Adoption Tees Valley Animated Explainer
Heartfelt character animation to help recruit more Early Permance carers
Adoption Tees Valley approached us to produce an animation highlighting the benefits of Early Permance, also known as Foster to Adopt. Early Permanence is hugely beneficial for adoptive children, as it gives children stability and a consistent family life from the earliest possible point in their lives. We knew the client wanted to tell the story from the perspective of a child, taking inspiration from the experiences and adoption stories of children who have been in their care. One story in particular resonated with the client; the story of two siblings, who went through multiple foster home moves prior to being adopted by their new family.
A few years later, their adoptive family fostered a newborn baby through the Early Permanance route. It was this difference in adoption experiences which the Agencies wanted to focus on. Using this story as inspiration for our script to highlight the differences between a traditional adoption route and early permanence, we focused the first part of the film on the impact that multiple moves can have on children at such a young age. The second part then focused on the experiences of a child fostered through Early Permanence. The aim being that this would highlight the positive impact that being raised in the same home throughout their time being fostered has had on them. Having worked on numerous projects with a real life, emotional story behind them, we understand the importance of honouring these stories honestly and respectfully.
We made sure the final animation was clearly distinct from the source stories, ensuring names & any other identifiable features were replaced, to ensure anonymity for the children who’s stories inspired the film. The end result is a story which, unfortunately, many fostered children will be able to identify with - but one which hopefully will help to inspire a surge of new carer applicants looking to adopt through this route. The style of animation was inspired through a previous animation we had worked on, which the client identified, with a sketch-like style of illustration and use of first person storytelling. As the animation was a collaboration between seven agencies, we didn’t have a set brand style we needed to work with, however we knew we wanted the animation to get brighter and vibrant as the story developed, reflecting the improvement in the childrens happiness throughout their journey.
