Through Department for Child Protection funding, Life Without Barriers delivers the MOCKINGBIRD FAMILY™ program in South Australia.

There are six Mockingbird ‘constellations’ in Adelaide and the Hills which bring together and create an extended family like hub for local kinship and foster carers and the kids for whom they care to share ideas and advice, meet for social activities and create connections.

A series of research papers on MOCKINGBIRD FAMILY™ have been completed with the latest finding examples of siblings who did not live together forging stronger connections through the program’s activities.

The study evaluating the initiative was a partnership between the department, Life Without Barriers and Flinders University.

It found that the MOCKINGBIRD FAMILY™ program positively developed a dynamic extended family network that meaningfully creates a hub to connect siblings, cousins and friends within its constellations.

The study also referred to the program growing foster carers’ capacity with examples including one where two respite carers committed to taking on the long-term care of a brother and sister after the siblings’ previous full-time placements ended.

Other agencies have shown an interest in upscaling the program around Australia.

For more information on foster care, call (1300 2 367 837) or visit www.fostercare.sa.gov.au

For more information on the MOCKINGBIRD FAMILY™ program, visit https://www.lwb.org.au/our-approach/child-youth-and-family/mockingbird-family/

Quotes attributable to Katrine Hildyard

It has been such a pleasure to visit several MOCKINGBIRD FAMILY™ hubs and to see the benefit of the outstanding support for carers, children and young people that they create.

It is so important for carers to know there are a range of people they can share time and experiences with and garner support from; MOCKINGBIRD is an exemplar of doing just that, making such a difference to carers in their roles.

The way that MOCKINGBIRD boosts opportunities for children to connect with their siblings, even if they aren’t living together, and to create ongoing meaningful relationships with other young people through a home hub and building of a wider extended family network can be life changing.

Carers understand what other carers experience and children and young people in care understand what other children and young people go through. Creating spaces where carers and children and young people can experience that sense of extended family with many people looking after each other is really special and nurturing.

I’m thrilled to see research backing in the benefits of MOCKINGBIRD and to see the home hubs continuing to thrive.

Quotes attributable to Helen McLaren, Associate Professor College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University

The Mockingbird program was found to reduce carers’ risk of “compassion fatigue”, which can lead to burnout and secondary traumatic stress.

It gives us hope that it improves stability for carers and stability in placements for children and young people – acting as a “safety net” for carers, providing support during challenging times and helping children to find a sense of belonging.

Quotes attributable to Michelle Jones, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of South Australia

The Mockingbird model has been designed to replicate the structure of an extended family, supporting the hard work of foster carers.

Foster carers can link with other carers, sometimes with more experience, and they can talk about issues they might have with parenting, for example.

Having an extra ear that they can go to, who knows what it is like to be a foster carer, can bring some really great support and insights on how to work through those issues.

Quotes attributable to Hanne Brunes, Family Liaison Officer, Life Without Barriers

It takes a village to raise a family – and these villages are made up of different families involved in caring for children and young people in foster care to create an extended family network that lean on, learn from and support one another like any family network would.

For example, we have seen children in care invited to their first birthday parties and become involved in regular playdates through this model.

The model has been shown to retain carers for longer because of the extended peer network, avoid placement breakdowns, support sibling connection and has seen children in care thrive socially, emotionally and academically.