Government marks Foster Care Fortnight with boost to foster carers in North East

• Children's Minister visits Sunderland to meet foster carers and children involved in a flagship scheme to build networks of support for foster families
• North East to receive over £3 million to improve foster care recruitment and retention
• Region's new scheme to act as example for the rest of the country

Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho, has visited (25th May) foster carers and children in Sunderland to hear their experiences first-hand as part of the government's drive to improve support for existing foster carers, through the Mockingbird programme, in the North East this Foster Care Fortnight.

The minister spoke to foster carers who are part of the pioneering Mockingbird programme, which gives foster carers the opportunity to meet up with one another as a group and to work with each other to provide support, share tips, advice and caring duties, and to offer short breaks to each other when caring for foster children.

It also helps to build relationships between fostered children, through bonding over shared experiences including sleepovers, planned group activities and short breaks.

The region is working together and developing an innovative new fostering recruitment and support hub, which is due to become operational by September thanks to a £3 million investment from the government.

It offers a space for local people to learn about the benefits of fostering and receive the support they need to become a foster carer. The hub will help streamline the enquiry to application process, making it quicker and simpler to recruit foster carers and to reduce the likelihood of potential carers dropping out along the way.

Learnings from the North East support hub and the region's wider work on championing foster carers will be used to inform wider rollout of the approach across England.

Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho said:  

"The North East Mockingbird constellations are incredibly inspiring and I'm honoured to have been invited to visit one of their homes. They've created a safe space full of love and advice to get the best out of their fostering experiences and to help nurture the children they're looking after.

"Foster carers across the country are invaluable and it's so vital these support networks are available, which is why we'll be looking at how we can share the great work they've done in the North East across the country. We'll be putting even more support into fostering as we deliver our children's social care strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love."

The government will be investing a total of £27 million to help boost foster carer numbers across the country, with the North East project set to receive £3 million. Funding will be used to:

• Build 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.
• Launch a regional foster care recruitment campaign to direct prospective carers to where they can access more support.
• 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.

Jill Colbert, Director of Children's Services and Chief Executive for Together for Children, said: 

"The government's investment in foster care in the North East is a pivotal time for us as we are set to launch the regional recruitment and retention campaign on behalf of our neighbouring local authorities in the coming months. We warmly welcome Claire Coutinho to the North East to hear all about our recruitment plans, to meet local teams from across the region, and to meet some of the foster carers who are already part of our successful Mockingbird Programme and who make such a positive difference to children, young people and their families in the North East."

The North East project 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 is expected to improve the foster care system throughout the country, providing better experiences and outcomes for both foster carers and the children they care for.

ENDS