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The City of Wolverhampton Council was part of a partnership named a runner up in the Partnership Engagement Initiative of the Year at this year's UK Public Sector Communications Awards, held in London last night (Wednesday 6 September, 2017).
As part of the national Foster Care Fortnight campaign, Fostering for Wolverhampton worked with 12 other councils in the Midlands to produce a short film focusing on the need to find foster carers for sibling groups.
The 'giants' of the film are those people who help others in society such as foster carers, doctors and teachers. Giants also highlights the strong bond and relationships that brothers and sisters have as they look up to and care for each other in life - becoming each other's 'giants'.
Working together in this innovative way resulted in each authority having a high quality short film, at a low cost to each. The film has been showcased and used to raise awareness for the need for more council foster carers across the region and has been viewed more than 100,000 times since its premiere in May.
The UK Public Sector Communications Awards celebrate and reward excellent communication strategies and campaigns, teams and individuals in local and national government, emergency services and not for profit bodies from across the UK.
Councillor Val Gibson, the City of Wolverhampton's Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said: "This nomination is great news for Fostering for Wolverhampton. It really shows the benefit of taking a partnership approach and I am extremely proud of the team for this fantastic achievement.
"By drawing on a wider pool of talents we have been able to produce a high quality film that outlines the importance of keeping siblings together.
"Giants is an emotional, inspirational and important film and really captures the essence of fostering. We hope that it will inspire many more foster carers to come forward."
Giants can be viewed at Type=links;Linkid=8022;Title=Fostering for Wolverhampton;Target=_blank; or at Type=links;Linkid=9566;Title=Fostering for Wolves Facebook;Target=_blank;.
Foster carers are helping to give scores of children in Wolverhampton the best possible future by offering them a supportive environment and a loving home.
But more foster carers are urgently needed as there are dozens of children waiting for a home, and the Fostering for Wolverhampton team are keen to hear from individuals and couples who want to make a difference to a local child.
The support available to foster carers in Wolverhampton from the City of Wolverhampton Council was praised by Ofsted in its recent inspection of Children's Services, which it judged "Good".
To find out more about Fostering for Wolverhampton, please visit Type=links;Linkid=8022;Title=Fostering for Wolverhampton;Target=_blank;.
- released: Thursday 7 September, 2017