American Foster care system to be trialled in Gateshead
The Mockingbird Programme will be rolled out across Gateshead later this year
Last updated 28th Oct 2022
A new, American, foster care system is set to be trialled in Gateshead later this year.
Councillors revealed the Mockingbird Programme will be rolled out in the Borough in November, after receiving Government funding from the Department for Education.
The programme revolves around a “Hub Home” occupied by experienced foster carers who will offer support, advice, and respite to other foster families. A hub can have as many as 10 foster families under its wing.
The experienced foster carers in the hub will not have children living with them but their homes will be open to sleepovers and similar activities.
The model is meant to reflect a family environment with the hub acting as “grandma’s house”. The network is collectively known as a constellation.
Councillors were told the scheme would be evaluated to determine whether it has been successful before a second Mockingbird programme and “Hub Home” would be launched. The families committee were warned the programme may not suit all foster families in the area.
Monthly networking events may put people off and older established foster carers may prefer the traditional model. However, despite this, councillors were told to expect positive intake and results.
As of November 2021, there are 84 Mockingbird constellations operating across England.
The funding for the programme was secured on behalf of the whole region by South Tyneside Council.
Back in April this year, Gateshead Council pledged to reduce the number of children in the area in care after authority figures showed an increase of 10% from 2020. The increase was largely blamed on family situations becoming worse as a result of the pandemic and the subsequent problems with early intervention.
It comes as, the number of looked after children in Gateshead has seen a year on year rise from April 2018 at 298 to 518 as of June this year. Council documents declared this rise “the highest level of looked after children recorded.”
The number of children classified as “in need” has also increased from 886 in April 2018 to 1,235 in June. A council report on the issue stated: “This increase signifies additional pressure on the social care work force, resulting in increased caseloads per social worker.”
Gateshead councillors quizzed authority staff about what is being done to support child service workers. Councillor Dott Burnett said: “Some of those figures are quite a hike and that’s not going to stop with the situation we are in. What is being done about that?
“Are we recruiting new staff? Have we got people lined up? Because that is quite worrying.”
Council officers told the committee they had record levels of social workers within the authority and emotional wellbeing programmes were monitoring how staff were coping with their workloads. However, committee members were told the complexity of some children’s needs could not be fixed solely with more social workers.
The increase in the number of children requiring social services comes at a steep cost for the local authority.
Looked after children cost the council approximately £40,000 a year per child. However, some services have to be outsourced owing to the complexity of a child’s requirement and these services can cost as much as £30,000 a week.
Councillors were informed there are several compounding factors to the increase in social care referals and workload. Around 16% of Gateshead residents live within the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods in England and many of the families in receipt of help live in the most deprived areas of the region.