In a ground-breaking national collaboration, 56 local authorities across England including Nottingham City Council have worked together to share ideas and jointly fund the creation of a short film to raise awareness of fostering.
It is aimed
at finding more people who may be interested in becoming foster carers and
providing nurturing, positive homes for children and young people across the
country who need them.
The new film, simply called ‘Childhood,’ highlights the impact of neglect on
children, particularly brothers and sisters who may be left at times to try and
care for each other. It shows the journey of ‘Sophie’ and ‘Charlie’ who are in
a very difficult home situation where their needs are not being met, to being
nurtured and supported through foster care to attend school and be able to
enjoy their hobbies and interests. In other words, have a childhood.
Cllr Cheryl Barnard, portfolio holder for Children, Young People and Schools, said: “This is a fantastic video that really highlights the importance of the work that foster carers do and the difference that they can make in a child’s life.
“Children deserve to live in a loving and caring environment where they can thrive and simply be children. As a foster carer myself, I know the pressures that the service can come under and we urgently need more foster carers who can provide these nurturing homes. I hope this video will help to convince more people to take those first steps towards fostering a child.
Audrey Taylor, service manager for fostering and adoption at Nottingham City Council, said: “We have a group of committed carers in Nottingham City who do an amazing job of caring for some of our most vulnerable children and young people during challenging times.”
‘Childhood’ will be officially launched with a premiere at the Everyman cinema, Birmingham on 13th October, with an introduction from Kevin Williams, the Chief Executive of The Fostering Network, and Rachel Brown, project manager working with Council Advertising Network.
Kevin Williams said: “We continue to value and support foster carers but we urgently need more foster carers to come forward to care for children within their local communities. Foster carers are the bedrock of children’s social care; they are vital in our society and our young people rely on their care, dedication, passion and skills to support them when they need it most.
“Across the UK, around 9,265 more fostering families are needed, to make sure every child that can’t live with their own family gets the care they need.
“Currently, there are over 70,000 children living with almost 56,000 foster families in the UK, and the number of children coming into care keeps rising. The reasons children become looked after vary widely. We need more people to come forward to foster, to stand by their side and to be there for them no matter what.”
The film will be published on all 56 participating councils’ social media platforms.
The project follows earlier, smaller partnerships between councils in and around the Midlands who, together with the film company ReelTwentyFive, have produced several award-winning films to highlight the need for foster carers. The most recent, ‘Out There’, was released in October 2021 and is currently shortlisted for a Royal Television Society Award.
Richard
Bailey from ReelTwentyFive said: “We absolutely love working on these films,
and are so proud of the work we have produced and the awards won for them. We
feel that this is the best one so far. We have built on the knowledge of
previous films, and really feel this one captures the simple yet complex
messages about childhood and what it should mean.”
Rachel Brown, who has been a foster carer recruiter for a number of years and
led on the national project, said: “Sadly, there is an unmet need for foster
carers in the country today and there is likely to be an increase in this need.
The cost of living crisis and other struggles families across the UK are facing
creates and escalates difficulties for many.
“Having
worked on previous projects we know that these beautifully crafted films have a
real impact. With the support of CAN Digital, I am really proud that we will
reach even further around the country, a third of all council fostering
services in England. We’d like to thank every single person involved in what
has been a great collaborative experience.
“The aim is that this film will be shared on social media and other platforms,
right across the country, reaching many more people and leading them to
consider whether the rewarding role of fostering could be an option for them.”
The film will be available to watch and share from all participating local authority platforms from noon on 13th October 2022 to help the message spread across the UK using the hashtags #FosterForYourCouncil and #Childhood