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Keeping siblings in care connected : Improving relationship stability via the Mockingbird Family Model
McLaren, Helen Patmisari, Emi Jones, Michelle Teekens, Kate Brunes, Hanne
McLaren, Helen
Patmisari, Emi
Jones, Michelle
Teekens, Kate
Brunes, Hanne
Abstract
Children and young people in Australian foster or kinship care are separated from their siblings for a range of reasons. These may include issues that are behavioural, sibling-related, the capacity of carers to host multiple children, or policies that enforce a one-child-per-bedroom rule. This study investigated strategies enhancing stability and meaningful connections among siblings within the Mockingbird Family, a social network model of foster and kinship caring. Case examples, network mapping, and visualisation of the Mockingbird Family networks are presented alongside results from thematic analysis of qualitative data. The findings suggest that the Mockingbird Family facilitates meaningful contact and sibling connections, even when coplacement was not possible. Sibling coplacement and contact provide crucial benefits such as emotional support, stability, shared experiences, and a sense of belonging, contributing to children’s and young people’s development, healing from trauma, and overall wellbeing.
IMPLICATIONS
• Keeping sibling groups connected and in contact can reduce placement breakdown and contribute to their overall wellbeing.
• The Mockingbird Family model of foster care provides a range of options for keeping siblings meaningfully connected through coplacement within the same constellation and opportunities for other siblings to join in Mockingbird Family activities.
Keywords
foster care, kinship care, residential care, Mockingbird Family, siblings, sibling relationship, sibling estrangement, sibling contact, social network, stability, co-placement, out-of-home care, child wellbeing, young people wellbeing, child protection, South Australia
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Australian Social Work
Book
Volume
77
Issue
4
Page Range
486-499
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.