Published on •Updated
The ongoing dispute between social services and an Anglo-Australian family living in rural Italy, which has drawn international attention, had a fresh turn after health experts recommended returning three children to their parents.
A report by psychiatrists from the Lanciano-Vasto-Chieti Local Health Authority said it is essential to restore stable family ties for the children, who were removed from their parents in November.
The seven-page document said returning the children to their family is urgent while acknowledging the need to monitor the parents on educational objectives and social integration.
Catherine Birmingham, 45, from Australia, and Nathan Trevallion, 51, from England, have three children — six-year-old twins and an eight-year-old daughter. The family was reported to social services in October 2024 after all five were hospitalised for apparent mushroom poisoning.
Authorities judged their woodland home in Palmoli, in the northern province of Chieti, unsuitable and removed the children last year.
The children were transferred to a care facility in Vasto, where Birmingham lives with them but can see them only at set times. Trevallion visits four times weekly.
Conflicting evaluations
Birmingham said the children wake with nightmares from sleeping apart from their parents. “We always wanted to give them a reality of life away from the problems of the world,” she said.
On education — a central issue for judges who cited learning gaps and isolation — Birmingham defended delayed formal schooling.
“Our intention is not to deny educational opportunities but to start the learning work after direct experiences in nature,” she said. “Children also acquire more desire to learn because punishments and being reprimanded lower self-esteem.”
She said she would accept a teacher with appropriate timing to encourage creativity.
The health authority assessed this positively. “The children show substantial adequacy in the emotional-relational areas. Interaction with the parents is good and they represent a valid emotional reference for them,” the report said.
Tonino Cantelmi, a neuropsychiatrist and expert witness for the couple, called Birmingham “an exasperated and worried mother, but fully capable from a parental point of view.”
Social workers had described Birmingham as “reluctant to share rules and educational principles different from her own and intransigent.”