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Radio & Podcast Guilty feminist Deborah Frances-White Conversations 2022 Deborah Frances-White of The Guilty Feminist fame grew up in Queensland knowing that she had been adopted as a small baby. Now based in London, in the 2nd half of this podcast you can hear Deborah speak of finally deciding about 10 years ago to check out her biological family. By then, she says, she was ready to face whatever happened, including rejection. External Website

Television Shows Carlo & Malik 2018 Carlo & Malik is an Italian television crime series featuring an adoptee character. 28 year old Malik Soprani arrived by boat as a boy from the Ivory Coast. His mother did not survive the journey and he was adopted by an Italian woman and becomes an Italian citizen and a detective. Malik is partnered with the more senior Carlo Guerrieri who has to overcome his racist attitudes for the partnership to work. External Website

Authors E The Life and Work of Muhammad ➝ The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found: The Costa Book of the Year 2018 ➝ Back to Top

Children's Fiction The Leftovers Eleanor Spence 1983 When the home in which they've been living is about to be closed down to make way for a new road, four foster children write an advertisement for a real home with a proper family External Website

Performing Arts Singer, musician Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (1945 – 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger. Hewas born in Chicago but he lived in the Carr Square, St Louis, Missouri housing project, with his grandmother, Martha Crumwell. His mother, Drusella Huntley, had sent the three year old boy to live with Martha when she separated from Donny’s father, Hosea Brown—a traumatised serviceman—and couldn’t support Donny on her own. Donny started at St Louis’ Vashon High School when he was 14. Recognised for his prodigious musical talent, he began taking music theory classes at Washington University. On graduation from high school, Donny attended Howard University where he met his wife, Eulaulah. After 3 years, he stopped going to university because he had so many offers to perform. By 1973, when he was 28, Donny had recorded five albums and won a Grammy. Donny Hathaway was only 35 when he died; he fell to his death from the 15th floor of the Essex Hotel in Manhattan. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Sins of the Father Sharon Bairden 2020 Lucas Findlay thinks he has struck gold when he marries Rebecca (who grew up in state care), but she married him for one reason only - to destroy him. Trauma runs deepWhen her past comes back to haunt her, Rebecca begins to disconnect from herself and the world around her. As secrets are unearthed, she begins to fear for her sanity ... and her life.Truth will outWith her world unravelling around her, Rebecca clings to her determination to make Lucas pay, whatever the cost.Forgive his sinsBut someone must pay for the sins of the father... External Website

Performing Arts Singer, comedienne, activist Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (1927 – 2008) was an American singer, actress, dancer, voice actress, comedienne, activist, author, and songwriter. Eartha Mae Kitt was born in North, a small town in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. Her mother was of African and Cherokee heritage and her unknown father is believed to have been a white man. When she was around 3 or 4 years of age, Eartha was rejected by her mother and sent to live in foster care. Four years later, Eartha was sent to live in Harlem, New York, with an aunt, who was also abusive. Eartha Kitt’s professional career began with her dancing but quickly moved into acting and singing too. Kitt made her acting debut in 1950; she played Helen of Troy in an Orson Welles’ production. She then went on to perform in film and television, including the role of Catwoman in the 1960s series of Batman. Her outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War led to Kitt being blacklisted in the United States. Her career took off again 10 years later with her 1978 performance in the musical Timbuktu! Eartha Kitt continued to perform in nightclubs and for films—and record songs—until her death. External Website

Authors N National Care Leavers' Week 2020 | A Portrait Of Care ➝ Nothing Compares ➝ No Reservations ➝ Newsies ➝ Nickel Boys ➝ Never Let Me Go (film) ➝ News of the World ➝ Nowhere Special ➝ Night Cries ➝ Back to Top

Actors Jack Charles Jack Charles (1943-2022) was an Australian actor, musician, potter, and Aboriginal elder. A member of the Stolen Generation, Jack was removed from his mother as a baby, sexually abused in Box Hill, and rejected by his foster mother when he told her he had made contact with Aboriginal family members. As a consequence of his childhood suffering, Jack was a drug addict for decades, often financing his habit through petty theft. He's been imprisoned something like 22 times. His screen credits include the landmark Australian film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Bedevil (1993), Blackfellas (1993), Tom White (2004) and Pan (2015), among others. External Website

Writers James Michener 1907-1997 American writer James Michener (circa 1907 – 1997) was born to unknown parents. He was taken in by Mabel Michener who lived in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and who worked as a foster carer. Mabel never formally adopted James, but he remained with her until he left home. James Michener did well at school and attained a scholarship to Swarthmore College. When he graduated in 1929, he briefly took up a teaching post but in 1930 was selected for a fellowship so he could travel & study in Scotland. Michener served as a naval historian in the South Pacific during the 1940s and his collection of short stories about that experience, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Tales of the South Pacific was adapted for a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical the following year, and the musical also won a Pulitzer Prize. External Website

