Search Results

Artists Henry Darger Henry Joseph Darger Jr. (; c. April 12, 1892 – April 13, 1973) was an American writer, novelist and artist who worked as a hospital custodian in Chicago, Illinois. Henry was four when his mother died and after his father was hospitalised, the boy was moved first to an orphanage and then to an asylum for children with disabilities. Darger has become famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What Is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor paintings illustrating the story.The visual subject matter of his work ranges from idyllic scenes in Edwardian interiors and tranquil flowered landscapes populated by children and fantastic creatures, to scenes of horrific terror and carnage depicting young children being tortured and massacred. Much of his artwork is mixed media with collage elements. Darger's artwork has become one of the most celebrated examples of outsider art. External Website

Radio & Podcast BBC Radio 4 - Child of the State Lemn Sissay Poet Lemn Sissay looks for the lost memories of his time in social care as a child. Between the ages of two months and 18 years old, poet Lemn Sissay was a child of the state. In this programme he tracks down the staff, social workers and old friends who remember him from that time, and looks for the lost memories of his years in social care. External Website

Authors K Trumpet ➝ The White Bird Passes ➝ Kim ➝ Back to Top

Fiction featuring Care Experience After Anne Logan Steiner 2023 In After Anne, Logan Steiner explores "the story behind the story", the story of Canadian Lucy Maud Montgomery who gave us the delighful and enduring character, Anne of Green Gables. The novel is a tribute to Montgomery, revealing the hidden challenges faced by Montgomery during her life while also celebrating her work. External Website

Performing Arts American singer, founding member Supremes Mary Wilson Mary Wilson (1944 – 2021) was an American singer. Born in Greenville, Mississippi, but at age three was taken in by aunt and unclue in Detroit, believing them to be her parents. Mary Wilson gained worldwide recognition as a founding member of The Supremes, the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. chart history, as well as one of the best-selling girl groups of all-time. The trio reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 with 12 of their singles, ten of which feature Wilson on backing vocals. Wilson remained with the group following the departures of the other two original members Florence Ballard (in 1967) and Diana Ross (in 1970), though the trio disbanded following Wilson's own departure in 1977. Wilson later became a New York Times best-selling author in 1986 with the release of her first autobiography, Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, which set records for sales in its genre, and later for the autobiography Supreme Faith: Someday We'll Be Together. Continuing a successful career as a concert performer in Las Vegas, Wilson also worked in activism, fighting to pass Truth in Music Advertising bills and donating to various charities. Wilson was inducted along with Ross and Ballard (as members of the Supremes) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. External Website

Performing Arts Mezzo-soprano singer Maroochy Barambah Maroochy Barambah (b. circa 1950) is an Australian Aboriginal mezzo-soprano singer. She is a song-woman, law-woman and elder of the Turrbal people. Maroochy Barambah was born Yvette Isaacs in the town of Cherboug in Queensland. During the 1970s Yvette was able to attend the Melba Conservatorium of Music on a scholarship and the Victorian College of Arts. She graduated in 1979. She went on to establish her own jazz group and in 1982 appeared in Episode 3 of the Women of the Sun historical drama series. Yvette changed her name to Maroochy Barambah in 1982. Maroochy Barambah performed in the 1989 production of Black River—the first Aboriginal Australian to perform opera on stage—for the Sydney Metropolitican Opera, in the Bran Nue Dae musical the following year, and in 1991 “was awarded the inaugural Aboriginal performing arts fellowship by the Aboriginal Arts Committee.” External Website

Writers Andy McNab 1959- Steven Billy Mitchell (1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist and former British Army infantry soldier. Andy McNab was abandoned and then adopted. After dropping out of school he effentually joined the British Army after being released from juvenile detention. Despite his lack of reading ability when he joined the army, he came into public prominence in 1993 when he published Bravo Two Zero which contained an account of a military mission in which he had taken part with the Special Air Service (SAS) during the Persian Gulf War, for which he had been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. McNab has published other fiction and nonfiction books including two autobiographies. External Website

Sport Simone Biles - Artistic Gymnast Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles (b. March 14, 1997) is an Olympic Gold Medallist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, the third of four siblings. Her birth mother, Shanon Biles, was unable to care for Simone or her other children – Adria, Ashley, and Tevin. All four went in and out of foster care. 🌟Simone's silver medal in the floor exercise final in Paris 2024 Olympic Games tied her as the second-most decorated female gymnast in Olympic history, a total of 11 medals.🎉 She is also the youngest living person to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2000, Biles' maternal grandfather, Ron Biles and his second wife, Nellie Cayetano Biles, began temporarily caring for Shanon's children in the north Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, after learning that his grandchildren had been in foster care. In 2003, the couple officially adopted the two youngest, Simone and Adria. Ron's sister, Shanon's aunt Harriet, adopted the two oldest children. With a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and the world's third most decorated gymnast, behind Belarus' Vitaly Scherbo (33 medals) and Russia's Larisa Latynina (32 medals). External Website

