References to the children's health, certified by reports from the Local Health Authority's Child Neuropsychiatry Department, and to Nathan and Catherine's "successful participation" in the parenting support program, were not enough. The L'Aquila Court of Appeal rejected the appeal by Simone Pillon, the lawyer for the "family in the woods," requesting the "immediate reunification" of the three siblings with their parents after the L'Aquila Juvenile Court decided, in September, on a "staged return" for them. This process is now ongoing, with no specific timeframe or deadline.
"As was unfortunately predictable, the Court of Appeal has decided to reject the Birmingham Trevallion family's appeal," Pillon announced. "The Abruzzo Court has decided to uphold the expert's opinion and to validate the Juvenile Court's order, including the part in which it ignored the allegations regarding the risks to the children's health resulting from their stay in a foster home," Pillon specified, announcing an appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation. " The defense's arguments regarding parents' right to free choice regarding schooling were also disregarded , and the guidance from the Supreme Court regarding the residual nature of out-of-home placement and the need for its duration to be clearly stated were not considered."
According to the Court of Appeal, the parents' 'psycho-educational path' has not yet been completed and for this reason the three siblings cannot yet definitively return home .
For Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, this is "state violence that harms those children and that family. That mother and father said yes to everything: there's a new home, school, healthcare, and I don't understand this insistence on separating these children from their parents." Marco Rizzo, leader of Italia Domani, also weighed in, calling it "a real disgrace. Will the Abruzzo court apply the same standard of judgment in Roma camps or in the disadvantaged suburbs of Abruzzo, inhabited by closed communities of foreign immigrants? It's truly legitimate to ask whether there aren't double standards."
The children, Pillon recalled, "were enrolled in a public school in Vasto at the court's recommendation. Attendance is regular, the children get along well with their classmates , and they socialize, something we had no doubts about because we know these are children accustomed to interacting with other peers, contrary to what has been led to believe. However, we will appeal to the Supreme Court because we remain convinced that it is a parent's right to choose between public school and homeschooling; it is a constitutional right."
Furthermore, a public school in Palmoli is located just steps from the house granted to Nathan and Catherine by the small municipality, pending improvements to the farmhouse in the woods. The municipality has so far provided €90,000, or €7,500 per month, to pay for the three children's stay in the Vasto foster home for a year now. From there, for their weekly returns to Palmoli after school, as part of the "staged return," the children must endure 40-minute journeys on roads "in rain, fog, and extremely uncomfortable conditions," the mayor of Palmoli noted in September, emphasizing that the main issues had been resolved just two months after the court issued an order in November 2025 suspending the couple's parental responsibility.
(Unioneonline)
