We are delighted to share that The Family Place Foundation was invited to a very special children’s Christmas concert at Leominster Priory, supported by The Royal Foundation.
A group of adoptive, foster and kinship care families and members of The Family Place team attended. The service was beautifully organised, with hundreds of local children and schools contributing and our group performed a very moving piece.
In our piece we wanted to express something unique about us, and we worked together to create a message about what makes a family. The words were composed in collaboration with our participation group (adoptive parents and foster and kinship carers). The parents and carers had gone through the words with their children to ensure that the content wasn’t too distressing. It was a delicate balance – how to say something truthful without it being too hard. We chose the symbol of a door, to represent the many family moves the children often have to face. The children designed, decorated and wrote messages of hope on their doors and opened and closed them as the words below were spoken.
The feedback we received about the service was lovely to hear.
“It was a great opportunity to get to meet others and to work together as a team. She absolutely loved it and is so proud that she did the reading.” Adoptive Parent
“(Child) loved the whole evening. She loved being with people she felt connected to, a nice small group, and we were able to be with her but just in the background in case she needed us. She also hasn’t stopped singing the carols ever since!” Foster Carer
“It was such a powerful, representative event and it felt really important to be there. It was so well organised too – what a beautiful start to the Christmas season!.” Colleague Attendee
For the families involved, this event was really important. The children and their parents and carers were incredibly proud of what they had achieved and we gave a message of hope for all other children who are fostered, adopted and in kinship care. All of the children received a message from The Princess of Wales and a lovely gift from Hobbycraft.
The Family Place Foundation charity is wholly funded by donations and grants and we would like to thank our generous supporters who contributed to this event – The Royal Foundation, George’s Fund, Moondance Foundation and the Postcode Community Trust.
To find out more about The Family Place Foundation visit our website: thefamilyplacefoundation.co.uk
