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Warrington is subject to the current national lockdown restrictions - please stay at home. For more more information about what this means, visit our coronavirus web pages.
National lockdown: please stay at home
Warrington is subject to the current national lockdown restrictions - please stay at home. For more more information about what this means, visit our coronavirus web pages.
Mockingbird is an extended family model which was conceived in Washington State USA in 2004 by The Mockingbird Society.
The aim was to have a positive impact on the public perception of children and young people who were fostered, and to work with fostering families and child placing agencies to improve outcomes for children and fostering households.
The Mockingbird family model was introduced to the UK in 2015- 2016 with The Fostering Network piloting the programme in England with initially 8 fostering services with the Department for Education’s Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme and The Mockingbird Society in America. As of May 2019 there were 26 Mockingbird partner services; 18 of which had at least one established constellation and 8 services were in the implementation stages of the programme.
In 2019 the Council was successful in its application to implement Mockingbird as part of the Department of Education’s (DfE) Supporting Families, Investing in Practice Programme. The Mockingbird Model delivers foster care using an extended family model which centres on a constellation where one foster home acts as a hub, offering planned and emergency sleepovers and short breaks, advice, training and support, to six to 10 satellite households.
The Fostering Network's Mockingbird Programme
The launch of Warrington’s first Mockingbird constellation, originally planned for April 2020, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of the first constellation will take place in September 2020. The Mockingbird model should strengthen the Council’s fostering approach.
The model should allow children with more complex needs to be supported in fostering placements, instead of going into residential care. The model is expected to have many positive outcomes for our children and foster carers, including:
Outcomes of the UK Mockingbird Programme to date
The council are taking part in the DfE’s Strengthening Families Protecting Children Programme, following its successful application. It will receive an estimated £2.7 million in funding over two years from the DfE to support the implementation of the No Wrong Door model in Warrington.
The No Wrong Door model is an innovative approach to edge of care provision first developed by North Yorkshire County Council. The model supports adolescents who are in or on the edge of care. It integrates residential care, foster care, speech and language support, mental health services and the police into a single hub that is based in a residential home.
©North Yorkshire County Council
Evidence shows that No Wrong Door model provides extensive benefits to vulnerable children and young people, and system wide.
©North Yorkshire County Council
The launch of the No Wrong Door model in Warrington is planned for March 2021. The following outcomes of the model are expected over the next three years:
The edge of care project called Families First has been running from July 2016. The aim of the service is to improve outcomes for children and where appropriate, prevent children entering the care system, prevent children needing residential care or support their exit from care.
This service is providing high levels of intervention early in the process in order to prevent that escalation in risk and thus reducing the inflow of children into care. Furthermore Families First work with families whose children are subject to child protection plans to improve parenting and reduce risk.
As a council Warrington strive to provide a good quality service to our children in care and care leavers. We take our corporate parenting responsibilities seriously. Since our last Sufficiency Statement we have seen a safe decrease in the numbers of children in our care and service improvements in a number of key areas. We have a robust plan to ensure that through the strong foundations we already have in place and the innovation work we are actively pursuing that we will continue to adapt to the challenges faced regarding placement sufficiency.
Description
|
Mar-13 |
Mar-14 |
Mar-15 |
Mar-16 |
Mar-17 |
Mar-18 |
Mar-19 |
Mar-20 |
Statistical Neighbours |
England |
North West |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All Children in care |
230 |
232 |
300 |
346 |
380 |
401 |
385 |
364 |
|
|
|
All foster placements |
159 |
168 |
201 |
235 |
250 |
285 |
261 |
269 |
|
|
|
Percentage of Children in Care in all foster placements |
69% |
71% |
67% |
68% |
66% |
71% |
68% |
73.9% |
72% |
69% |
72% |
Number of Children in Care cared for by relatives or friends |
23 |
32 |
39 |
48 |
60 |
78 |
75 |
74 |
|
|
|
Percentage of Children in Care cared for by relatives or friends |
10% |
14% |
13% |
14% |
16% |
19% |
19% |
20% |
8% |
5% |
11% |
Number of Children in Care in foster placement excluding placed with relatives or friends |
136 |
136 |
162 |
187 |
190 |
207 |
186 |
195 |
|
|
|
Percentage of Children in Care in Foster Placements excl. Placed with Friends and Relatives |
59% |
58% |
54% |
54% |
50% |
52% |
48% |
54% |
|
|
|