Mockingbird Hub Home Carer

**Contract Type**: Self-employed

**Hours per Week**: Full time

**Base Location**: Tameside

**Assessment Date**: Tuesday, 25th March 2025

**The Role**

We are launching our first Mockingbird Family Model

Could you be a Mockingbird Hub Home Carer?

**We are looking for an experienced foster carer to support other fostering families, through the launch of our first Mockingbird constellation.

The Mockingbird programme is an alternative method of delivering foster care which centres on the idea of an extended network of family support. It empowers families to support each other and overcome problems before they escalate, offering children a more positive experience of foster care.

The programme uses the concept of a constellation, where 6 to 10 satellite families live in close proximity to a dedicated hub home which provides peer support, planned and emergency sleepovers and regular social activities. The constellation also builds links with other adults important to children’s care plans and to resources in the wider community that can provide them with enhanced opportunities to learn, develop and succeed.

The Mockingbird programme is run by The Fostering Network, the UK’s leading fostering charity, in conjunction with Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and other fostering services across the UK. The programme has been running since 2015 in England and has the potential to improve placement stability, safety and permanency for children and young people in care and to improve support for, and retention of, foster carers.

**About you**

Hub home carers are crucial to the success of the Mockingbird programme and each individual constellation. Hub home carers act as the glue that unites the satellite families in each constellation together into a community. It is a full-time job for experienced foster carers who have completed their preparation training, post approval induction period and the national Training Support and Development Standards.

As a hub home carer, you will:

- have at least five years fostering experience
- have a minimum of two empty bedrooms for planned and emergency sleepovers, for children and young people aged 0-18 years living in your constellation
- have the physical space in your home to host monthly meetings with light catering, for all satellite carers in your constellation
- plan and host a range of monthly social events for all the families in the constellation
- support and mentor satellite families
- host and support contact between siblings and birth families
- attend, promote and coordinate training for carers in your constellation.

Hub home carers will be confident, energetic, resourceful and experienced in managing conflict. They should have excellent social skills, with a genuine motivation to partake in and develop a strong sense of community amongst foster carers, in partnership with the fostering service.

Hub home carers must be empathetic and willing to coach others. They will take on a leadership role and have strong support networks of their own.

**About Us**

At Tameside, we are committed to ensuring all our Citizens lead long, fulfilling and healthy lives. We are committed to supporting economic growth, providing high quality health and care services, protecting our most vulnerable and creating strong and supportive, self-sufficient communities.

We recognise that our people drive our success and enable the organisation to deliver on its vision, purpose and priorities, and that our people are our most important resource and asset. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours, and are at the heart of everything that we do; and we understand that how we do things is just as important as what we do. We pride ourselves on living by our STRIVE values of Support, Trust, Respect, Integrity, Value Diversity and Engage. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours and are at the heart of everything that we do. How we do things are just as important as what we do.

Our employees’ skills, experience and knowledge are essential to our success along with their happiness, wellbeing, commitment, enthusiasm and motivation to be the best they can be.

Unfortunately, at this time we are not able to offer sponsorship.

We are committed to developing a culture which respects individuals, appreciates difference and allows everyone regardless of background to reach their full potential. We are proud to be an accredited disability confident employer. Reasonable Adjustments will be considered in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the Job Role Criteria.

**Reference Number: DPT637