The North Star Therapeutic Family Model.

At Foster Care Training, we believe that every child in foster care deserves the best possible care and support. Our families are often our biggest source of support in our times of need. For those children no longer able to live their lives  with their birth family this secure base can look and feel very different . Some children may reside with other family members ( kinship care) or with foster carers who are unrelated ( mainstream) and some may be in residential settings that best meet their needs.

Ultimately our aim is to provide a home that promotes a sense of safety and belonging, this means helping those we care for to recover and to become  resilient.

I have spent 8 years supporting services across the United Kingdom to implement the Mockingbird Societies, Mockingbird Family Model which is delivered under license by The Fostering Network . This has been a true pleasure and a privilege . As a foster carer I was assessed many years ago and at the time lots of questions about my own family support networks were asked. At the start of my journey I realised how vital this was  during the tough times and the good times. Sadly those support networks dwindled over time and fostering became a bit of a flying solo type journey.  Having a supportive network in fostering is vital as the children we care for need a loving, secure and therapeutic environment from where they can explore the world. The North Star Family Therapeutic Model aims to be a guiding light for the children and young people we support and also the families and services that support them.

Our team is comprised of experienced and compassionate professionals who are dedicated to improving the lives of children in foster care. We work collaboratively to provide comprehensive system based approaches  to support  every child and their families to thrive. North Star is designed to support fostering services to provide  hub and spoke family support systems with therapeutic training and reflective practice support built, supporting the community holistically  The approach is flexible in design offering a menu of options, so that you can tailor the provision for the specific needs of the children and families within the North Star; but also the varying needs and demands of your fostering service. Please contact Andy@fostercaretraining.co.uk for an explorative chat.