A picture tells a thousand stories – Residential Child Care needs to.

There are 2 reasons for this blog

1. Celebrating the great work of the group of care experienced young people assisted by Foster Wales, Connor Allen, Bryce Davies, on their mural in South Wales.
2. Nudging Residential Child Care – we can follow this example?

Yes we can.

Why?

Ever tried to explain something to someone, and they just weren’t getting it?

Many people are predominately visual learners.

Many of us benefit from an illustrated version of a complex idea. A picture tells a story in a different way to words. Seeing and hearing hit different parts of your brain. We process them differently.

A picture can show at a glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book.

As Napoleon (now in a cinema near you!) observed, “A good sketch is better than a long speech”

A reflection

Is evidence and theory and practice becoming less influential than experience and story and picture?

If so how we communicate about Residential Child Care to the public, our colleague professionals, politicians, and policy makers needs to be different.

The mural depicts a poem written by care-experienced teenagers with the help of former laureate Connor Allen, and was unveiled in Bridgend on Friday, 8 December). It was painted by Cardiff based graffiti artist Bryce Davies.

Fostering and adoption is not the same
You always think you are to blame
People think your parents don’t love you
But most people don’t have a clue
There’s a stereotype it’s just trouble we make
And that’s something that we all hate
There are stories behind our scars
Yet we hide our feelings in jars
So listen to our stories, Respect our choices
These are our lives, These are our voices

And here is the mural

Picture: Foster Wales