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Court Ruling to Remove Children of UK-Australian Couple Living in Woods Divides Italy
Decision to remove children comes after they and their parents ate poisonous mushrooms and ended up in hospital The Guardian 25 NOV 2025 ![]() Nathan Trevallion and Catherine Birmingham The decision by an Italian court to remove three children being brought up in the woods from their British/Australian parents has sparked a fierce debate in the country over alternative lifestyles. Nathan Trevallion, a former chef from Bristol, and his wife, Catherine Birmingham, a former horse riding teacher from Melbourne, bought a dilapidated property in a wooded area in Palmoli, in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, in 2021. The aim was to raise their three children Utopia Rose, eight, and six year old twins Galorian and Bluebell as close to nature as possible. They grew their own food, generated electricity via solar power and extracted their water from a well. Meanwhile, the children, surrounded by horses, donkeys and chickens, were homeschooled. Weekly trips to San Salvo, a town on the Adriatic coast with a population of 20,000, exposed them to the outside world. But the idyllic life came under scrutiny from local social services in September last year when the entire family was hospitalised after eating poisonous mushrooms picked from the woods. The authorities investigated further and found the familys dwelling to be dilapidated, in terrible hygienic conditions and lacking the necessary utilities, a court document showed. They were taken away by police on Thursday afternoon and taken to a church run facility. Their mother is with them, although both parents have limited access to their children, according to their lawyer, Giovanni Angelucci. In its ruling, the juvenile court noted that the family unit lives in housing hardship and has no social interaction, no fixed income, while the home has no toilet facilities and the children do not attend school As they awaited the courts decision, Trevallion and Birmingham gave several interviews to the press, generating support from thousands who signed an online petition calling for the family to be kept together. Trevallion described the childrens removal as a great heartbreak. It was the worst night of my life, he told the local news site, Il Centro, the day after the children were taken away, adding that in the care facility they were made to sleep in a separate room to their mother. He told La Repubblica We live outside of the system ? this is what theyre accusing us of. They are ruining the life of a happy family. Trevallion declined to speak further on Monday and Birmingham could not be reached for comment. Angelucci said the couple would appeal against the removal of their children, claiming that the judges report contained falsehoods, especially related to their schooling. The couple met while travelling in Bali and contemplated raising their family in Spain before settling in Italy. Trevallion told La Repubblica they would like to stay in the country but were also ready to move to Australia. The case has generated political controversy and a backlash against the juvenile courts top judge, Cecilia Angrisano. Italys prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, expressed alarm over the children being taken into care and instructed her justice minister, Carlo Nordio, to assess whether there were grounds to send inspectors. The deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, compared the case to a kidnapping. Italian magistrates often come under attack by Melonis government, saying the courts decision was based on factors including the childrens safety, sanitary conditions and education. The problem is how isolated these children were and how hygienic their conditions were |
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