A middle-aged man teaches himself to skateboard, tumbling on his backside to a plaintive rendition of Blink-182’s All the Small Things. Finally, we discover why. On his doorstep appears a social worker with a watchful teenage girl, clutching her own precious skateboard. This guy risked A&E and looking ridiculous just so he could connect with his new foster child.
The John Lewis Christmas advert is a reliable tear-jerker. But this year it has a serious edge: this sweet film, which will be watched by millions, highlights Britain’s 106,000 foster carers. On social media, young adults who thrived in loving foster homes express delight at this rare depiction of their lives. Carers too recall the “small things” that eventually broke through the armour with which
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