Off-grid British-Australian couple detail 'anguish' after Italian court removes their children

A couple have described their distress, trauma and pressure after spending two years defending their right to raise their children as they see fit under intense public scrutiny.

The three children of a Melbourne woman, Catherine Birmingham, and her British partner, Nathan Trevallion, were taken from their run-down off-grid home in Italy last year.

The case triggered international discussions about government intervention and unconventional living arrangements.

The family had been living on a forested property in the Abruzzo region, growing their own food and educating the children at home.

In September 2024, the family was hospitalised after consuming toxic mushrooms they had foraged, drawing the attention of local authorities.

In November 2025, the juvenile court ruled that Utopia Rose, nine, and six-year-old twins Galorian and Bluebell should be placed in a residential care facility, citing poor hygiene, lack of social contact, absence of proper toilet facilities and no formal schooling.

Birmingham remained with them until March, when a new court order required her to leave.

On Wednesday, an Italian court approved a phased approach to a gradual reunification process, which could eventually permit the children to leave the facility.

According to their lawyer, Simone Pillon, the ruling partially overturns earlier court decisions and outlines a gradual reunification process, permitting the children to return home for daytime visits immediately and, from October, for overnight weekend stays with their family.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the couple said the decision they had waited for so long arrived with a harshness that broke each of their hearts.

They questioned whether mandatory school attendance was fair, legal and respectful of their parental rights and their children's rights, stating they had chosen Italy partly for its homeschooling provisions and support for family life.

The parents said medical professionals had warned that the children's health was at serious risk and that the only way to reduce this risk was to return them home without delay.

We are deeply worried about their health, the parents wrote.

How can they be well if they are made to travel back and forth from their home to the foster home, then to school, and then back to the foster home again, all while still being kept apart from their parents?

How will they cope in the evening when, after an afternoon spent at home with their friends and pets, they must return to the foster home?

Even Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has commented on the case. She expressed alarm over the children being placed in care, while the deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, likened the situation to a kidnapping.

The judiciary's union stated that the court's decision was grounded in concerns about the children's safety, sanitary conditions and education.

Following the latest ruling, social services will oversee the process and carry out an assessment before any permanent reunion can take place.

The couple wrote that the authorities wanted to enforce a standard, and those who do not comply lose their children.

We are deeply saddened by this, they wrote.

We have continued to cooperate and engage with everyone, even under extreme trauma, stress, frustration and concern for our children, aware of their daily suffering, but we will always insist on respect for our parental rights and, above all, for our children's rights, especially their right to health, mental, physical and emotional.

The couple intend to appeal for a complete and quicker reunification.