Court splits up family living in woods in Abruzzo after 33,000 people sign petition demanding that they be left alone.
The three children of an Australian woman and a British man living off-grid in the woods in Italy’s central Abruzzo region have been taken into care.
The children of Catherine Birmingham, a 45-year-old former horse riding instructor, and Nathan Trevallion, a 51-year-old former chef, were taken away by authorities on Thursday evening, following a ruling by the juvenile court in L’Aquila.
The children – an eight-year-old girl and her six-year-old twin brothers – were transferred to a protected facility in Vasto, a town on the Adriatic coast.
Authorities eventually allowed the children’s mother to go with them, albeit requiring her to sleep in separate accommodation, following lengthy mediation between the family’s lawyer, Giovanni Angelucci, and social workers.
Courts
“Parental responsibility has been suspended by executive order” – Angelucci told newspaper La Repubblica – “The [parents] are very aware of the situation, the children too. The judges questioned both the children’s physical and educational status. But the parents know that this process is necessary to one day being able to lead the free life they have always dreamed of.”
The family living in a ramshackle farmhouse in the woods of Palmoli, in the Chieti area, had fought a legal battle to keep their children in their forest home after social services accused the couple of “parental negligence” -charges the pair have denied categorically.
After the children were removed from their home on Thursday, to an educational community for a period of observation, their father told reporters: “How can you tear children away from their parents? They will be traumatised.”
In making the decision, the juvenile prosecutor’s office had cited “serious harm” to the children’s development, however the parents have defended their choice to “free themselves from the toxicity of modern life”, expressing the desire to live in proximity with nature, in harmony with their children and animals.
Petition
Their case has received widespread media coverage in Italy, with more than 33,000 people signing an online petition demanding authorities to allow the family to continue living off-grid in the wilderness.
“Good-hearted people who do nothing wrong but who risk being crushed by the system” – the petition states – “The system is unjustly persecuting this wonderful family and threatening to take their children away!”
The family home is an old farmhouse with well water, a wood-burning stove and a zero-impact outdoor bathroom, with electricity self-generated by solar panels.
Birmingham and Trevallion, who bought the remote site in 2021, raise several farm animals and grow organic fruit and vegetables.
The children have been homeschooled and prior to being taken into custody were described by Italian media as “happy and healthy”.
Their case came to light in the autumn of last year after all five members of the family needed to be taken to hospital because they had been poisoned by mushrooms.
Speaking to Rome newspaper Il Messaggero on Thursday evening, Trevallian said he intended to bring a suitcase full of clean clothes to his family on Friday as they only managed to take what was necessary for one night.
“Who would ever separate a family with small children if they haven’t done anything wrong?” – Trevallion said – “I believe this measure is the product of a horrible system that harms people who live honestly.”
Photo RAI News
