A partnership of councils and children’s trusts has come together to produce a new film highlighting the importance of local authority fostering.
With 80 participants now involved, the Any of Us film is the sixth that has been produced by the ever-growing partnership, as it looks to present the message that anybody can foster a child or young person if they have the capacity to provide care.
Herefordshire Council’s Corporate Director for Children and Young People, Darryl Freeman, said:
“First and foremost, this project is about giving our fostering service a high-quality film that highlights the fact that anyone who cares has the potential to become a foster carer. All councils have their own area where we want to recruit foster carers from, so it makes great business sense to collaborate to produce a film that communicates a universal message: We all need more people to step forward and become foster carers. That message is the same, from Symonds Yat to Wigmore – every town, city and county – consider if you can offer a home to our most vulnerable children and young people.
"We really care about the work that we do. It’s all about giving children a chance to thrive and become the best person they can be.”
The film centres around three different people who all have the attributes that are required to be a foster carer, with this developing to explore which one of them might end up becoming the carer for a girl named Chloe. Using this way of storytelling, the film delves into how anybody who has a caring instinct can become a foster carer, regardless of how those instincts present themselves in our day to day lives.
Collaborations on this matter began in 2017 with the Giants film that was originally backed by a small group of local authorities in the Midlands, with the series growing to a point where the collaboration stretches across all corners of the country, whether it be Blackpool, Hampshire, North Yorkshire or Walsall.
You can view the short film on Herefordshire Council’s YouTube here:
Sarah Thomas, Chief Executive of the Fostering Network, added:
“The Fostering Network has supported this project since the first collaborative film ‘Giants’ in 2017. It’s fantastic to see the fostering services work together to amplify their message to recruit much-needed foster carers. There’s currently a shortage of 6,000 fostering households in England, so films like this have a vital role to play in encouraging more people to become foster carers.
"A lot of people – rightly – praised the John Lewis fostering advert at Christmas time, as poignant and socially responsible. ‘All Of Us’ is right up there alongside it. Now it’s our job to have it seen as widely as possible, so more people to take the first step and become the foster carers we need, right across England.”
