Wokingham Borough Council hosted a visit to its fostering service from Janet Daby, the new minister for children and families, last week.
The visit comes after a new fostering recruitment hub was launched last month, bringing together the expertise of 20 councils from across the region.
Minister Daby visited the hub headquarters in Bracknell to find out about the new service, before heading to meet Wokingham borough foster carers Sue and Les.
Sue and Les are hub home carers for the council’s Mockingbird programme, run by The Fostering Network which launched last year in the borough.
During her visit, the minister heard about how the programme has helped enable continuity and stability for young people.
Sue and Les are proactive and approachable, meaning that the group of families socialise regularly together. This makes Sue and Les fun, familiar adults to the young people so going for a sleepover is exciting.
This has created a natural break for carers who give everything to fostering and means they don’t miss out on important events such as weddings, graduations and to celebrate their own anniversaries.
Mockingbird brings together a group of foster families to form a support network for each other, with a hub home carer at the centre. The hub home carer is there to help the families connect and provide additional support and guidance, as well as hosting social activities and sleepovers for the families.
The programme helps foster families to build a support network like those that biological families enjoy with friends and family, but that can be harder to build as foster families. The programme enhances the support given to children in care and helps to reduce breakdowns in foster family relationships.
The minister said: “I know how important support networks are for foster carers and the benefit it brings to care-experienced young people.
“It was great to hear how the brilliant Mockingbird programme brings foster families together in extended support networks in the Wokingham borough, helping make fostering more appealing.
“We’re committed to improving the experiences of foster carers and ensuring that every possible opportunity is available to children growing up in care to give them better life chances.”
Cllr David Hare, executive member, said: “I am pleased that Minister Janet Daby came to visit and see the important work that is going in to recruiting foster carers with the new programme.
“It was also great that we were able to highlight the work that has gone into offering more support for foster carers and children through the Mockingbird programme since it was introduced in the borough a year ago.
“We are always looking for more foster carers and anyone interested can get visit www.lafosteringse.org.uk for more information and to get in touch.”
