Fostering new parents
Surrey County Council and 56 Local Authorities across England 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.
Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Children and Families at Surrey County Council said: “We have a critical need for more foster carers in Surrey, and we are calling on people to open their hearts and homes, to make sure that Surrey’s children can be cared for in their local community. Fostering really can make a huge difference to children and young people, and we offer a strong carer network as a local authority, so I encourage people to find out more.”
‘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 then be published on all 56 participating council’s social media platforms.
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
Find out more about Fostering in Surrey here: surreycc.gov.uk/fostering and follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Anyone can contact SCC today for a friendly and informal chat about fostering in Surrey: 0800 096 9626.
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