Writers Jeanette Winterson 1959- The official site of Jeanette Winterson includes poetry, short stories, monthly column, journalism articles, excerpts from all her books, and links to interviews. Jeanette Winterson was born in 1959 and adopted in 1960. She left home at 16 and supported herself with a variety of paid work while studying at Oxford University. Her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, won the 1985 Whitbread Prize. External Website

Poetry The Gift of Experience Your Life Your Story 2021 The Gift of Experience anthology, was published as a tribute to care experienced poet Yusuf Paul McCormack who died in 2021. The anthology features poetry from mainly care experienced voices. External Website

Authors W Velvet Winter ➝ Prince Philip: A turbulent childhood stalked by exile, mental illness and death ➝ Freddie Figgers: The millionaire tech inventor who was 'thrown away' as a baby ➝ BBC Teach - History KS3 / GCSE: Small Axe - Alex Wheatle and the Brixton Uprising ➝ Back to Top

Autobiography/Memoir I've been bloody lucky: the story of an orphan named Jimmy Butt Felicity Dargan 2006 Jimmy relives each colourful episode of his childhood as an orphan growing up in the 1920s and 30s in Australia. He was fostered to 16 different families across Melbourne and country Victoria. Some families treated Jimmy well, others poorly. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles The Train of Happiness Phyllis Macchioni 2021 Blogger Phyllis Macchioni has written about the Trains of Happiness. She speaks of having discovered a book by Giovanni Rinaldi called I Treni della Felicità about the thousands of Southern Italian children who were taken in by Northern Italian families after WWII because of the poverty and debris in southern Italy. Teresa Noce was the initiator of the program. She had been in a concentration camp in Germany and back home in Milan she became concerned about children who were abandoned and hungry. Macchioni writes: “In the two winters following the end of the war, thousands of children left their homes in the war torn Southern provinces to stay with families in and around Modena. They were clothed, sent to school and cared for…” An estimated 70,000 children were part of the ‘trains of happiness’ program. Image from here: https://giorinaldi.com/2021/05/27/the-train-of-happiness-dal-blog-di-phyllis-macchioni/ External Website

Radio & Podcast The UpEND Podcast The UpEND Podcast 2023 UpEND is a movement by activists in the United States to abolish the existing child welfare system, which they call he ‘family policing system’. There is now an UpEND podcast available and in the first episode Alan Dettlaff explains the need for abolition rather than reform. External Website

Films/Videos The Sapphires 2012 The Sapphires is based on the true story of the first popular all-female Aboriginal group, The Sapphires. The film was written by Tony Briggs, who adapted his 2004 stage play of the same name into a screenplay. The film was choreographed by Stephen Page, the artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Set in 1968, a year of global social upheaval, revolution, and war. Three young Aboriginal sisters—Gail, Cynthia, and Julie—dream of a brighter future while living in rural Australia, where poverty and discrimination prevail. Their talent as singers is discovered by Dave Lovelace, a down-and-out Irish musician, who convinces them to pivot from Country & Western to Soul Music and pursue a gig entertaining American troops in Vietnam. They are joined by their estranged cousin Kay who is an Aboriginal Australian girl who was kidnapped as a child and raised by non-Indigenous Australians. She believed she was white because of the incident and the fact that she was very pale. In Vietnam, they endure the horrors of war, heartbreak, and personal transformation, culminating in a powerful memorial concert for Dr. Martin Luther King after his assassination. Despite the trials, the experience strengthens their sense of identity and family bonds. Inspired by true events, The Sapphires is a celebration of resilience, music, and the journey to self-discovery. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe 2010 Moll Flanders is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age. Presented as Moll’s autobiography, and published anonymously, the novel, through its self-made protagonist, highlights the intricacies and double standards of Moll’s contemporary society, and offers an irresistible and evocative insight into both the drawing rooms and seedy back alleys of seventeenth-century England. External Website

Children's Fiction Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone J K Rowling 1997 Harry Potter is living in kinship care with his cruel aunt and uncle. They keep him in a room under the stairs. Harry has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. External Website

Radio & Podcast Douglass on Slavery Talking Politics: History of Ideas 2020 Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) escaped slavery and became a leader in the abolitionist movement in the US. Separated from his mother as a baby, he only saw her a few times before she died when Frederick was 7. Frederick's father was likely a white man. In this podcast, David Runciman discusses Douglass' life and thinking, External Website