A new initiative inspired by the classic children’s novel Anne of Green Gables – which tells the story of an orphan girl – will be launched next week in a Polish city to encourage more people to foster children.
On 30 May, 50 residents of Wałbrzych in southwestern Poland will each receive a handmade doll made in the image of the titular red-haired character of the famous Canadian novel. The dolls, produced with help from a local puppet theatre, will include Anne’s signature straw hat.
“It will be a game of pass it on,” Izabela Małek, deputy head of the foster care department at the Municipal Social Welfare Centre (MOPS) in Wałbrzych, who is organising the initiative, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“People who receive a doll but will not be able to create a safe home for ‘Anne’, meaning they will not be able to be foster parents, will be asked to pass the doll on,” Małek explained. “They will have to find trustworthy people who have an open heart and may be able to be foster parents.”
“The dolls will be passed on until they reach people who decide to look after a child or children from care,” she added.
Anyone who receives a doll and is interested in fostering a child will be asked to contact MOPS, where they will undergo the appropriate vetting and training. The Anne doll will stay with the family that decides to foster and be given a new, colourful dress to symbolise the union.
The campaign will be launched with the hashtag #AniaSzukaDomu (#AnneIsLookingForAHome) and its organisers hope that unique idea will attract the attention of potential foster carers.
The novel, which was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1908 but is set in the 1870s, recounts the adventures of 11-year-old orphan Anne Shirley, who is mistakenly sent to live with two middle-aged siblings, who eventually become her family.
Discussing the inspiration behind the initiative, Małek explained to PAP: “Anne of Green Gables was an orphan, an orphan who needed love, care and attention from adults and found this in the home of siblings Marilla and Matthew, who ultimately became her foster family.”
“It is a story that happened 150 years ago but is still relevant today,” she continued. “We still have children in foster care who urgently need the care of adults in a loving family.”
According to Piotr Sapalski, coordinator for family foster care at MOPS in Wałbrzych, there are currently 140 children in care and educational facilities in the city looking to be placed with foster families.
Main image credit: MOPS Wałbrzych
Anna Hackett is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a recent graduate of European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has had previous journalistic experience with the Irish Independent News & Media group.
