The “Forest Family”: Mother Agrees to Move into a House and Homeschooling in Appeal

L’Aquila, 17 March (LaPresse) – Despite having expressed a desire to live in the woods, the mother of the “Forest Family” has agreed to move into a house offered by the Municipality of Palmoli (Chieti), and has also arranged for her children to be taught by a private tutor. This, in essence, is the content of the appeal filed yesterday by lawyers Danila Solinas and Marco Femminella against the order of the L’Aquila Juvenile Court which removed Catherine Birmingham from her three children, who have been housed since 20 November in a foster home in Vasto (Chieti). They were living in a cottage without basic amenities, and the education of the children, aged 6 and 8, was deemed insufficient by social workers. Mrs Birmingham has accepted a new home and a proper home-schooling arrangement, a decision reached partly thanks to the ongoing mediation involving Nathan Trevillon, her husband, whose situation has been reassessed in recent weeks following the March order which had ordered the mother’s removal from the facility. The defence argues that had this decision been made a year and a half ago, it would likely have had less severe consequences. In their appeal, the couple’s lawyers criticised the reliability of the reports provided by social services and the foster home, reports which, in their view, contributed to steering the court towards the removal decision. According to the lawyers, the mother agreed to vaccinations for her children in mid-January, never prevented the three children from socialising, and ensured they had a social life.