Italian justice authorizes the gradual return of children to their Australian-British parents living as recluses in Abruzzo

This is a turning point in this affair which is captivating Italy. The Australian-British couple who live secluded in a house in the heart of the Abruzzo forest (central Italy) should be able to welcome their children back, after their removal by social services. Their 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old twins were placed in a foster home in November 2025, by court order. The Aquila juvenile court approved a “staged” reunification path, under the supervision of social services, their lawyer said on Tuesday.

Catherine Birmingham, a 45-year-old Australian, personal development coach, and Nathan Trevillon, a 51-year-old British man, settled in 2021 on the outskirts of an Italian village, Palmoli. Seeking a “stress-free” life and in harmony with nature, they lived with animals, a donkey, a horse, dogs, cats, ducks... using outdoor dry toilets and only energy from solar panels. Consistent with this alternative lifestyle, the children were neither vaccinated nor educated.

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According to La Republicca, housing had been offered to the family by the public authorities. However, the parents quickly gave up on this apartment on the pretext that they feared drinking water treated with chlorine or that a connection to the electricity network made them complicit in the enlargement of the ozone hole. This family, already perceived as marginal, had nevertheless always passed under the radar of the authorities.

Poisoning due to consumption of mushrooms

It was in September 2024, after poisoning due to the consumption of poisonous mushrooms, that their balance was disrupted. All five family members had to be rushed to hospital by helicopter. On site, the parents refused to have a nasal tube inserted into one of their children, further alerting the medical staff. A report was made to social services. According to the fact-checking website Pagella politica, the couple made vaccination conditional on payment of €50,000 per child.

In November 2025, the children were taken from their parents by social services and placed in a foster home. Their mother was allowed to live with them until she was kicked out last April due to her hostile attitude towards educators. Since then, the couple has seen their children by video calls or during appointments under supervision inside or outside the structure. “We have done nothing wrong by wanting to return to nature,” Catherine Birmingham proclaimed at the microphone of Rai, the main Italian television channel.

For Giorgia Meloni, “children do not belong to the State”

This affair has attracted the attention of several political figures, such as Matteo Salvini, the boss of the Lega, who calls for educational freedom and is offended by the interference of the administration and judges in the private lives of households. Last March, after the separation of the children from their mother, Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister considered that the magistrates had “gone too far”. “Children do not belong to the State, magistrates forget the limits. Separating a mother from her children is a profoundly traumatic experience.”

After the recent court decision moving towards a gradual return of the children to the parental fold, the couple's lawyer, Simone Pillon, announced an appeal, considering this process of “gradual reunification” unsatisfactory. Indeed, if children can go see their parents for a day, they will only be able to see them for a whole weekend from October. “Separating children from their parents is contrary to the Constitution and all conventions. And even the obligation to choose public school, when my clients wanted home education, is not acceptable. The Court remained anchored in previous assessments that are now largely outdated by the facts,” he said.