Overview
- The Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office in L’Aquila has asked the minors court to limit or suspend parental authority and to place the three children in care.
- The children—an eight-year-old and six-year-old twins—live with their parents in an abandoned farmhouse in the Vastese woods without running water or conventional electricity.
- Social services cited the absence of a registered pediatrician, social isolation and un‑schooling, and said the family refused a minimum plan requiring health documentation, adequate housing and access to a municipal education center.
- The parents, identified as Catherine Birmingham and Nathan Trevallion, through their lawyer say the children are healthy, assigned to the national health system, followed by a trusted pediatrician and receive weekly home instruction.
- The family remains together at home pending the Juvenile Court’s decision on the prosecutor’s request.