For nine years adoptive father of four Roger Fenton has been compiling a list of famous and influential people whose lives have been touched by adoption, fostering or the care system in some way.

His database now contains more than 500 entries ranging from household names to obscure generic entries such as the Abelites, a small 4th century North African celibate Christian sect whose members were required to be married and adopt two children.

Each week, starting next week, Adoption-net will be carrying a selection of the entries from his database on the site.

Roger's project started as a labour of love - as a way of boosting the self-esteem of one of his adopted children.

"I think it could be a useful resource for adoptees, foster children and their parents," he said.

"Adoptees and foster children often feel isolated, especially if their families are not open about adoption and fostering or have not cultivated the friendship of other, similar families.

"Young adoptees may grow up not knowing any other adopted children, and may wonder if they are unique.

"They may be ashamed of their status or don't feel able to aspire to high achievement, but are instead doomed to a second-class life.

"I hope that this list can reassure them that they can aspire and show them that other people in their situation have scaled the greatest heights of achievement, and that being adopted or fostered does not have to restrict one's attainments."

Roger and his wife, Auriel have four trans-racially adopted children and the cultural mixture in their family reflects their own unusual background and travels.

He and his wife have lived in Wales, where Auriel was born, for the past 18 years but Roger was born and raised in the US, of white and Native American ancestry.

They met while students in Berlin and after marrying, lived for a while in the US and then New Zealand, where they adopted their first child.

Their four adopted children all have different ethnic backgrounds, including: New Zealand and Cook Island Maori, Guyanese, Welsh, Scottish, English, Irish, African and African-Caribbean.

As a result of his unusual experiences and background, he admits that many of the entries on his list have Polynesian, African-Caribbean, Native American, British, New Zealand and American connections.

The list includes people who were adopted or fostered, and also people who, as children, were separated from their birth parents for significant periods of time.

They have all been either famous or influential in their own sphere of life and the list does not include the adopted children of famous parents, unless they were also famous or influential in their own right.

It includes children who were stolen or abducted and raised by their captors, such as slaves and war captives, as well as children who were raised in orphanages or other institutions.

Some of the entries are children who lived alone or on the streets with no adult to care for them or children from cultural minorities who were forcibly taken from their parents by Governments and sent to children's homes or boarding schools, or fostered and adopted by families from the dominant culture.

Some children on the list were feral children, raised by animals while others are legendary and mythological characters, though not totally fictional characters.

"The list is mostly of people I consider to be appropriate role models, so it excludes people who are notorious for their misdeeds for example serial killers - and yes, unfortunately several are adoptees - and other criminals," said Roger.

"But it does include people like the Emperor Nero, who if not good role models, were at least influential," he added.

He admits that many of the entries, if not most, people may never heard of but he explains that the list is not just of famous Americans and Europeans.

"I include people from all cultures and times, and I've considered a person's influence on his or her own culture and time, rather than use the simplistic measure of whether I, as an American living in Europe, have heard of him or her," said Roger, a professional researcher working for a private company at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth.

The biographical information comes variety of sources - including newspapers, magazines and the internet.

Roger is always on the lookout for new entries so if you come across them e-mail them to him, he's always interested.

Look out for the first entries in this new series on Adoption-net on Monday.