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Autobiography/Memoir I'll Love You If... Matthew Huggins 2009 I'll Love You If...is a harsh but true portrait of a hard life, a misery memoir, yes, but one that ends in triumph. Matthew became the youngest councillor in England he was only 21. His council, Barking and Dagenham, was used to much older councillors so he was poorly treated by his fellow politicians and then expelled. He now advises councils on how to treat children in care. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles The care leaver who made a number one album BBC News 2022 British Care Leaver, Matt Taylor, has won a Rising Star award at the 2022 Music Producers guild Awards. Matt was in children's homes for 3 years from the age of 13. "People from care are sort of taught not to have dreams," he said. He now hopes his success will inspire others from similar backgrounds. External Website

Films/Videos Dorian Gray 2009 Dorian Gray is a movie starring Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, and Rebecca Hall. A corrupt young man - who grew up in the kinship care of his grandfather - somehow keeps his youthful beauty eternally, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Better than Happiness: The true antidote to discontent Gregory P Smith 2023 In 2020, Gregory P. Smith published his memoir, Out of the Forest, which told the story of how he’d gone from living as a recluse in a NSW forest to undertaking a PhD and teaching at Southern Cross University. In this new book, Better than Happiness: The True Antidote to Discontent (2023), Gregory Smith describes the “how” of what he did to change his life. That is, how he want about changing his thinking, setting goals, and understanding and accepting himself. External Website

Television Shows The Last Thing He Told Me (TV series) 2023 The Last Thing He Told Me is an American mystery television series (on Apple) based on the popular novel by the same name by Laura Dave. Hannah Hall (Jennifer Garner) is the protagonist of The Last Thing He Told Me. She was raised in the kinship care of her grandfather and, like him, is a wood turner. When Hannah’s husband, Owen Michaels (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), goes missing, Hannah is left with the responsibility for her 16-year-old step-daughter, Bailey (Angourie Rice). The two go looking for Owen and uncover the truth about Bailey’s mother’s death. External Website

Writers Lesley Pearse Lesley Pearse was born in Rochester, Kent and spent three years in a Roman Catholic Children’s home following the death of her mother when she was three. Her father, a Royal Marine married an ex-army nursing sister three years later and Lesley was reunited with her older brother and a new foster sister. Later her new sister and a new born baby boy were adopted by her parents and the family was added to from time to time by more foster children. Some brought Lesley joy with their arrival. Some brought joy when they left. Lesley was a story teller even then, as she says ‘It made up for being useless at any sport’, she would entertain her school friends with stories during wet dinner hours. Her writing career began when the youngest of her three daughters was born, first short stories and then books. ‘Georgia’ was the first to be published, based loosely on experiences she’d had with her second and ex husband, a musician during the ‘60’s. ‘Once I started writing I couldn’t stop,’ she says. ‘I felt I had hundreds of stories to tell.’ Now living in a cliff top house in Devon, alone with her King Charles Cavalier Stan, and soon to be a grandmother again for the fourth time, she is working on her 25th book. Many of Lesley's books feature adoption, foster care, and orphans. External Website

Authors H How Truman Capote Was Destroyed by His Own Masterpiece ➝ Packing Like a Fury ➝ Examining Rita Mae Brown’s “Rubyfruit Jungle” ➝ From the first admissions: How care has changed in 280 years ➝ The Queen's Gambit is a striking study of female genius, and the drama of the year ➝ Theodore's story - Coram Story #realstoriesofcare ➝ There's a lot of stigma': why do so few care leavers go to university? | Universities | The Guardian ➝ The life-changing power of a street dog named Lucy ➝ Home Children ➝ It was lonely growing up in care – but I felt even more isolated after I left | Fostering | The Guardian ➝ John Brownlow's story ➝ Are care leavers really more likely to go to prison than university? – ExChange ➝ How one stray dog changed my life forever ➝ Delma Hughes: I grew up in a world without parents ➝ Almost half of children in care fear stigma ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos Hamilton 2020 Hamilton is a live stage production recording of the Broadway musical, Hamiliton. The musical was created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, inspired by Ron Chernow (2004) biography, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America's Founding Fathers, from orphaned immigrant to first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. External Website

Authors I Most Popular Orphan Girl Movies and TV Shows ➝ A digital archive of care experienced people in fiction, on screen and in real life ➝ A Conversation with Daniel Ingram-Brown ➝ Back to Top

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Government expresses 'regret', will compensate for disappeared Yemenite children The Times of Israel 2021 Details of the compensation plan for the families involved in what is now known as the Yemenite children affair are outlined in this The Times of Israel article 27 February 2021. A figure of Israel New Shekel INS 162 million (around AUD$64 million) as compensation to affected families was approved by the Israel government in February 2021. According to the article, there are 1050 families which qualify for compensation. An official apology, however, has not been forthcoming. https://www.timesofisrael.com/government-set-to-express-regret-compensate-for-disappeared-yemenite-children/ External Website

