Hub home carers are at the centre of each of our Mockingbird contellations, so we thought we would let you know what their role involves.

Having blogged for many years about fostering and raising children I have more recently looked at ways in which adults and young people can achieve happiness and contentment. Last time we looked at taking responsibility for our lives. This time I would like to look at the benefits of thinking positively - for our children, young people and ourselves. 

Following the publication of the Westminster Government’s Fostering Better Outcomes report, our chief executive, Kevin Williams, has written the below message to our foster care members:

Writer, foster carer  and adopter, Petrina Banfield, was so captivated by the case files kept by hospital almoners in the 1920s – and their link to modern fostering  - that she wrote a book about their work.

Meet our new campaigns and engagement officer, find out more about the 30 hours free childcare for fostered children in England, read how we're responding to Fostering Better Outcomes, discover what's happening at the care review in Scotland and see how you can get involved in our 2018 State of the Nation's Foster Care survey.

Before I joined The Fostering Network as its chief executive, one of the things I most admired the organisation for – indeed, I sometimes wish I had been its chief executive at the time – was it leading the campaign to give young people the right to stay living with their former foster carers until the age of 21, if both parties agreed. The Fostering Network’s Don’t Move Me campaign led to the introduction of Staying Put across England, a policy which had the potential to be transformative in the lives of young care leavers.

In this fictional account, follow the Caregivers as they navigate the ups and downs of foster care, chronicling a journey full of surprises as they come to terms with their new role.

In this episode, Mrs Caregiver welcomes her first arrival, Jack, to her home. Patrick, the social worker, brings him to his new abode, and Mrs Caregiver officially embarks on her fostering journey. Here's episode two for your reading pleasure.

The novelist Harry Leon Wilson once wrote, 'Golf has too much walking to be a good game, and just enough game to spoil a good walk.' 

Fortunately, not everyone believes this to be the case. Had you happened to be at Wrotham Heath Golf Course in Kent on 28 June at 4.30 am, just as the sun was coming up, you would have stumbled across an unusual sight – four gentlemen, with a combined age well on the way to three centuries, about to start the longest golfing day of their lives.

On a glorious Saturday morning in June, Philip Jacob, funding and development manager at The Fostering Network, joined a happy throng of around 180 of our members, supporters, staff, friends, and family, all gathered to celebrate our fifth Foster Walk London. It was an amazing day and, for him, really affirmed what a positive thing it is we are all trying to achieve together by fundraising for this vital cause.

Here's what Phil has to say.

Step Up Step Down is The Fostering Network’s programme to help prevent children who are on the periphery of the care system in Northern Ireland from being taken into care, and instead supporting them to stay within their own homes.

Recently, the Step Up Step Down programme officer, Jade, enthusiastically contacted the parents and carers on the scheme, inviting them to the very first Incredible Years parenting course.

The course is designed to provide parents and carers with the tools and strategies that they need for a more positive family life at home, and is supported by a strong evidence base (www.incredibleyears.com).