Blogs/Web Pages/Articles A Lesson in Motherhood Paula McLain 2011 Here, a woman who was in kinship and foster care as a child writes about having to learn how to be the mother she always wanted for herself. External Website

Authors F A Fortunate Life - Fremantle Press ➝ The Scent of my Mother's Kiss ➝ Finding Fish: A Memoir ➝ Brutal-Surviving Westbrook Boys Home ➝ The Golly in the Cupboard ➝ The Foundling (2018) ➝ Ootlin ➝ Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots ➝ Predators' Paradise. A Journey of Survival and Resilience ➝ Borrowed Finery: A Memoir ➝ The Love that Remains ➝ A Search For Belonging: A story about race, identity, belonging and displacement ➝ Freedom of Angels: Surviving Goldenbridge Orphanage: Childhood in Goldenbridge Orphanage ➝ Who Cares?: Memories of a Childhood in Barnardo's ➝ Along the Way ➝ News From the World ➝ Shadow child: a memoir of the stolen generation ➝ Back to Top

Television Shows Hiding Behind Tombstones 2023 Hiding Behind Tombstones (2023) is an Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) 4 Corners exploration/expose of the legal tactics being used by large organisations - the catholic church, Boy Scouts, private schools, and even the NSW state - to avoid paying compensation to child sexual abuse victims. The nationally significant Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse which ran from 2013-2017 revealed that 10s of thousands of children were sexually abused in more than 4,000 Australian institutions. Some of those 4,000 institutions are now allegedly attempting to have victims’ cases dismissed rather than pay compensation. Some of the victims were in orphanages and children’s homes. External Website

Non Fiction American Baby: A Mother, A Child, and the Secret History of Adoption Gabrielle Glaser 2021 In 2021, American journalist Gabrielle Glaser published American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption. Glaser used the case study of a teenage girl and her baby to tell the story of the mid-century practice of sending off ‘unwed’ girls and women to have their babies in secret and then ‘relinquish’ them to an adopting couple. For the next 50 years, the mother in the story, Margaret, regrets the loss of her son; the adoptive parents are bewildered by their son; and the son, David, hears he was chosen by his adoptive parents but wonders why his birth mother rejected him. There was something about post-war America, argues, Glaser, that encouraged the creation of ‘perfect’ nuclear families. Yet the adoption agencies collecting fees didn’t consider the feelings of adoptees, let alone that crucial medical information was not being passed along. External Website

Radio & Podcast But We All Shine On But We All Shine On 2025 But We All Shine On is a podcast hosted by Paolo Hewitt and Paul Anderson-Walsh, both of whom have experience of the state care system. “But We All Shine On celebrates resilience, courage, and success across a variety of industries, including business, entertainment, sports, the arts, politics, and more.” Episode 1. both men talk about their own experience of care. Episode 2. "Try not to be so scared." Dr Jim Goddard, Chair of The Care Leavers Association. Episode 3. "If you don't like the long hair, you won't like the one eye." Pauline Black, The Selecter Episode 4. "I was more Mungo Jerry than David Bowie." Paolo and Paul reflect on the first month. Episode 5. "We love Moira and Alec." Mark Riddell MBE, National Adviser for Care Leavers Episode 6. "Marrying off Audrey Hepburn". Jenny Molloy. Author of Hackney Child and This Isn't Love. Episode 7. "Don't give up. You will come through it." Coram Voice and Evan Amery Episode 8. "This Isn't Love." Jenny Molloy Part Two. Episode 9. "You can’t do it alone. You shine when you find your tribe.” Paris Bartholomew. External Website

Biography of Care Experienced People Slipped Through the Net. The story of Melrose Desmond Donley Elly Inta 2009 In Slipped Through the Net, Ella Inta tells the story of the amazing Des Donley who lived until he was 97 years of age. Des was a member of the Stolen Generation, taken from his mother when he was six months old. He went into an orphanage, in and out of foster care, and then back into an orphanage when he was 10. At 14, Des was sent to work on a dairy farm and for 4 years he worked up to 18 hours a day without pay and in appalling conditions. At the age of 94, Des was still agitating the Qld government to return his wages. External Website

Television Shows Every Family Has a Secret 2019 Every Family Has a Secret (2019-2022) is an Australian documentary series which follows everyday Australians as they uncover family secrets. Along with adults who want to understand their parents (some of whom were institutionalised as children), and people raised with a non-biological parent seeking out their biological parent, there are also adoptees seeking out biological family. The show is presented by Australian favourite Noni Hazlehurst and 3 series are available on SBS On Demand. https://www.artemisfilms.com/productions/every-family-has-a-secret/ External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Not Forgotten Samilya Bjelic 2021 Not Forgotten: They called me Number 10 at Neekol Orphanage is the story of Samilya Bjelic who in 1954 was left by her recent migrant parents at St Joseph's Neerkol orphanage, near Rockhampton, Queensland. The book was written with the help of Anne Moorhouse, a psychologist. Samilya was at the orphanage - well known now as a place where nuns regularly inflicted brutal punishments on children - from age 2 for 8 years. She was then returned to her mother where the trauma continued. Samilya became friends with Anne and began recounting her story. By telling Samilya's story in Not Forgotten, Anne says she is speaking for others too who have felt silenced by horrific experiences. External Website

Films/Videos Pan 2015 Pan is an American film telling an alternative origin story for Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Peter is a foundling living in a London orphanage during WWII. He is spirited away to Neverland where children are working in a mine for Blackbeard. External Website

