading songwriters, and she wrote most of her husband's - the iconic Slim Dusty - most popular songs. Her story is told in the 2020 documentary, Slim and I, in which she talks of the impact of being separated from her family for 3 years from the age of 4 when she was hospitalised with polio. "It made me very different" she says. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Smell like a woman, not a rose’: Chanel No. 5 100 years on, an iconic fragrance born from an orphanage Gary Mortimer 2021 When Marilyn Monroe was asked, “What do you wear to bed?”, she famously replied, “Just a few drops of No. 5″. Monroe was perhaps the most famous 'care experienced' fan of the French perfume celebrating its 100th birthday next month. Since it was launched by Coco Chanel on May 5, 1921, Chanel No.5 has endured in popularity. Indeed, in 2019 an estimated 1.92 millon women purchased a bottle in Great Britain alone. Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. After her mother died, Chanel was sent at the age of 12 to the Abbey of Aubazine Orphanage in Corrèze. External Website

Films/Videos Half a Sixpence 1967 Half a Sixpence (1967) is a British musical about Arthur “Artie” Kipps, a working-class orphan in Edwardian England. As a boy, Artie befriends Ann and symbolically splits a sixpence with her, a gesture that represents loyalty and shared beginnings. After inheriting a fortune, Artie briefly enters high society and abandons his old life, but realises wealth brings neither belonging nor happiness. He returns to Ann, his childhood friend, choosing love and integrity over social status. External Website

Non Fiction East West Street Philippe Sands In East West Street (2016) Philippe Sands tells how 2 Jewish men came up with the terms "crimes against humanity" and "genocide" which were then used in the 1945-1946 Nuremberg trials. Along the way, we find out that Philippe’s grandfather was in kinship care as a teenager for several years after WWI, and his mother, born in 1938, was taken from Vienna to Paris in 1939 by a stranger, a woman who was determined to save Jewish babies. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Cherrywood Jock Serong 2024 Cherrywood (2024) by Australian writer Jock Serong includes an orphan at the heart of the story. In Edinburgh, 1916 a wealthy Scottish industrialist, Thomas Wrenfether, decides to build a paddlesteamer out of European cherrywood – not in Europe, though, but in Melbourne. The novel is in two time frames, beginning near the turn of the 20th century, when Thomas Wrenfether becomes the richest child in all of Scotland. He's only 10 when both his parents die in a car crash, so he lives with his Edinburgh cousins until he comes of age, inherits the wealth, marries the lovely Lucy, and in 1912 they have a sweet child called Annabelle. From the publisher: “From multi-award-winning author Jock Serong comes Cherrywood, an imaginative, darkly playful and deeply meaningful delight, a novel about legacy, community, wonder, love and reinvention.” External Website

Television Shows The Fosters 2013 The Fosters is an American family drama television series created by Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg. It premiered in the United States on June 3, 2013 on the Freeform (at the time named ABC Family) television network and concluded on June 6, 2018. It follows the lives of the members of the Foster family led by lesbian couple Stef and Lena, a cop and school vice principal respectively, who raise one biological and four adopted children in San Diego, California. The first season of The Fosters received generally favorable reviews from critics and also garnered particular acclaim for its portrayal of LGBT themes. It also earned two GLAAD Media Awards and one Teen Choice Award. On January 3, 2018, Freeform announced that The Fosters was ending after five seasons. The series concluded with a three-episode finale, which aired from June 4 to 6, 2018. The finale also acted as an introduction to a spin-off series starring Cierra Ramirez and Maia Mitchell, Good Trouble. External Website

Television Shows Three Days of Christmas 2019 Three Days of Christmas (2019) is a Spanish limited series set about 10 years after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). 3 girls grow up in a sheltered home but they take in a 15-year old whose life is in danger and become 4 sisters. Over time conflicts develop and the foster sister rejects her foster family. External Website

Non Fiction Unexpected Forces Lotus Place 2022 Unexpected Forces (2022) is a beautiful collection of illustrated stories and poems written by Forgotten Australians. It was published by Lotus Place & Micah Projects Queensland. Forgotten Australians is a term used by many to remember the estimated 500k Australians who were in ‘out of home’ care during the 20th century. Forgotten Australians came together in a series of creative writing workshops in 8 locations across Queensland to share their stories. Writes Katie McGuire, Project Coodinator for Lotus Place & Micah Projects: “This anthology will contribute to the legacy of Forgotten Australians, and those who are survivors of institutional child abuse. It serves as a testimony to their strength and resilience, imaginations, and compassionate hearts.” External Website

