One year of Mockingbird support for Dorset’s foster families

This month marks the one-year anniversary of Dorset’s first ever Mockingbird constellation – Pegasus.

For the past year, Dorset Council’s foster families and young people they look after, have built a resilient and caring community through four Mockingbird constellations across Dorset.

The feedback from our foster carers has been overwhelmingly positive, with many saying that Mockingbird has ‘transformed support for foster carers,’ helped to ‘provide foster family stability, preventing additional moves for children,’ and ‘that friendships have been made for life.’

Mockingbird, a global award-winning and pioneering programme led by The Fostering Network, nurtures the relationships between children, young people, and foster families. Supporting them to build a resilient and caring community through a constellation of six to ten satellite families.

Through Mockingbird, carers receive non-judgemental peer to peer support and advice, and young people build a greater sense of identity and belonging. Young people are also provided with an opportunity to build safe, loving, and lasting relationships at the same time as being able to spend time with other young people who may have had similar life experiences.

The foster families in a constellation all live within a 45-minute drive of each other. This helps to build a close-knit, extended family support network, that can be turned to in times of need. The families meet up in-person and take part in fun group activities, like paddle boarding, art classes and days out.

Each Mockingbird constellation is led by a hub home carer – an experienced foster carer who coordinates the foster families and provides 24/7 support and advice. The Hub home carers are at the helm of what feels like an extended family and at the heart of a relationship-based support network.

Hub home carers provide sleepovers for the children and young people within the constellation, as well as opportunities for the foster carers to come together to complete training, support each other and share experiences to know they are not alone.

Helena Sellers, the Mockingbird Hub Home Carer for Pegasus, said:

“I can’t believe how quickly Pegasus’ first year has gone by! Together we have, as a hub, grown into the most caring, loving, supportive, exciting hub, not only for the children but for their carers as well.

“We have learnt how to support, advise and help each other grow through many testing moments in the last year, but we have done it together and will continue our journey alongside each other hopefully for years to come.”

Cllr Byron Quayle, Dorset Council Portfolio Holder for Children, Education, Skills, and Early Help, said:

“ We want Dorset to be the best place to be a child, where communities thrive, and families are supported to be the best they can be.  It is fantastic to see that the Mockingbird family model is delivering positive results and providing such great support to Dorset’s foster families.

“With another constellation planned to launch before the end of the year, we’re incredibly pleased to be able to offer invaluable support to even more of Dorset’s foster families in the near future.”

To find out more about fostering with Dorset Council and the support available, head to our website, download an information pack or request a call-back from our team.

Head to our events page to find out when the fostering information stand will be in your local area.