Government minister meets North East foster carers

The minister spoke with a group of foster carers who are part of the pioneering Mockingbird programme, which gives foster carers a wider circle of support, through regular group meetings where they share advice and experience. The constellations also arrange social activities and offer each other practical support such as caring duties.

The Mockingbird programme helps build relationships between cared for children and different fostering families as well as other fostered children, who often bond over shared experiences including sleepovers, planned group activities and short breaks.

The visit comes as the North East becomes the first region in England where all local authorities have Mockingbird constellations. Six new constellations of carers have been established since the launch of Foster with North East - the regional fostering recruitment and support hub, which launched in September 2023 and is backed by a £3 million government investment. A total of 20 Mockingbird constellations are now established in the region, with a further eight scheduled to launch between now and April 2024. 

 

The North East is leading the way with reforms to fostering services as the first region in England to regionalise their recruitment, with nine further regions across the country set to launch their own recruitment support hubs and enhance their Mockingbird offer to their foster carers in coming months.

Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, David Johnston said:  

"Foster care is hugely rewarding but can also be challenging at times, so support networks are pivotal.  Mockingbird support networks give foster carers and children a chance to be part of an extended fostering family that they can lean on. It's been wonderful to meet with families taking part in the North East to see how nurturing they can be, not only for children and young people they look after, but their foster carers too.

"As part of our record £36 million investment to help boost foster carer numbers across the country, the North East are sharing the great work they're doing with Mockingbird with other areas, so more foster families can benefit from the support it can offer."

The government is investing a total of £36 million to help boost foster carer numbers across the country. The funding will ensure there are more foster carers available to step up and look after children by extending recruitment campaigns, simplifying recruitment processes, and providing better support for existing foster carers to even more local authorities. This will be delivered through:

• A series of regional support hubs to streamline the process of becoming a foster carer, offering support to make the application process quicker and easier.
• Invest in retention support to enhance the offer to new foster carer applicants and boost the experience of existing carers through the 'Mockingbird' programme. Delivered by The Fostering Network, the Mockingbird programme nurtures the relationships between children, young people and foster families, supporting them to build a resilient and caring community of six to ten 'constellation' satellite families.
• Supportive regional fostering recruitment communications campaigns to direct prospective carers to a single support hub, supported by local authorities across the region, where they can access more support via the new hubs.

Foster with North East is led by Sunderland City Council's children's services partner Together for Children, Jill Colbert OBE, Chair of the Foster with North East Project Implementation Board and Chief Executive for Together for Children, said: 

"As the first ever fostering hub in England we are delighted to see the roll out of the Mockingbird programme across all 12 of our partners.  We now have a grand total of 20 constellations across the North East, with some of our partner local authorities even introducing the Mockingbird programmes since Foster with North East launched in September last year. 

"We know that the programme makes a real difference to both foster carers and the children and young people they care for - the model is designed to reflect an extended family and it helps foster cares feel more supported. Foster carers have even more peer support when they need advice, help or childcare like any other parent or carer, and it allows the families to build their own community. Our groups do everything together from Sunday dinners to days out, sleepovers and birthday parties, it perfectly models an extended family and brings reassurance, love, safety and fun to our families."

The North East project, Foster with North East, aims to improve recruitment and retention of fosters carers in response to rising numbers of children in care since 2011, combined with a decline in the number of foster carers since 2018.

This issue is particularly pronounced in the North East, which continues to report the highest rate of referrals to children's social care of any region. Last year more foster households de-registered in the region than were approved.

With the introduction of this foster care recruitment and retention programme, the government hopes to provide more support for foster carers and attract more people into considering fostering.

The wider roll-out of the programme this year to 9 further regions across England will further help improve the foster care system throughout the country, providing better experiences and outcomes for both foster carers and the children they care for.