The struggle to find homes for Norfolk's most vulnerable children has prompted the unusual step of council staff trying to recruit John Lewis shoppers to become foster carers.
John Lewis's Christmas advert focuses on fostering, telling the story of a middle-aged man learning to skateboard before welcoming a teenage girl into the family home.
And Norfolk County Council is hoping to tackle a shortage of foster carers in the county - and rising costs to look after vulnerable children - by capitalising on an advert watched by millions.
It has based staff in the Norwich branch of John Lewis to encourage shoppers to consider fostering children.
Staff have been in the store three times, and will be twice more before Christmas.
John Fisher, the Conservative-controlled council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "We are looking to recruit and, thanks to John Lewis, we do have a team in there playing the advert in the background, with a stand to talk to people.
"We do know that, when we are trying to attract new foster carers, it can take four or five points of contact before they actually come on board.
"The response we are seeing in John Lewis is positive. We are getting people talking to our team and we hope that will have an impact."
Mr Fisher said the council was "incredibly grateful" to the current 330-plus foster households, but there was a national shortage, particularly for children with the most complex needs.
He said: "That means that those children sometimes have to be cared for in residential or specialist placements, which is more expensive than foster care.
"We have been working hard to tackle this by providing extra support and training to our carers and increasing allowances for those carers who look after children with the greatest needs."
In the summer, the county council changed the way allowances to foster carers were made, claiming the revisions would make fee payments fairer.
Foster carers warned then that some carers would get lower allowances and some might have to give up fostering.
Mr Fisher said: "The number leaving this year has been stable, against a national picture of reductions overall in care numbers, but we still need lots of new foster carers to come forward to help Norfolk’s children."
Norfolk County Council currently has 994 looked-after children and a further 148 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
'Great strain' amid rising costs
At a recent council meeting, Andrew Jamieson, the council's cabinet member for finance, said the children's services department had overspent by £20m, which had been brought down to £14.5m by dipping into County Hall's reserves.
Mr Jamieson said: "The proportion of children in foster care is lower than budgeted, there are fewer foster carers coming forward and the increasing complexity of need means the cost of foster care placements is nearly £1m higher than budgeted. This is putting great strain on departmental resources."
Labour county councillor Mike Smith-Clare said: "While we must applaud any effort to increase the number of Norfolk foster carers, we need to ask ourselves why this administration’s budget failed to account for a £1m rise in fostering costs.
"Existing foster carers highlighted their concerns at the number of children with complex needs requiring support.
"Unfortunately their views were met with deaf ears, from a cabinet claiming that everything was in place.
"Yet again it shows that although those in charge of Norfolk’s young people proudly champion the John Lewis campaign, their overall strategy is more akin to a back of the van broken goods approach."
What happens in the John Lewis Christmas advert?
The 90-second ad, called The Beginner, shows a man as he struggles to master skateboarding in the build-up to Christmas.
Viewers are left questioning his motives until the final scene, which shows a social worker arriving at his door with young teenager Ellie, who has arrived at her new foster home carrying her skateboard.
How can I become a foster carer?
Anyone interested in fostering should visit www.norfolk.gov.uk/fostering or call the county council on 01603 306649.
Children's services staff will also be in Norwich's John Lewis, in All Saints Green on Saturday, December 17 from 9.30am-5pm and from 1pm until 4pm on Thursday, December 22.
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