Creativity permeates everything we do
Dominic Stevenson, senior media officer at The Fostering Network and published poet, shares his thoughts on creativity:
I have worked at The Fostering Network for over four and a half years. In that time I’ve met countless foster carers and children, and I have laughed and cried with them as we have worked together, celebrated successes, and just had a generally wonderful time at events like the annual Foster Walk. One person that particularly sticks in my mind is a little girl who I first met at a Foster Walk in 2014, and in 2015 I was able to invite her and her foster carer to our annual awards where she got to meet the Duchess of Cambridge. Afterward she sent me a beautiful card thanking me and I have it in pride of place on my desk.
I also have on my desk some polaroids taken at an Inspiring Voices event I attended in York earlier on in 2016. The event was a celebration of the fantastic work of children in care councils from right across England, and at the event young people shared their hopes and dreams for a more positive future not just for themselves – but for all children who grow up in the care system. It was magnificent and I was so proud to be a part of the team that had helped these young people put a megaphone to their own voices and for them to have been heard. After the celebrations lots of young people and staff all had photographs taken with props inside a giant frame and - although my face needed little to make it more amusing - the whole thing was brilliant and a lot of fun.
Creative, silly, serious and positive
Creativity permeates everything we do. When I work with my colleagues to campaign to improve foster care for foster carers and children, we don’t do it by just writing letters (though we do do that), but rather we write tweets, Facebook posts, make films and infographics. And we run around making 'hilarious' videos with our friends, supporters, ambassadors, members of the respective Parliaments and Assemblies across the UK, and these all help contribute to causing change. Much of the work of a charity who campaigns so hard is done behind closed doors with briefings, phone calls, meetings, and so on. That’s why we work tirelessly to make our public facing work be as creative and innovative as possible. This year’s Foster Care Fortnight film, starring our very own Kevin Williams, alongside Debbie and Lydia from TOWIE is the perfect example of where silly, creative, serious, and positive blend together to make a perfect storm of something that can show just what amazing work foster carers do.
I am writing this the day I am due to go to the House of Lords to celebrate the contribution to foster care of a young woman who will also later in the week graduate from University with a degree in Art. I was able to travel to East Anglia earlier this year to go and see an exhibition that she was a part of, and it was wonderful. I first met the young lady about three and a half years ago when The Fostering Network was running its Don’t Move Me campaign. She had got in touch with us because in the run up to turning 18 she was told she’d have to leave the home where she was living with her foster carers and finish her education early because she was expected to move Boroughs as her fostering service wouldn’t continue to support her where she was.
She fought, her foster carers fought, The Fostering Network fought, and in the end Staying Put was introduced in England, and similar schemes soon followed in Scotland and Wales. Her determination to make care better for all, especially when she had nothing to gain herself as she’d by this point gone to university, was awe inspiring. Standing on stages sharing her story with Government ministers, sitting on the BBC Breakfast sofa telling the world what had happened, and appearing in countless newspapers just because she believed it was the right thing to do. Someone who can share their story with such conviction and passion that it changes the world – to me that’s an artist and I will be as proud as anyone when she’s given her award.
Growing up in our house
If I had to pinpoint a beautiful moment for me though, I would say the production of Growing Up In Our House – a book that The Fostering Network produced to celebrate the annual Sons and Daughters campaign. I was responsible for reading all of the entries, compiling them into a book, and working with our fantastic designer on making it look beautiful.
The book contained poems and short stories written by children in foster care, and their foster brothers and sisters, and it was absolutely epic. The words inside were heart-warming, heart breaking, and stunning from beginning to end. Children as young as seven to care leavers in their twenties contributed and without exception the writing brought a smile, and occasionally a tear.
To be part of The Fostering Network feels to me to be part of something much bigger. The fostering community is one full of creativity, and we must continue to harbour that. Schools, Government’s, the wider community, they must all get to know children who grow up in foster care and rejoice in their skills and qualities as people rather than try and make headlines of their perceived failings, or the failings of the system they’re in. They must realise that each child is an individual, not a statistic, and if they do this then children can flourish and meet their potential in a way which works for them. For some that will be maths and science, but for some that may be art, writing, carpentry, heck – it could even be working for the UKs leading fostering charity. Whatever their potential, help them be proud of achieving it.
If you want to see what harbouring creativity can achieve, then I see no better platform for this than Reclaim Care.
