Alien design something to phone home about

Published on Tuesday 11 August 2009 09:52

A BLUE alien designed by Scotland's care watchdog to help youngsters in Edinburgh understand the standards of care they should be receiving has become a worldwide internet hit.

Sid the Alien has proved popular with thousands of people across the globe who have been viewing his www.meetsid.co.uk website or even adding him as a friend on Facebook and Twitter. Sid was a concept dreamed up by a group of young people in care who wanted to express how it feels to live in a care environment.

A series of videos about the character were created and made available to young people using the 26 children's residential services in Edinburgh.

Sid's rationale was based around the fact that the standards should be understandable to everyone – even an alien landing on Earth for the first time.

And although the campaign was intended to target youngsters in Scotland, the initiative has now been seen by people across the globe including people in Azerbaijan, Sweden, the United States, New Zealand and Russia