Films/Videos Everyone Provides Kinship Care 2017 For American foster care alumnus, Adrian McLemore, instead of more children going into the foster care system, it would be better if more went into kinship care. Adrian's perspective comes from having been in foster care, and of providing care for his niece and nephew. He talks poignantly of what it was like being taken from his family - he felt like he'd been kidnapped - and driven to a new 'home' with people he didn't know. The couple turned out to be terrific foster parents, but he still thinks kinship care is preferable. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Will Trent Series (books) Karin Slaughter 2005 Will Trent is the creation of Karen Slaughter, an American crime writer. He was a foundling who grew up in the harsh environment of the Atlanta Children’s Home. He now has a university degree and works as a Special Agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The first two books in the series are Triptych and Fractured. There are also two short stories with Will Trent, Busted and Snatched. A television series based on Karen Slaughter books featuring Will Trent is being released early in 2023 (streaming on Hulu). Will Trent is played by Ramon Rodriguez. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Detained: A boy's journal of survival and resilience D. Esperanza; Gerardo Iván Morales 2025 This is the first-ever memoir of a child’s experience in detention on the US–Mexico border under President Trump’s family separation policy. Left alone in Honduras at just thirteen after the death of his grandmother and uncle, D Esperanza set out with his cousins to reunite with his parents in the United States. After a perilous journey through Central America and Mexico, the boys were separated at the border, and D was detained without information about his fate. Over five months, he kept a journal that bears witness to pain, cruelty, friendship, and resilience, finding hope through bonds with other detainees and the support of a dedicated advocate, Gerardo Iván Morales. External Website

Authors S Pumps and poetry ➝ Christian Science Versus the Rest Cure in Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden ➝ The Role of Orphan Films in the 21st Century Archive ➝ Back to Top

Authors M Back Home ➝ The Children of the New Forest ➝ Anne of Green Gables (adapted) ➝ Lucky Button ➝ Goodnight Mister Tom ➝ Saffy's Angel ➝ Alone On A Wide Wide Sea ➝ Henderson's Boys ➝ Delly Duck (4-8 years) ➝ Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles (4-8 years) ➝ A Long Way Home ➝ The Cherub Series ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos Care Experience & Culture You Tube Channel 2021 Care Experience & Culture video events such as an introduction to the digital archive when it was first launched and susequent book club events. External Website

Television Shows Little Bird 2023 Little Bird (2023) is a Canadian television series exploring the “Sixties Scoop”. The Sixties Scoop was a time between the late 1950s to the 1980s in which the Canadian child welfare system removed large numbers of First Nations children from their families and placed them in non-Indigenous foster homes, institutions, and residential schools. Many of the children were also adopted. Little Bird tells the impact of the Sixties Scoop on one family. The series stars Darla Contois as Esther Rosenblum who, as Bezhig Little Bird, was removed from her family and adopted into a Jewish family. Now in her 20s and near the end of her law degree, she searches out the family from whom she was displaced as a 5 year old. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Calico Bush Rachel Field 1998 In 1743, thirteen-year-old Marguerite Ledoux travels to Maine as the indentured servant of a family that regards her as the lowest in the society. As the story proceeds, it becames clear that Maggie is a heroine, not just enduring difficult living conditions but also saving members of the family when there is danger. External Website

Writers Oliver Sacks 1933-2015 Oliver Wolf Sacks (1933 – 2015) was a neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and author. When war broke out in September 1939, Oliver and his older brother, Michael, were evacuated to the village of Braefield where their day school was reconstituted as a makeshift boarding school. The headmaster became violent, and his parents rarely visited. After his return to London, Oliver was well-nurtured in the sciences at home, becoming an amateur chemist at the encouragement of his Uncle Dave. However, he studied medicine—in line with his parents’ expectations—at Queen’s College, Oxford University, receiving his medical degree in 1958. Sachs left for the United States during the 1960s and spent most of his career working there, beginning with consulting work at Beth Abraham Hospital in New York in 1965. Oliver Sachs’ first published book was Awakenings (1973). The book tells the stories of people who had encephalitis lethargica from a 1920s epidemic and was made into a film in 1990 staring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, published in 1985, established an international audience for Sacks. The 24 essays in the book explore case histories where patients have particular neurological conditions, such as visual agnosia, or the inability to recognise even familiar faces. . External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Kids Were Marched Everywhere. This was a Concentration Camp' RolingStone 2023 Care Experienced Writer, Brandi Moran, published this important article in Rolling Stone on April 23 this year. In the article, she writes about the US government’s institution of a “program of state-sponsored abductions and forced assimilation of Native American children” from 1819 until 1969. Hundreds of thousands of Native American children - some as young as 3 - were stolen from the families. Some were taken thousands of kilometres from their homes and many never made it back. A Congressional Truth Commission bill was introduced in Congress in September 2021 and the hope is it will be passed soon. The purpose of the Commission will be to “thoroughly investigate the losses that occurred through this violent genocide.” External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles National Aged and Community Care Roundtable for Forgotten Australians National Aged and Community Care Roundtable for Forgotten Australians The National Aged & Community Care Roundtable for Forgotten Australians launched their website in April 2023. Forgotten Australians, coined in 2004, refers to an estimated 500,000 Australians who were separated from their families between the 1940s until the late 1980s and who grew up in orphanages, children’s homes and foster care. The website was set up “as a resource hub for Forgotten Australians, Care Leavers and persons interested in learning about the experiences of individuals, who as children experienced institutional or out of home ‘care’, as they age, with an emphasis on appropriate and quality aged and community care.” External Website