Children and families charity, Child Action Northwest has
unveiled an exciting new campaign titled the ‘Foster Care
Confessionals’, to help raise awareness of fostering and recruit more
potential foster carers.
The charity, which offers an innovative portfolio of services designed
to support children and young people, as well as families and
communities across the North West, launched the campaign on May 11, to
coincide with the start of Foster Care Fortnight 2020.
The multiplatform, content-led campaign will combine PR and social media
activity, with engaging video content that aims to showcase what life is
really like as a foster carer to members of the general public.
- Who can foster? https://vimeo.com/412403052/7b20a414ce
- Ask the experts https://vimeo.com/412793341/e1d1aec5d3
- What’s it really like? https://vimeo.com/413150656/faad7aac68
Julie Dawkins, head of service at CANW, said: “This year we’ve taken
the brave decision to step away from the more traditional campaign
activity, and instead focus our efforts on content with a view to
hopefully reaching as many people as possible.
“Our ‘Foster Care Confessionals’ videos put our foster carers
front and centre because they’re the ones that really know what it’s
like – we didn’t want to paint a rosy picture of fostering, but
instead show the reality of what is one of the most rewarding roles a
person can take on.
“From addressing misinformation and common questions to fun stories
and anecdotes, the goal is to hopefully strike a chord with anyone
that’s ever considered or even just thought about fostering. Why?
Because we need them – there simply aren’t enough foster carers to
meet the current need we’re facing.”
There are more than 78,000 looked-after children in England, according
to the most recent figures released by the Department for Education[1].
And, whilst Ofsted[2] states that almost 55,000 children and young
people are currently placed with foster carers (44,450 fostering
households), there are still many more that are looking for safe and
secure homes.
Julie added: “Although we are all concerned by the Coronavirus
outbreak, and many people are finding themselves in extraordinary
situations as a result, the fact remains children still need loving
homes – perhaps more so now than ever.
“We’ve put measures in place to ensure we remain operational and can
continue to offer support to vulnerable children, young people and
families in the communities we serve and would love to hear from anyone
that’s open to fostering.”
CANW has been in existence for more than 125 years since the founding of
Blackburn Orphanage in 1886 and has helped hundreds of children and
families from across the North West during that time.
For more information on the charity or to enquire about becoming a
foster carer visit canw.org.uk [1] or call 0800 634 5300.
