An animated account of a girl's experience caring for her disabled mother forms the first-ever TV advert by Action for Children, which will be broadcast on ITV, C4 Five and satellite channels from new year's day.
The voice-over for the 50-second animation is by Nicola, now in her mid-twenties. She becme a carer at the age of eight, when her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and she describes how her schooling and self-confidence suffered.
She also describes how help from Action for Children enabled her to cope better and become "a totally different person." A second animated advert related by Dan, who is autistic, will be broadcast from the middle of January.
Action for Children, formerly NCH, was relaunched in September and the adverts are the next stage of what it calls its "brand activity'. They will run for five weeks and be supported by adverts in national papers and trade publications.
The charity said: "The emphasis of the adverts is to tell of the transformation in the lives of these young people and how Action for Children has been there for as long as it takes to support them in these changes"