Mockingbird in Devon embodies a nurturing, inclusive constellation of fostering families that reflects the warmth, trust, and connection of an extended family. Through our evidence‑based hub‑home model, we build stable, sustainable communities where children and young people experience belonging, safety, and the support of multiple trusted adults.
We champion identity, peer relationships, and fun as essential parts of childhood, while ensuring no child feels ‘othered’ and every family—foster, birth, adoptive, and friends‑and‑family carers—benefits from mutual support. By strengthening relationships, promoting whole‑family wellbeing, and providing a safe base across our constellations.
What is Mockingbird?
Mockingbird is a global, award-winning and pioneering programme led by The Fostering Network in the UK, which delivers sustainable foster care. It is an evidence-based model structured around the support and relationships an extended family provides.
The model nurtures the relationships between children, young people and foster families supporting them to build a resilient and caring community. Led by a hub home carer and liaison worker, the constellation community offers vital peer support and guidance alongside social activities and sleepovers to strengthen relationships and permanence.
Devon’s Mockingbird launch in 2022
At the beginning of 2022, Fostering Devon began working alongside the Fostering Network planning Devon’s Mockingbird Pilot, with the launch of Devon’s first Mockingbird constellation happening in South Devon in November 2022.
Devon’s Mockingbird Pilot is funded by the Department for Education’s (DfE) COVID-19 Regional Recovery and Building Back Better Fund. The Mockingbird Pilot project forms part of the Restorative Devon Programme, embedding restorative practice across Devon Children’s Services by building strong, meaningful, trusting and respectful ‘relationships’ and repairing relationships when difficulties or harm arises.
Why are we using the Mockingbird Family Model?
Mockingbird is a global, award-winning and pioneering programme led by The Fostering Network in the UK, which delivers sustainable foster care. It is an evidence-based model structured around the support and relationships an extended family provides.
The model nurtures the relationships between children, young people and foster families supporting them to build a resilient and caring community. Led by a hub home carer and liaison worker, the constellation community offers vital peer support and guidance alongside social activities and sleepovers to strengthen relationships and permanence.
The aims of the Mockingbird Family Model are to improve placement stability for children who are looked after, prioritise sibling connections, promote active child protection, support permanence and improve the support provided to foster carers.
The model was developed in Washington State, USA, and is based on the concept of extended family. This fits with Devon’s Corporate Parenting responsibility, Sufficiency Strategies and Children’s Services Restorative Practice model by putting families at the centre of finding solutions and solving problems, using restorative approaches.
What is the impact of Mockingbird for Fostering Devon?
The aims of the Mockingbird Family Model are to improve placement stability for children who are looked after, prioritise sibling connections, promote active child protection, support permanence and improve the support provided to foster carers.
The model is evidence-based, has been formally evaluated and shows improved outcomes for children, young people and foster carers, as well as:
- Providing stable, immediate support (e.g., emergency care).
- Ensuring carers feel valued and supported.
- Children are able to move comfortably between adults in the hub — similar to extended family.
- Helping normalise childhood experiences and reducing feelings of isolation.
Additional insights:
- Children build trust and feel safe with multiple adults in the constellation.
- Strong peer relationships help remove stigma for care experienced children and young people
- Birth children also benefit and form their own support networks.
- Mockingbird supports whole fostering families, not just care experienced children and young people
You can find out more about the Mockingbird programme on the Fostering Network website.
What have we achieved with the launch of our first Mockingbird constellation?
Here are some quotes from our Mockingbird Families in South Devon:
“Mockingbird gives other people a better insight into another way to be a family.” – Roo, Satellite Carer
“The home hub is just amazing.” – Lydia, 10 years old
“My experience before Mockingbird was that after transitions you go through a period whereby you feel lost and abandoned by the Fostering Network, but Mockingbird really helped me this time. I still feel very much part of our community-based constellation and have enjoyed attending the socials and coffee mornings.” – Roo, Satellite Carer