April-2019

On 2nd April, we met with Perago to discuss the cashable savings, investment and loan payback terms. We shared 3 real anonymised case studies of children who are now 18 years old. These case studies showed the number of placement moves each child experienced during their time in care and the increasing costs of placements once they leave local authority care provision. The estimated costs of implementing Mockingbird were also shared.

On 3rd April, we presented Mockingbird to a childrens social work team. This raised lots of questions, discussion but also some very useful and positive feedback.

On 9th April, we visited Walsall fostering service, who have already implemented Mockingbird. Initially meeting with the fostering service manager and liason officer, we learned facscinating insight into the setting up and potential pitfalls in Mockingbird. Moving on to a foster carer's home, we meet with 3 current hub carers and a newly recruited hub carer.

From meeting with Walsall, we have developed a person spec. and job description for our "liaison officer" role, and hope to start recruitment soon.

On 30th April, we will be holding our 2nd Implementation Working Group meeting.

The participation officer, who attends the IWG, has also arranged for us to meet with the children's participation group for a Mockingbird role play in May.