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Blogs/Web Pages/Articles The Queen's Gambit is a striking study of female genius, and the drama of the year Sarah Hughes 2020 The Queen’s Gambit is the story of a troubled chess prodigy who after her mother was killed, grew up in an orphanage where the children were sedated with drugs. Sarah Hughes explores how it became a word-of-mouth hit 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

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Language of Flowers Vanessa Diffenbaugh 2012 The Victorians used flowers to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. For Victoria Jones, flowers and their meanings are her only connection to the world – although for her, they are most useful in expressing feelings such as grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood in the foster care system, Victoria – now eighteen – has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes a meeting with a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realize what's been missing in her own life. As she starts to fall for him, though, she must confront a painful secret from her past – and decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. External Website

Behind the Scenes Barbara Sumner-Burstyn New Zealander Barbara Sumner was 10 days old in 1960 when she was adopted. She and her partner, Tom Burstyn, a cinematographer born in Canada, founded Cloud South Films (NZ) in 2005 and Cloud South North Films (Canada) in 2013. They have won a number of awards for their documentaries. External Website

Films/Videos You be the Judge 2021 In this video, Australian survivor of child sexual abuse, Marita Murphy, tells of being raped as a 7-year-old while in an informal foster care situation. Although adults - including her mother - were told of what happened, there was no redress for Marita. Resultant behaviour problems led to Marita leaving school at the age of 12. She went on to have a successful career in the house racing industry. Marita reported the rape to police in 2013. After the police dropped the criminal case (insufficient evidence) Marita brought a civil case against the alleged rapist; the judge decided the events happened too long ago. External Website

Biography of Care Experienced People Just us Gabrielle Carey 1984 Just Us, tells the story of a romance between a prisoner and a journalist. Terry Haley had been in institutions from the time he was 8. Haley was serving a sentence for abduction and rape in 1972 when he escaped from Yatala Prison in South Australia. He was in Parramatta Gaol when Gabrielle Carey, a journalist, met and fell in love with him. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Family likeness Caitlin Davies 2013 Family Likeness explores identity, race, and family secrets. The story follows Muriel Grey, the daughter of a white Englishwoman and an African American soldier stationed in England during World War II. Abandoned by her mother at a children’s home in the 1950s, Muriel grows up feeling unwanted and different. Despite her hardships, she builds a life for herself—attending college, working, and eventually marrying and having a daughter, Rosie. After her husband's death, Muriel focuses on providing for Rosie, content to leave the pain of her past buried. However, Rosie is determined to uncover her mother’s history. She tracks down Muriel’s father, Jonas Murrey, now living in London. When he rebuffs her, Rosie becomes relentless, even taking a job as a nanny for his children to force a confrontation. Her pursuit reveals painful family secrets but does not necessarily lead to the closure she seeks. Rosie takes the children to Kenwood where both Ella and Rosie share an interest in Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of a Navy Captain and a West Indian woman. Here is another mixed race child whose life was dictated by her colour. The novel sheds light on the discrimination faced by mixed-race children in post-war Britain, the stigma of interracial relationships, and the emotional scars passed down through generations. It offers a moving reflection on identity, loss, and the complexities of family ties. External Website

Actors Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna, born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in the Hindi cinema. Rahesh was adoped by relatives of his parents. He is referred to as the "First Superstar" of Indian cinema. He starred in 15 consecutive solo hit films from 1969 to 1971, a record unbroken. During his career he appeared in more than 168 feature films and 12 short films. He received the Filmfare Best Actor Award three times and the BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) four times. In 2014, his biography Rajesh Khanna – The untold story of India's first Superstar by Yasser Usman was published by Penguin Books. In 2018, a one kilometre fitness trail in Lajpat Nagar National Park was named after Khanna, which was inaugurated by his wife Dimple Kapadia. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Flying Troutmans Miriam Toews 2008 The Flying Troutmans by Canadian writer, Miriam Toews, is the heartbreaking yet hopeful story of Hattie’s courageous efforts to care for her niece and nephew while their mother, Min, is in a psychiatric ward of the local hospital. It’s 11 year old Thebes who calls her aunt, 28 year old Hattie, in Paris and begs her to return to Canada to help (as she often has in the past). Hattie is well aware that the children are at risk of being taken into state care; the hospital social worker has already alluded to that. But she’s also unsure about what part she wants to play in their upbringing. Hattie decides the best thing to do is take Thebes and 15 year old Logan on a road trip to locate their long missing father, Doug Cherkis. . External Website

Actors Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone, born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, July 6, 194, is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Because of his parents' difficult relationship, he spent considerable time in foster care until he was five and moved in with his father. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, he won his first critical acclaim as an actor for his co-starring role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lords of Flatbush. Stallone's Rocky films were box office successes, and he is the only actor in US cinema history to have regularly starred in box office successes over 50 fifty years. External Website

