That’s the message of a powerful new fostering film – any of us can foster a child or young person, if you have the capacity to care.
‘Any Of Us’ is the sixth film produced by a growing partnership of councils and children’s trusts to promote local authority fostering. The ‘Any Of Us’ project is the largest public sector fostering film collaboration yet, with over 80 participants from Northumberland to Brighton and Liverpool to Kent.
Tracy Collins, Head of Fostering at Birmingham Children’s Trust said:
“Through this exciting collaborative production this film supports the positive role that our foster carers undertake in providing a loving nurturing family to children, supporting them to fulfil their potential.
We need more people to step forward to become foster carers and make a real difference to our children who will benefit from being part of a family.
If you would like to know more, we would love to hear from you, and you can contact our dedicated fostering recruitment team on 0121 303 7575 or enquire online at www.fosterbirmingham.co.uk”
‘Any Of Us’ looks at three very different people who all show some of the attributes needed to be a foster carer in incidents from their daily lives – Ayesha going to the aid of a pedestrian after a minor road accident, Neil calming down an aggressive situation in a snooker club, and Marsha identifying a young person showing signs of distress and intervening with them at school. Different individuals in very different scenarios, but each in their own way showing the caring instinct that is fundamental to being a foster carer.
The film develops so that it becomes clear that one of these three everyday people will become the foster carer to Chloe. But which one of the three will be the one to make the difference? The main character’s stories are all interwoven with Chloe’s, as we see her journey into fostering.
Sarah Thomas, chief executive of the Fostering Network says: “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.”
The full list of project partners is:
- Achieving For Children (consortium of Kingston, Richmond, and Windsor & Maidenhead councils)
- Barnet
- Birmingham Children’s Trust
- Blackpool
- Bracknell Forest
- Bradford Children and Families Trust
- Brent
- Brighton & Hove
- Bromley
- Buckinghamshire
- Calderdale
- Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
- Camden
- Cheshire East
- Coventry
- Croydon
- Cumbria
- Derby City
- Derbyshire
- Doncaster
- Dudley
- East Riding
- East Sussex
- Essex
- Foster 4 Cheshire (consortium of Warrington, Halton and Cheshire West & Chester Councils)
- Fostering Shared Services (consortium of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, and Westminster councils)
- Gloucestershire
- Hackney
- Hampshire
- Haringey
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- Hillingdon
- Hull
- Kent
- Knowsley
- Lancashire
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- Luton
- Merton
- Milton Keynes
- Norfolk
- North Lincolnshire
- North Somerset
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire Children’s Trust
- Northumberland
- Nottinghamshire
- Oldham
- Portsmouth
- Rotherham
- Rutland
- Sandwell Children’s Trust
- Sefton
- Sheffield
- South Gloucestershire
- South Tyneside
- Southampton
- Southend-on-Sea
- Southwark
- St Helens
- Staffordshire
- Stockport
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Sutton
- Swindon
- Telford & Wrekin
- Thurrock
- Tower Hamlets
- Trafford
- Wakefield
- Walsall
- Warwickshire
- West Sussex
- Wolverhampton
- Worcestershire Children First
- York
