Catherine Birmingham and her British husband Nathan Trevallion appealed to Italy’s Senate Speaker after their family was separated by social services last November. The couple were raising their three children off-grid, without electricity or running water, in the Abruzzo woods.
An Australian woman whose three young children were placed into state care while she and her British husband were raising them off the grid in the forests of central Italy broke down in tears on Wednesday as she addressed the media following a meeting with Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa.
“We’re here to be listened to and to be able to be a family again,” said Catherine Birmingham. She was visibly emotional as she read from a prepared statement alongside her husband Nathan Trevallion after the couple’s roughly half-hour meeting with La Russa.
We chose Italy because it had the same values we wanted to raise our children with: family, love, being together, living and eating naturally, and above all, an existence full of love and peace where people support each other.— Catherine Birmingham
The case has generated significant unease across Italy. Premier Giorgia Meloni and other members of her government have publicly voiced concern over the way social services have handled the matter, reflecting a broader national debate about the boundaries between state intervention and parental autonomy.
Living an alternative lifestyle
Birmingham and Trevallion had been bringing up their three children — an eight-year-old girl and six-year-old twins — in a house without electricity or running water in woodland near the town of Palmoli in the Abruzzo region. The children were taken into care in November after the family suffered mushroom poisoning. Authorities also cited concerns about the children’s safety, their education, and their limited opportunities to socialise with peers.
Following their removal, the children were placed in a care home in the coastal city of Vasto. Initially, Birmingham was permitted to stay at the same facility and was allowed to spend set hours each day with her children. That arrangement, however, did not last.
On 6 March, a court ordered that Birmingham be removed from the home. Reports suggested there had been mounting tension between her and staff and social workers at the facility. The decision drew immediate scrutiny from Rome: Italy’s justice ministry subsequently dispatched inspectors to the Juvenile Court of L’Aquila, which had jurisdiction over the case.
Meeting with La Rusa
Wednesday’s meeting with La Russa marked the couple’s most high-profile appeal yet to Italian officialdom. While neither side disclosed the full content of the discussions, Birmingham’s public statement made clear that the family’s immediate wish is straightforward: to be reunited and left to live as they choose.
The case has become a focal point for debates in Italy about the rights of families who opt for alternative lifestyles, the thresholds that justify child removal, and the conduct of the country’s juvenile justice system. With inspectors already in place at the L’Aquila court and the government watching closely, the next judicial steps are expected to draw considerable public attention.
Key Facts
- The family lived in an off-grid home without electricity or running water near Palmoli, Abruzzo.
- Three children — a girl, 8, and twins, 6 — were taken into care in November 2025 after mushroom poisoning.
- Concerns cited by authorities included safety, schooling, and lack of socialisation.
- On 6 March 2026, a court ordered Birmingham removed from the Vasto care home where she had been staying with the children.
- Italy’s justice ministry sent inspectors to the Juvenile Court of L’Aquila following that ruling.
- Premier Giorgia Meloni and members of her government have expressed concern over the handling of the case.