Poets Lorraine Mafi-Williams Lorraine Mafi-Williams Lorraine Mafi-Williams (1940-2001) was in childrens homes from the age of 12, one of 6 children stolen from their parents. Lorraine made it back to her parents when she was 18. She became an activist working to improve health services for Aboriginal people. She also edited the first anthology of Aboriginal poetry, Spirit Song, which was published by Omnibus Books in 1993. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience How the Dead Speak Val Mcdermid 2019 The next heart-pounding Tony Hill and Carol Jordan thriller from number one bestseller and queen of crime, Val McDermid. The story includes the death and illegal burial of 40 girls living in a convent home, and serial killer is a Care Experienced Person. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Prince Philip: A turbulent childhood stalked by exile, mental illness and death Prince Philip 2021 Prince Philip was only eight when he was suddenly separated from his parents and his four elders sisters. He never lived with his immediate family again. The youngest child of Prince andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Philip was left in the care of Alice's family in England after his mother suffered a breakdown and was hospitalised. External Website

Actors Ray Liotta Raymond Allen Liotta (born December 18, 1954) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for playing Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams (1989), playing Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990) and voicing Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002). Raymond Allen Liotta was born in Newark, New Jersey, on December 18, 1954. Having been abandoned at an orphanage, he was adopted at the age of six months by township clerk Mary and auto-parts store owner Alfred Liotta. His adoptive parents each unsuccessfully ran for local office; he recalls attending parades to hand out flyers for his father's run. Liotta has a sister, Linda, who is also adopted. He has said that he knew he was adopted as a young child and presented a show-and-tell report on it for kindergarten. He hired a private detective to locate his biological mother in the 2000s, and subsequently learned from her that he is mostly of Scottish descent. He has one biological sister, one biological half-brother, and five biological half-sisters. External Website

Films/Videos Changing The Narrative 2019 A film about the use of language in social work. Inspired youth and North Yorkshire county council have made a film about changing the narrative of social work lingo! Funny, powerful and provocative. Produced by inspired youth in collaboration with Scott Akoz, written by Jonny Hoyle. External Website

Non Fiction Conversations that Make a Difference for Children and Young People: Relationship-Focused Practice from the Frontline Lisa Cherry 2021 Conversations that Make a Difference is a "call to action", an opportunity for those professionals working with children and young people to reflect on their practice and consider how they can "bring about social change, one interaction at a time." External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors State Ward Alan Duff 1994 State Ward (1994) is Alan Duff’s fictionalized account of being incarcerated as a child. Charlie Wilson is a boy sent to Riverton Boys' Home as a state ward until such time he is seen fit to return to society. Writes Duff: 'I'm thirteen and I'm in a cell. A cell. It's got real bars, up there protecting that high window. I can jump up and touch them. I'm in a cell. That door is for real; it's made of solid steel, and it's got a peephole. So they can spy on me. But I ain't gonna bust. I damn well ain't.' There’s also the name “George” scrawled on the walls of Charlie’s cell, along with ‘kehua’ which means ghost. External Website

Writers Brandi Morin Brandi Morin is a French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta, Canada. She was in foster care as a child. Morin has written for Al Jazeera and National Georgraphic and has appeared on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. She investigates stories of injustice, particularly against Indigenous peoples. Brandi Morin won an Edward R Murrow award in 2022 for her story about Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 Rita Mae Brown was born in 1944 in Hanover, Pennsylvania to an unmarried teenage mother and her mother's married boyfriend. Brown's birth mother left the newborn Brown at an orphanage. Her mother's cousin Julia Brown and her husband Ralph retrieved her from the orphanage,[1] and raised her as their own in York, Pennsylvania, and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.[2] Rubyfruit Jungle is the first novel by Rita Mae Brown. Published in 1973, it was remarkable in its day for its explicit portrayal of lesbianism. The novel is a coming-of-age autobiographical account of Brown's youth and emergence as a lesbian author. The term "rubyfruit jungle" is a term used in the novel for the female genitals. Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Molly Bolt, the adoptive daughter of a dirt-poor Southern couple who boldly forges her own path in America. With her startling beauty and crackling wit, Molly finds that women are drawn to her wherever she goes—and she refuses to apologize for loving them back. This literary milestone continues to resonate with its message about being true to yourself and, against the odds, living happily ever after. Winner of the Lambda Literary Pioneer Award | Winner of the Lee Lynch Classic Book Award. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Hackney Child Hope Daniels 2014 At the age of nine, Hope Daniels (Jenny Molloy) walked into Stoke Newington Police Station with her little brothers and asked to be taken into care. Home life was intolerable: both of Hope's parents were alcoholics and her mum was a prostitute. The year was 1983. As London emerged into a new era of wealth and opportunity, the Daniels children lived in desperate poverty, neglected and barely nourished. Hounded by vigilante neighbours and vulnerable to the drunken behaviour of her parents' friends, Hope had to draw on her inner strength. Hackney Childis Hope's gripping story of physical and emotional survival - and the lifeline given to her by the support of professionals working in the care system. Despite all the challenges she faced, Hope never lost compassion for her parents, particularly her alcoholic father. Her experiences make essential reading and show that, with the right help, the least fortunate children have the potential not only to recover but to thrive. External Website