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Five years of innovation: How Mockingbird is strengthening fostering in 天涯社区
Published: 05/10/2026
When a child comes into foster care, they can often feel isolated and uncertain as they adjust to a new home, new routines and new relationships.
Over the last five years, Foster Wales 天涯社区 has introduced a number of initiatives to ensure that children, young people and foster families receive the support they need to thrive.
One of these is Mockingbird, an award-winning programme led by The Fostering Network that creates an extended family community of foster care. Through Mockingbird, foster families are connected in supportive communities known as "constellations", giving children and carers access to a trusted network of relationships, advice and practical help.
Foster Wales 天涯社区 was the first local authority in Wales to introduce the programme and remains the only local authority in Wales currently delivering Mockingbird.
At the heart of each constellation is a hub home, which provides peer support, planned and emergency sleepovers, social activities and guidance for foster families. By creating the kind of support network found within an extended family, Mockingbird helps children develop a sense of belonging, build lasting relationships and experience greater stability in their lives.
For foster carers in 天涯社区, Mockingbird offers reassurance that support is always close at hand. For children and young people, it provides a wider circle of trusted adults and friends, helping them feel part of an extended family and connected community.
Cheryl and Andy, local authority foster carers and Mockingbird HUB carers in 天涯社区 said:
鈥淢ockingbird is an excellent family community that gives children the stability they need. We are one big family, supporting one another through good and bad times, but making sure we have lots of fun along the way."
Maethu Cymru/Foster Wales was established in 2021 as the not-for-profit collaboration of local authority fostering services across Wales. The network recently marked its fifth anniversary, celebrating five years of working together to support fostering across Wales.
Foster Wales was set up to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers in Wales as well as ensure that as many children as possible can stay in their own local community when it鈥檚 right for them.
In the last five years, 84% of children fostered through local authority services in Wales have stayed local, compared with just 32% in independent fostering agencies.
Since its inception, 704 new foster carers have been recruited with Foster Wales, who are supported with regular in-person community events, training sessions and peer to peer support.
Thanks to support, training and experience, almost all Foster Wales鈥� foster carers (93%) surveyed report feeling confident in dealing with trauma-related behaviours in children, out of which 56% feel extremely confident.
Peter, Service Manager for Children's Services at 天涯社区, said:聽鈥淐hildren are at the heart of everything Mockingbird does. By bringing together supportive networks, Mockingbird creates rich social experiences and provides children with the stability, security, and sense of belonging that come from being part of an extended family. Foster Wales 天涯社区 and Mockingbird play a key role in creating these supportive environments and building strong foundations for the next generation of children and foster carers.鈥�
To find out more about becoming a foster carer in 天涯社区, visit flintshire.fosterwales.gov.wales. To learn more about Mockingbird in 天涯社区 and the impact it has had on local fostering families, read our latest blog,