Councils unite to produce film for foster care fortnight

The three-minute film 'Giants' is available at www.fosteringleicestershire.com and tells the story of Jack and Ellie, siblings who want to stay together when they find themselves in foster care.

COUNCILS have come together to produce an emotive film to encourage more people to come forward and foster brothers and sisters.

To mark Foster Care Fortnight (May 8 – 21), Leicestershire County Council has teamed up with 12 other local authorities across the East and West Midlands to launch the short film.

The three-minute film ‘Giants’ is available at www.fosteringleicestershire.com and tells the story of Jack and Ellie, siblings who want to stay together when they find themselves in foster care.

The county council currently has around 500 children in its care, including sibling groups, and works to keep brothers and sisters together wherever possible.

Sharon Cooke, assistant director for children and family services at Leicestershire County Council, said: “This film demonstrates the real and urgent need local authorities have to recruit foster carers, including those who have the extra space to keep siblings together.

“Working together has meant we have a powerful and high quality product, at a low cost, to showcase and raise awareness for the need for more local authority foster carers.

“Foster Care Fortnight is all about raising awareness of how fostering can transform lives, so we hope people will take time to have a look at our film over the next two weeks and find out more about fostering with us.”

Georgina Oreffo, service manager for fostering and adoption at Leicester City Council, said: “This is a great example of how local authorities across the Midlands can work together. We all share the same need to find more foster families who can change the lives of our most vulnerable children.

“‘Giants’ is an extremely moving video that shows just how important it is to keep brothers and sisters together in foster care. We would urge anyone who is interested in becoming a foster carer to contact their local authority to find out more.”

The theme of ‘giants’ was devised to blend the concept of people who help us in society (such as foster carers), and also to highlight the strong bond and relationships that siblings have as they look up to and care for each other, becoming each other’s ‘giant’ in life.

The project was led by Coventry City Council which had won the Film Convert Corporate Film award in 2015 for Alfie’s Journey, another fostering film also made by production company Reel Twenty Five.

For more information about fostering with Leicestershire County Council visit www.fosteringleicestershire.com or call 0116 305 0505.

Source:
http://www.loughboroughecho.net

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