Fostering South West represents a partnership among the 15 local councils from across the south west of England. For the first time, fostering services across the region are collaborating to actively recruit essential prospective foster carers and come together to improve the retention of foster carers, via the Mockingbird scheme. Anyone considering fostering for their local council will benefit from a single support hub, providing prospective foster carers with additional support from the first steps on their journey. The regional project is supported by the Department for Education. We are also working to grow the Fostering Friendly employers scheme across the region. This is the Fostering Network’s programme to encourage employers to support fostering, and in particular, foster carers. The Fostering Friendly employers scheme offers businesses of any size a chance to make a difference for foster carers and the children they care for in their local communities and improve support for their own employees at the same time. This is vital as nearly 40 per cent of foster carers combine fostering with other work.