Authors B Sins of the Father ➝ Quirke (series) ➝ Rocks in the Belly ➝ Mr Timothy ➝ The White Girl ➝ Common People ➝ The Foster Child: ➝ The Thief of Time ➝ Death of an Avid Reader ➝ The Orphan of Salt Winds ➝ Lost for words ➝ To Die For ➝ Agony of desertion (out of print) ➝ The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel ➝ The Butterfly Lampshade ➝ Ghost River ➝ The Promise ➝ I'll Be Right Here ➝ This House is Haunted ➝ Jane Eyre ➝ The Other Princess: A Novel of Queen Victoria's Goddaughter ➝ Different Genes ➝ A Thousand Moons ➝ The Black Tower ➝ The Dictator's Wife ➝ Blood ➝ Christine Falls ➝ The Heart's Invisible Furies ➝ Grace and Mary ➝ The Chocolate Maker's Wife ➝ The Strange Adventures of H ➝ Back to Top

Biography of Care Experienced People The House on Teacher's Lane Rachel Simon 2009 In her 2009 memoir, The House on Teacher’s Lane, American writer Rachel Simon mentions that her father was in an orphanage as a child. The impact of this experience on him was such that when Rachel’s younger sister Beth was diagnosed with an intellectual disability, her parents decided that institutionalisation wasn’t an option. Even after the parents divorced, Beth continued to live at home – first with her mother and later with her father. Rachel Simon published Riding the Bus with My Sister in 2002 and it was adapted for film in 2005. The book and film chronicle the year that Rachel spent doing what Beth loves to do, ride buses, after the death of their father who, as an adult, had worked in a community college teaching American history. 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

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

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles Every one of us has a different story': a historic portrait of care system success The Guardian 2022 The brilliant and inspiring Lemn Sissay recently organised for 59 accomplished people who had been in care as children to meet for at the Foundling Museum in London for an historic photo. This includes the story of the event and a quotation from each of the 59 people who attended. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Life story books and later life letters 2023 The life story book represents a realistic and honest account of the circumstances surrounding the child’s adoption. The Department for Education’s National Minimum Standards for adoption state that its format is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding and accessible for use by the child, and that prospective adopters are encouraged to update it with the child as their understanding develops. A later life letter should explain the child’s history from birth and be sufficiently detailed so that in the future the adolescent child, or young adult, will have factual details about their birth family and their life before adoption, and so be able to understand why they could not live with their birth family, and why they were adopted. External Website

Non Fiction Roots: The eco-Journal Bernadette McBride 2018 Bernadette McBride was on the child protection register for over a decade and in and out of care on an often-weekly basis. Her mother was suffering from chronic alcohol addiction and some days Bernadette would simply be left waiting at the school gates. She is a writer, creative practitioner & social advocate. She is the author of Roots - a self help journal, and has had various short fiction published from a collection she is currently working on. Bernadette is a Manchester Fiction Prize 2020 finalist, and won the award for Biggest Impact on the City of Liverpool award in 2019. She a PhD researcher in Creative Writing at the University of Liverpool. As a care-experienced writer she believes that often she is able to evoke subtle changes in internal and external environments on the page, and this is her superpower. External Website

Radio & Podcast Patricia Cornwell This Cultural Life 2024 American crime writer Patricia Cornwell (b. 1956) talks in This Cultural Life about her time in foster care as a child. She also talks about her mother having been orphaned as a child too, and how that experience deeply impacted on her mother’s life, causing considerable distress over the years. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Akin Emma Donoghue 2020 Akin explores kinship care. Noah Selvaggio is a retired chemistry professor and widower living on the Upper West Side, but born in the South of France. He is days away from his first visit back to Nice since he was a child, bringing with him a handful of puzzling photos he's discovered from his mother's wartime years. But he receives a call from social services: Noah is the closest available relative of an eleven-year-old great-nephew he's never met, who urgently needs someone to look after him. Out of a feeling of obligation, Noah agrees to take Michael along on his trip. The unlikely duo, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, bicker about everything from steak frites to screen time. But Noah gradually comes to appreciate the boy's truculent wit, and Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family's past. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Mixed Blessings from a Cambridge Union Dame Elizabeth N Anionwu 2016 Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu DBE FRCN (born Elizabeth Mary Furlong; 1947) is a British nurse, health care administrator, lecturer, and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at University of West London. In 1947 Elizabeth's mother, from a sheltered Catholic, Liverpool Irish working class heritage is studying Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge. She is the first one in her family to go to university – and then she discovers that she’s pregnant. The father is also a student at Cambridge, studying law. And he is black. Elizabeth spent just over two years living with her mother, a relationship that ended when her stepfather, who did not accept her and drank heavily, started to physically abuse her. She was placed in a catholic children's home where she was cared for by nuns, including several years in the Nazareth House convent in Birmingham. Often harshly punished and humiliated for wetting the bed. In her memoir she recalls, that later in life when working as a health visitor, "I made sure to keep up-to-date with more humane treatments for bedwetting". Nonetheless, she grieved leaving the convent to go and live with her mother. Shortly before her 25th birthday she suddenly found her father: barrister and former Nigerian Ambassador to Italy and the Vatican, Lawrence Anionwu. She was to visit Nigeria frequently and later changed her surname to Anionwu. In 1979, Anionwu became the United Kingdom's first sickle-cell and thalassemia nurse specialist, helping establish the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Counselling centre with consultant haematologist Milica Brozovic. In 1998, by then a professor of nursing, Anionwu created the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at the University of West London. She holds a PhD, was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). She retired in 2007, and in 2016 she published her memoirs, Mixed Blessings from a Cambridge Union. External Website