Drawings created by budding young artists have been donated to Walsall Healthcare staff as a thank you to mark International Nurses’ Day (12 May 2024).

Based in Wolverhampton City Centre, Freedom Fostering is an independent fostering agency which aims to help recruit and train foster carers. The organisation currently has 35 looked after children in its care.

Every half-term, the children are invited to take part in group activities such as arts and crafts, physical wellbeing (e.g. walks) and event-orientated celebrations such as Easter Egg decorations and Christmas parties.

In its most recent workshop, the group, which varied from ages three to 14, was invited produce artwork for Nurses at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

Jade Plant, an Independent Social Worker who works collaboratively with the agency, said: “We try to utilise opportunities to get young people involved in their local communities. I think it’s important that we support our NHS and wonderful care givers.

“The children were educated about how the Nursing profession started and encouraged to engage in some creative activity to learn more about the role of Nurses and how they make a difference. We’re incredibly proud of the children for taking part.”

The artwork was then passed to Anna Massawe, Student Supervising Social Worker, to present to Caroline Whyte and Christian Ward, Deputy Directors of Nursing.

Caroline said: “We are so grateful for the lovely artwork given to us to celebrate International Nurses’ Day”.

“It has been lovely to hear about the children and learn about how passionate they are about the NHS.”

Christian added: “I’m sure our Nurses are going to love seeing the drawings from the children. It will provide a welcome boost.”

The artwork will be displayed at the hospital for all to see and the images have been scanned in to share via email with nursing staff.

Anna said: “It is a wonderful opportunity for the young people to be involved in, and be proud of.

“They have created some lovely pieces of artwork. We hope they bring smiles to the nurses faces.”