Monday marked the beginning of Foster Care Fortnight, a time for us to celebrate the fantastic foster families who welcome children into their homes across Wales.
At Cowshed, we’ve been busy preparing for this very special week with Maethu Cymru | Foster Wales.
Our preparation for Foster Care Fortnight started with our award-winning insights and engagement team who run a survey that gathered lived experiences from over 120 foster carers.
The findings were invaluable. They paint a beautiful picture of the raw realities of fostering. We learnt about trauma-related behaviours that many children display when they are in foster care and how useful training and support from local authority fostering teams are to foster carers.
The survey provided us with invaluable learnings of human connection. How for so many of us, laughter means nothing, but to a foster parent and child, that first laugh, marks the beginning of a significant breakthrough.
Our press team used this insight to create an engaging press release that told this human story of connection. This was shared with local authority Foster Wales teams and has resulted in more than 25 local press features within the first three days of Foster Care Fortnight. Supporting local marketing officers with their local press is a key part of our relationship with Foster Wales and ensures that the right messaging is getting in front of foster carers and potential foster carers on a local level.
Our creative and design team also took insight from the survey and developed visual quote cards to be used across social media, increasing the visibility of the survey results outside of earned media.
The survey provided us with more than insight into the realities of fostering, it also generated a bank of human case studies, one that stood out was Sylvia Heaven.
Sylvia started fostering in 1972 shortly after she became a single mother. Sylvia is due to turn 80 this month and is still a foster carer with her local authority. Her one-year-old foster child is thriving in her care.
Sylvia’s story of dedication to caring for children is truly inspiring, and she is the perfect example of how fostering can grow and change with you throughout your lifetime, regardless of your age.
Her story has been picked up nationally, with planned features due to be published later this week.
We have also teamed up with Sam Gardner, a teacher turned content creator and public speaker who describes his childhood in care with honest reflection and inspirational learnings. Sam’s multi-platform content maximises reach and engages with a range of audiences in the growing video-first media landscape.
Further exciting media coverage, including online, TV and radio is planned for the rest of the fortnight.
Vicki Spencer-Francis, CEO and founder at Cowshed, said “We are extremely proud of our partnership with Foster Wales and the growth we have achieved over the years of working together.
“Our specialist teams have worked hard this Foster Care Fortnight to deliver work with a lasting impact. None of this would be possible without the guidance of our award-winning campaign team and always on client support.
“Supporting Foster Wales with their communications campaign is more than just raising awareness – it is about inspiring real, lasting change in how people think, feel and act. Supporting efforts that create better futures for children and families is a privilege and we are excited to be celebrating Foster Care Fortnight this May.”
