‘Off-grid’ family reunited after couple’s three children were removed from their care over concerns
A British-Australian family have now been reunited after the couple’s three children were removed from their 'off-grid' woodland home in Italy's Abruzzo region over safety concerns last year.
The Juvenile Court of L’Aquila had approved a staged process, overseen by social services, that could eventually allow the children to leave the residential care facility where they have lived since November.
The family's lawyer, Simone Pillon, shared the update on Tuesday (1 September): "The ruling partially revises previous court decisions and sets out a gradual reunification process, allowing the children to return home for daytime visits immediately and, from October, for weekend overnight stays with their family."
The court's plan will allow British father Nathan Trevallion and Australian mother Catherine Birmingham to gradually be able to spend more time with their children in a home environment, which marks a major turning point in a case that sparked a heated debate across Italy about state intervention into family life.
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Ahead of any permanent reunification, social services will closely monitor the process and assess the three children's reintegration with their parents.
The latest development comes after the court suspended the couple's parental responsibility in an order issued in November 2025, which resulted in the children, a nine-year-old girl and twin boys aged seven, being housed in a residential care facility.
"This is a great injustice," Trevallion told The Telegraph at the time. "They have violated our rights."
Mum Birmingham stayed with her three children until March of this year, when she was ordered to leave under a new court ruling based on recommendations from social services.
Reuters reports that a court ruling issued at the time claimed that the family had no significant social interactions, no stable income and lacked adequate sanitary facilities.
The three children were being homeschooled.
Authorities were first alerted to the situation after all five family members were taken to hospital after suffering from mushroom poisoning.
If you want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Rhiannon Ingle