Duncan Channon and SFCASA Urge Adults to ‘Show Up’ for Foster Kids

At a time when the US surgeon general issued a rare advisory around mental health challenges affecting young people, Duncan Channon is launching a new pro bono social impact campaign for San Francisco CASA. SFCASA transforms the lives of abused and neglected children in foster care by matching them with one consistent, caring volunteer advocate who is trained to stand up for a child’s unique needs in court and in their communities.  

With the new ‘Show Up’ campaign, SFCASA and Duncan Channon aim to inspire adults from diverse backgrounds to become Court Appointed Special Advocates and offer one-on-one support to foster children in need of a consistent champion. The creative is built to dispel a top barrier in recruiting volunteers: adults’ misperception that you need to be ‘a hero’ or particularly gifted with children to be a transformative force in a foster child’s life. Directed by Luis Peña, both spots are shot from the perspective of real children as they move through their world - emphasizing that this role is about showing up for the foster child’s experience, not about heroic acts or skills. In addition to airing regionally in the San Francisco Bay Area, the creative will be available to CASA’s national organization and local chapters. 

“The biggest barrier to becoming a CASA volunteer, outside of time, is actually self-doubt,” said Anne Elisco-Lemme, executive creative director, Duncan Channon. “This self-imposed pressure to bond quickly with a child, to be a hero, often prevents people from showing up at all. Our campaign conveys how real trust comes from simple consistency. Showing up for a foster child again and again, on the good days and on the days when a door is slammed in your face.” 

The campaign also features radio and OOH, which emphasize the ‘Show Up’ call-to-action. DC’s communications team donated media planning expertise and negotiated directly with media across TV, radio and OOH in the San Francisco Bay Area to secure donated space and added value to supplement SFCASA’s media budget. Media partners included EffectTV, iHeart Media radio, Clear Channel, All Points Media and FireFly. The work launches at a time when the pandemic has exacerbated challenges facing foster children and those in abusive homes. 

“We’re proud to launch this campaign in partnership with Duncan Channon to inspire more adults to show up for foster children who need advocates and a consistent presence,” said Kate Durham, executive director, SFCASA. “As an organisation that makes its impact through volunteers and donations, we’re incredibly grateful for the thoughtfulness and creativity that Duncan Channon brought to this emotionally resonant work. In leveraging the agency’s networks in production and media, we have an opportunity to make an outsized impact at a time when it’s needed most.” 

Duncan Channon’s work for SFCASA is part of the agency’s commitment to take on one pro bono client project per year. In 2020, Duncan Channon donated its time and expertise to Vote From Home 2020, creating a campaign to make it easier for Black and brown voters who faced higher risks of disenfranchisement and COVID-19 to vote by mail. 

“Our pro bono work is a path to take action. It’s easy to be upset about what’s going on in the world and scream about it on social media, but it’s important to us to lend our expertise in any way we can to solve a problem,” said Elisco-Lemme. “This cause feels personal to me because one of our own colleagues was a CASA volunteer and waded through the discomfort of slowly earning the trust of a child who had little evidence that adults had his best interests at heart. Nearly two years into a pandemic that has exacerbated challenges for young people, foster kids need adults willing to show up.”