Fostered children make film about their lives with care leaver Kriss Akabusi

• Provider National Youth Advocacy Service
• Name Digital Life Stories

Former Olympic athlete Kriss Akabusi has helped support and encourage a group of fostered children to share their stories by making a film of their experiences of the care system.

Organised by National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) in partnership with Everton Football Club's charity, Everton in The Community (EiTC), the film project was part of its three-year Digital Life Stories initiative.

The 90-second film premiered on 30 October at a special screening at Woolton Picture House, a historical theatre in Liverpool, giving the young people and their friends the chance to see the final cut. They have also created an animation as part of the project, following the children's ideas and designs.

The aim of the Digital Life Stories project was to create the right environment for young people to feel confident and comfortable about sharing their stories. Akabusi, who won medals at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and Barcelona in 1992, used his personal experience of being in care to encourage the young people. Akabusi set up the Akabusi Charitable Trust in 1997, which supports young people in the UK and abroad to overcome problems such as unemployment.

Funding from NYAS for the film was contingent on collaboration with young people in the planning and production stages, and groups of young people used their experiences to shape the concept and the content of the film.

Although there was no formal training, each young person had a chance to demonstrate writing, planning and presentation abilities, as well as team building and leadership skills.

The young people particularly helped with the planning stage. They took part in two sessions alongside the organisers at Edge Hill University; the first, developing the concept and storyboard, the second recording the film.

During the storyboarding session, the issue arose of how to gain parental consent to appear in the film, when some of the parents could not be contacted. The children came up with the idea of being "faceless", so they appear with their backs to the camera in the film.

Akabusi represented them all, showing his face and stating, "this is us" at the end of the video. They chose to keep the video "short and shareable".

The purpose of the film is to share stories from children in care and encourage others to do the same. It is designed to let children in care know that their lives can get better.

One 16-year-old, who wrote the poem on which the concept for the video was based, also helped edit the film. The decision to use the poem as the basis for the film was a unanimous group decision.

The Digital Life Stories project will be completed by the end of 2017. NYAS will continue to work with young people in the future, offering their support and acting on reportable safeguarding concerns.

Our Views: Young people on the experience

• "I got involved because I wanted the chance to express myself and share my story as a care leaver. We came up with the poem, and were filmed talking about our experiences of being in care. I liked the way everybody came together to make a plan, and had the chance to talk about their own journeys and experiences."
• "I wanted to give something back, and make the voices of my peers heard. Digital Life Stories was a great idea. I am happy that there is an opportunity for young people to express their feelings, hopes and dreams. Going to the studio together to record our lines was terrifying, but brilliant fun. I enjoyed hearing everyone else's experiences."
• "We had the choice of location for filming. We wanted the background to be about how to support young people, as we were all interested in counselling. We wanted to show how the calmness of water can help. We chose the running track because we wanted to show that you can run away from your problems, put them in the past and look forward to your future. It was a really interesting experience, and now I'm excited about the launch."