Authors G Ruth ➝ Invisible thread ➝ Back to Top

Radio & Podcast The century of foundlings Conversations 2026 In this episode of Conversations, Australian writer Cynthia Banham talks with host Richard Fidler about finding out the story of her great-grandmother, Natalina. Cynthia had grown up thinking Natalina was orphaned in Bologna, Italy during the latter years of the 19th century. What she found out was that Natalina hadn’t been orphaned; she was abandoned by her mother. Wanting to know more, Cynthia headed to Bologna with her own family. “Along the way she uncovered the stories of 'bastardini' (a home for bastards), literate midwives, epigenetics and possible incest.” https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/cynthia-banham-journalist-writer-motherhood/106545404 External Website

Films/Videos Film | DrumCamFilms 2019 Be-Longing is the story of Khoji, a 9-year ‘looked after’ boy living within a foster family. External Website

Radio & Podcast Season 3, Episode 6 Dee Michell and Rosie Canning on Care Experience & Culture - Trauma Resonance Resilience Lisa Cherry Dee Michell and Rosie Canning join Lisa Cherry to talk about a new Digital Archive called Care Experience and Culture. External Website

Television Shows Dark Winds 2022 Dark Winds (2022-2025) is an American thriller series based on the Leaphorn & Chee novels series by Tony Hillerman. Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee lead a mostly Native American cast. The show is set in the 1970s Four Corners area of the American Southwest and features the work of Navajo tribal police. In Series 1, we find out that Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), a Navajo Police Sergent, was taken in by Joe Leaphorn and his wife, Emma (Deanna Allison) as a teenager. During this series, the Leaphorns also take in pregnant teenager Sally (Elva Guerra). The 3rd Care Experienced Character in Series 1 is extremist James Tso (Jeremiah Bitsui) who hated being in one of the notorious American Indian boarding schools so much he killed his grandfather because his grandfather sent him back to the school after he’d run away. In Series 2, we’re not sure if the Caucasian American character, Colton Wolf (Nicholas Logas) was in the foster care system because his mother was imprisoned after murdering his father & sister, or whether he killed his mother because of what she’d done. Dark Winds presents Colton Wolf as a dangerous man still troubled by this early trauma. External Website

Radio & Podcast The sisters reuniting separated siblings at camp BBC Outlook 2022 In this episode of BBC Outlook, 2 sisters who were separated as children and raised in different foster families, talk about setting up Camp to Belong programs in the United States (and in Australia too). One of the sisters, Lynn Price, was 8 before she found out she had a biological sister. Even after she found out, Lynn spent little time with her sister, Andi Andree. The aim of Camp to Belong is to bring together other siblings who are separated by the foster care system. https://camptobelong.org/ External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Jane Hansen Prize Frank Golding 2024 The Jane Hansen Prize for History Advocacy was established in 2020 to recognise the efforts of a group or individual that has advocated for the value of history, the work of historians and/or the importance of an education in history. The winners of our 2024 prize were: Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) The Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) is an independent peak membership body established in 2000 to provide support, advocacy, research and empowerment for survivors of past abuse and neglect in child welfare systems in Australia and New Zealand. CLAN has shown leadership in advocating for a more authentic, layered and nuanced history and, in doing so, generated vitality to a previously neglected field of public history. In the aftermath of the Royal Commission, CLAN won a Commonwealth grant to purchase a property to serve as a permanent home for the Australian Orphanage Museum, now established in Ryrie Street, Geelong. The unique museum is a remarkable achievement among CLAN’s contributions to the way history is presented and received in the community. Dr Frank Golding represented CLAN Read more about CLAN: https://clan.org.au/ External Website

Television Shows Goolagong 2026 Goolagong (2026) is a biographical miniseries about the legendary Aboriginal Australian tennis star Evonne Goolagong Cawley (b. 1951). Lila McGuire plays in the lead role & the series covers Goolagong’s journey from the small town of Barellan in NSW to becoming a global tennis star. Goolagong includes explores the time when 14 year old Evonne moved in with her coach Vic Edwards & his family (although only 1 of his 5 daughters is depicted) & covers his later controlling & abusive behaviour. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Lost for words Stephanie Butland 2017 Lost for Words features a care experienced character who is intelligent, articulate, a lover of words and books and of course feisty, vulnerable and not a stereotype. Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look closely, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are things she'll never show you. Fifteen years ago Loveday lost all she knew and loved in one unspeakable night that led to her being taken into foster care.Now, she finds refuge in the unique little York bookshop where she works. Everything is about to change for Loveday. Someone knows about her past. Someone is trying to send her a message. And she can't hide any longer.-- External Website