The Director for Children, Families and Education has decided to award grant funding in the sum of
£105,000 to the Fostering Network to enable delivery of the Mockingbird Programme for a period of 2 years from May 2024 to April 2026.

Mockingbird is an innovative programme of foster care using an extended family model – the Mockingbird Family Model. This model supports the council plan 2023-27 priority ‘To prioritise those with the greatest needs’ and will deliver a programme which is designed to improve the stability of fostering placements. The model strengthens the relationships between carers, children, young people, fostering services and birth families, reducing the likelihood of placement breakdown and associated detrimental effects on children and families. Wirral Council, have been successful in securing Department for Education Funding to deliver the programme for 2 years as part of a regional bid with 8 other North West local authorities.

A procurement exercise has not been conducted due to the fact that this provision is highly specialised and the Fostering Network operates under an exclusive licence from the Mockingbird Society to deliver and sub-licence the Mockingbird Family Model in the United Kingdom. The Mockingbird Family Model can only be operated within the UK under a contract with The Fostering Network.

It is anticipated that the programme will be sustainable beyond the 2 year funding period, and the ongoing annual costs (currently £15,300) would be met by via the existing Children’s Services budget.

As specified above, the Fostering Network operates under an exclusive licence from the Mockingbird Society to deliver and sub-licence the Mockingbird Family Model in the United Kingdom. The Mockingbird Family Model can only be operated within the UK under a contract with The Fostering Network.

Doing nothing would likely increase the number of placement breakdowns for children in care, result in costly residential placements and poor outcomes for those children and future generations, which in turn would increase costs for the public purse and have an impact on the directorate’s ability to deliver the budget identified in the MTFP.