NFA Group Collaborate with Children and Foster Carers to Record Song Raising Awareness of Need for Additional 8,000 Carers

We’re excited to announce that NFA Group has collaborated with children and foster carers on the recording of an original new song which aims to raise awareness for fostering. We hope that the song will help to encourage people to start a career in foster care – with the UK currently in need of an additional 8,000* foster families.

More than 200 children and foster carers helped with the creation and production of the song, capturing the emotions felt by many foster children and the impact foster carers can have on the lives of vulnerable young people.

Named ‘The Light and The Calm’, the special song was recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London by an ensemble of more than 40 children and foster carers, as part of our campaign to support The Fostering Network’s annual Foster Care Fortnight.

Find out how the song came to be and, more importantly, give it a listen, below.

Why We Wrote and Recorded ‘The Light and The Calm’

At NFA Group, we’re all about promoting the positive impact fostering has on the lives of children and young people in care. As part of our efforts to support this year’s Foster Care Fortnight event, which is themed around ‘Change a Future’, we wanted to do something that shouted about the importance of fostering – and help find the 8,000 foster families which are urgently needed.

Music is one of the best ways to convey emotions, ideas and important messages. It gives people a voice and allows them to express their feelings in a powerful and emotional way. It also helps people tell their story and make sense of experiences – something which we believe is hugely important for children in care.

David Leatherbarrow, CEO of NFA Group, commented: “Our song captures the important role and positive impact fostering has on many vulnerable children and how it can truly help transform young lives. Foster carers are trained and skilled experts in their field and provide an exceptional service to local communities, opening not only their home but also their heart to children in need and local to them.”

In the words of one of the foster carers who joined us at Abbey Road, the song is “a touching message about how fostering changes lives for the better”, adding that it was “a privilege to be involved”.

How ‘The Light and The Calm’ Came to Be

The story of ‘The Light and The Calm’ began back in November 2018, when NFA Group’s Emma Finch, Dan Rowles and other members of our marketing team landed on the idea of writing and recording a song to promote fostering for Foster Care Fortnight.

From the outset, we wanted the song to capture the real stories and emotions of those who have experienced fostering, and so reached out to our foster families for ideas on what the lyrics should be. We asked foster children, young people and foster carers ‘what does fostering mean to you?’, and our community responded in earnest – with over 150 people sending us their ideas about the song and what the key messages should be.

After compiling all the different lyrics and ideas which had come through from our foster families, Emma and Dan were tasked with sitting down and putting the song. When the song was finished, we took six young people to the Redwall Studios in Bolton to record the song for the first time, so that we could make changes and get the melody right before travelling to London to make the official recording.

From here, we spent a couple of weeks organising for the big day, which was scheduled for early April. We met with the ‘We Can Sing’ choir, who contributed to the backing vocals on the finished track, and ran a competition asking children to design a cover for the single – the winner of which will soon to be announced.

On 6 April 2019, we accompanied an ensemble of children and foster carers to London’s famous Abbey Road Studio, where the likes of The Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Adele and Oasis have all recorded. Recording our song in the same room as these famous bands and artists was a special and surreal experience for everyone involved, and we’re incredibly proud of the end result.

Since recording the song, we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response we’ve had from everyone involved in its creation. Here, Emma tells us about some of the feedback she’s had from our fostering community:

“The project has had results beyond anything we would have expected or hoped for. I have read so many emails and Facebook posts from our carers, saying how much this project has changed their life and the children’s lives. People have told us it was their dream to go to Abbey Road, and we made it come true. Others have said talking about music has helped their young person open up for the first time – which really sums up what an amazing experience it has been, and reinforces what the whole song is about.”

What Next for Our ‘The Light and The Calm’ Campaign

We’re proud of everyone who has been involved in the writing and recording of ‘The Light and The Calm’ and want our song to be shared far and wide to spread the message of fostering. With your help, we can help raise awareness of the importance of fostering and support The Fostering Network’s Foster Care Fortnight campaign, so please share the song with your friends and family on social media.

Foster Care Fortnight 2019 will take place from 13 to 26 May, and during the event, we plan to launch our ‘8,000 Seconds’ campaign, in which we try to collect 8,000 seconds of footage of people singing or dancing to ‘The Light and The Calm’ – the same number of seconds for every new foster carer that we need across the UK.

Vicky Dobson, NFA Group’s Head of Marketing, concludes: “We are committed to dreaming big, both for the children in our care, our foster families and our employees. Creating a unique song with such a significant message and objective is hugely satisfying, but being able to offer a unique opportunity such as recording the song at Abbey Road to our fostering families was exceptionally rewarding. We have equally big aspirations for the song later this year and are looking forward to sharing more details with you in the future.”

Remember – sharing our special foster care song will help raise the profile of fostering, helping us to recruit new carers while spreading the message of how it can transform young lives. For more information about our foster care services, visit the homepage or call us today on 028 90 020 247.

*6,800 in England, 550 in Scotland, 550 in Wales, and 200 in Northern Ireland. Source:

https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/media-release/2018/urgent-need-over-8000- new-foster-families-across-uk-year