Mockingbird programme looks to help more vulnerable children find a foster home in Sunderland

Minister for Children David Johnston talks about the success of the Mockingbird programme to help recruit much needed foster carers.

Transcript

00:00 We've obviously been meeting families today, so I'll first of all start by asking just

00:04 how impressed are you with the work they're doing with these local children?

00:07 I've been here today seeing the brilliant Mockingbird programme, which is all about

00:11 helping foster carers in the vital role that they do. Foster carers open their homes and

00:18 their hearts to very vulnerable children, and Mockingbird is all about the government

00:23 funding a programme to support foster carers to network with each other, support each other

00:29 so that they can in turn support these vulnerable children, and it's been brilliant to see it

00:34 in action.

00:35 My understanding is that it's being pioneered here in the North East, and I'm guessing the

00:39 idea is that if it succeeds it gets rolled out across the country?

00:43 In the North East we have a Pathfinder, which is part of our £36 million investment into

00:50 foster carers. We know that foster carers can stop children going into care homes, which

00:56 is really important if we can manage it because too often the outcomes for children in care

01:01 homes are not good enough, and if they can be with foster carers they can really have

01:06 better outcomes. So what we're hoping in looking at how Mockingbird works here in the North

01:12 East, that we will have found a really successful programme to improve recruitment and retention

01:17 of foster carers, and then see a lot more of this across the country.