Children's Fiction Dennis and the Big Decisions (2-5 years) Paul Sambrooks 2011 This brightly illustrated picture book explains to young children who are living in foster care about why they have moved from their family, why they may have future moves, and who will make these decisions. It is the sequel to the ever-popular Dennis Duckling (BAAF 2009). The story follows Dennis, living in foster care, as important decisions are made about where he should live and who with. It looks at the range of adults who are involved in decision making, including social workers, foster carers, judges and birth parents, and emphasises how they all want to make the right choice for Dennis. The story can help children who have to be separated from their birth parents to understand what is happening to them and why, what the future may hold, and how they can be involved in making big decisions no matter how old or young they are. It clearly explains that children are not responsible for making decisions, or resolving the difficulties that surround them, but that their wishes and feelings are vitally important and will be listened to. Dennis Duckling and the Big Decisions does not have a set ending. It is left to the child and reader to imagine what happens next, hopefully reflecting the plan for the individual child. The story can be revisited and expanded many times as plans progress and decisions about the child s future become clearer. 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

Films/Videos Oranges and Sunshine 2010 Oranges and Sunshine is a 2010 Australian drama film directed by Jim Loach as his directorial debut. Film about the forced migration of children from England to Australia. The film is based on Margaret Humphrey's 1994 book, Empty Cradles. Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered the scandal of "home children", a scheme of forcibly relocating poor children from the United Kingdom to Australia and Canada. Margaret reunites estranged families, who are situated in Australia and the UK. and brings worldwide attention to the cause. Deported children were promised oranges and sunshine but they got hard labour and life in institutions such as Keaney College in Bindoon, Western Australia. Many were given to the Congregation of Christian Brothers, where they suffered physical and sexual abuse. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Glasgow Boys Margaret McDonald 2024 Winner of the 2025 Carnegie Medal 2025 Two boys can't remember the last time they had a hug. Meet Finlay. He's studying for his nursing degree at Glasgow University, against all the odds. But coming straight from care means he has no support network. How can he write essays, find paid work and NOT fall for the beautiful boy at uni, when he's struggling to even feed himself? Meet Banjo. He's trying to settle in with his new foster family and finish high school. But he can't forget all that has happened, and his anger and fear keep boiling over. How can he hold on to the one good person in his life, when his outbursts keep threatening his already uncertain future? External Website

Authors K Rudyard Kipling ➝ Jackie Kay (writer) ➝ Roger Dean Kiser ➝ Doreen Kartinyeri ➝ Doris Kartinyeri ➝ Back to Top

Authors P I was a ward of the state. The horrors of the Parramatta Girls' Home were legendary ➝ Khelsi Price ➝ The Pale Blue Eye ➝ Peter Norris grew up on the run with his bank-robber dad. He refuses to be defined by his past ➝ Back to Top

Authors A Robert Adamson (poet) ➝ Maya Angelou (Poet) ➝ Cast: In the darkness of night is where we find light ➝ Malik Al Nasir ➝ Patience Agabi ➝ Back to Top

Films/Videos Santa Claus: The Movie 1985 Santa is exhausted by his ever-growing workload & he enlists an assistant, Patch. Santa befriends homeless orphan boy Joe & takes him for a ride in his sleigh. They meet wealthy orphan girl Cornelia, who befriends Joe. Patch designs a machine which falls apart & he resigns. External Website

Authors L Contemplating Fictional and Nonfictional Orphan Stories (2004) ➝ Conceptualizing Stigma ➝ Back to Top

Actors Sigrid Thornton Sigrid Thornton (b. 1959), was in foster care for 9 months as a child. When Sigrid was 7, she left with her parents for England so they could do their doctoral degrees. Towards the end of their time in England, Sigrid's parents sent her to stay with family friends in New Zealand. For Sigrid this was a happy adventure, but she later reflected on the pain of separation from her parents. Thornton went on to have a highly successful acting career, making her film debut in 1977 at the age of 18.Over four decades Sigrid Thornton has held a unique position in the Australian film, television and theatre landscape over multiple genres and platforms on and off screen. She has starred in many films now regarded as classics of the Australian cinema including early box office hit The Man from Snowy River. Her early work brought her to the attention of HBO, leading to her starring role in the mini series All the Rivers Run which became a huge popular success globally and earned her her first best actress Logie award. Sigrid became the first Australian actress to be offered a lead role in a US network prime time drama series - Paradise for CBS, receiving a Western Heritage Cowboy Hall of Fame award in 1999. External Website

Poets Martin Figura Martin Figura Martin Figura was born in Liverpool in 1956. He was ten years of age when his father murdered his mother. After a year in care, he was rescued by former neighbours with whom he lived happily in Crewe. Figura is a poet, photographer, winner of the 1975 RAPC Apprentice College Accountancy Prize and was recently described as a pleasant sixty-year-old gentleman (hospital referral letter). Figura has published many poetry collections. External Website

Poetry Care Left Me Autumn Walsh 2021 Poetry and art by Autumn Walsh External Website