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. The film has been produced by Reel TwentyFive and project managed by CAN Digital/Rachel Brown.
Any Of Us looks at 3 very different people who all show some of the attributes needed to be a foster parent 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 parent.
The film develops so that it becomes clear that one of these 3 everyday people will become the foster parent to Chloe. But which one of the 3 will be the one to make the difference? The main character’s stories are all interwoven with Chloe’s, following her journey into fostering.
Project Director Rachel Brown said: "Whilst there is always a core message about the difference fostering makes within our films, Any Of Us has been more ambitious in telling 3 different stories from diverse foster parents, based around them sharing their experiences with people considering fostering.
"We hope that this will mean that the film and its messaging will appeal to as wider audience as possible and encourage people to foster for their local authority. Fostering directly with your council or children’s trust means that you can support your local community by working with a fostering service that is dedicated to supporting local children and young people who need a nurturing, safe fostering home.”
Alison Hinds, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Director of Children’s Services, said: "This project is about sharing everyday experiences of what it takes to be an amazing foster parent and councils coming together to produce a film that communicates a universal message: We all need more people to step forward and become foster parents.
"This film highlights the fact that anyone who cares has the potential to become a foster parent. Our Fostering for Wolverhampton service welcomes foster parents from a wide range of backgrounds, professions and ethnic groups. Foster parents must live within a 20 mile radius of Wolverhampton, have a spare bedroom, and have room in their heart to look after our most vulnerable children and young people.
"We encourage everyone to watch the film and if you are compelled to show the young people of our city you care, then we would love to hear from you. For more information about our upcoming Roving Recruitment Roadshow, taking place next week, or any of our other Fostering for Wolverhampton events, please visit Fostering for Wolverhampton.
"Join us to find out more about the specialist support, training and allowances you will receive as a foster parent, as well as our ‘buddy system’ which provides support from experienced foster parents to help newcomers along their fostering journey."
The national launch of Any Of Us will be held at the Everyman cinema in Birmingham next Tuesday 26 September and will be available to view from 5pm that day.
Any Of Us is the latest in a series of film collaborations that started in 2017 with Giants, which was supported by a small number of local authorities in the Midlands including the City of Wolverhampton Council and has now grown to a national project across England, reflecting the need to recruit more foster parents.
