To not send my child to nursery - another case of a man abusing children

Every bloody time… this statistic is BECAUSE OF ACCESS. The fact that children are most often abused by people who have the most access to them is not an argument to extend access to your children to anyone or any situation that makes you uncomfortable. Someone always trots this out and it drives me mad, it’s a complete misunderstanding of abuse, statistics and safeguarding and is always a way of telling women to lower their guard about strangers.

So where do you draw the line? Banning male teachers?

Oh, wait. What about Julie Morris (safeguarding lead - couldn't make that up)? Rebecca Joynes? Zoe Williams? Patricia Robertson? Joanne Munro?

Abusers come in all shapes, sizes and sexes.

Feelings aren’t facts 😂

I’d be more dubious about safeguarding at a childminders house to be honest.

I would take my children out of their current nursery if they hired a man though. Can’t see it happening for precisely that reason though.

I've worked in nurseries and wouldn't send mine for that reason! Too many that just aren't very good IMO. Women can be abusing children and sending the photos to men who aren't at the nursery - there don't have to be men there for CSA to be taking place. I think that's what was happening at Ted's in Plymouth wasn't it? It's horrific and hopefully very rare - but we have no idea if there are people who just haven't been caught.

I know a couple of fantastic childminders - but i would want to have watched them out and about with children in their care ie at toddler groups and have a lot of recommendations before I left my child with anyone. I also wouldn't leave my child unless they were old enough to tell me anything that was happening - but I was lucky enough to be able to be a SAHM.

Childminders can't have random relatives/men popping in to see them when they're working and anyone who is over 16 and lives at their house would have to be DBS checked. For me I'd rather have an older, experienced CM with her own kids than a nursery full of poorly paid 19 year olds that don't have a clue. But it very much depends on the individuals. DS went to a lovely preschool when he was three, I knew the staff and for me that was key.

I don't think a single poster has said women can't or don't commit these crimes, but the fact is, 98 percent of all sex crimes are committed by men, so if you banned them from settings where vulnerable children are being looked after, you'd cut the risk of abuse dramatically.

We still know Vanessa George's name because it was so unusual for a woman to have committed those crimes.

You think what you like. I know how i feel. Know my daughters are safe

That does not make my statement incorrect.

It isn’t incredibly rare!!

There have been a number of male pedos found guilty and sentenced in Court in my country.

Those are just the ones who have been caught.

Vanessa George? Roksana Lecka?

Mind you, they are women so they probably don't fit the narrative.

I think you’re being disingenuous about how common this is.
It’s actually incredibly rare, and it’s important to not suggest otherwise. Nurseries have much higher levels of surveillance and accountability than a childminder.
If anything happen with a childminder there’s almost no way of parents ever finding out unless their child is close to school age, and even then children often don’t know to share anything with parents.

You can choose whatever childcare you want for your child, but there’s no need to slate nurseries based on completely inaccurate information. Please point out a nursery run by a 16 year old apprentice?

I've worked in nurseries and wouldn't send mine for that reason! Too many that just aren't very good IMO. Women can be abusing children and sending the photos to men who aren't at the nursery - there don't have to be men there for CSA to be taking place. I think that's what was happening at Ted's in Plymouth wasn't it? It's horrific and hopefully very rare - but we have no idea if there are people who just haven't been caught.

I know a couple of fantastic childminders - but i would want to have watched them out and about with children in their care ie at toddler groups and have a lot of recommendations before I left my child with anyone. I also wouldn't leave my child unless they were old enough to tell me anything that was happening - but I was lucky enough to be able to be a SAHM.

Childminders can't have random relatives/men popping in to see them when they're working and anyone who is over 16 and lives at their house would have to be DBS checked. For me I'd rather have an older, experienced CM with her own kids than a nursery full of poorly paid 19 year olds that don't have a clue. But it very much depends on the individuals. DS went to a lovely preschool when he was three, I knew the staff and for me that was key.

Well i do trust her 100%

There’s really no information you have to prove this.

I have worked in safeguarding for 20 years. Unfortunately it is impossible to totally legislate and abolish all risk, whether at home, school/nursery or the community. The reality is that most children who suffer significant harm do so in the care of family members and those in their network. Modern reporting and social media etc mean that people are far more aware of the rare occasions when it is those outside of these networks are abusers.

Obviously this is not okay, but checks and safeguarding in the UK is actually pretty robust. It is not fail-safe of course, and every time it fails feels one time too many. I remember reading a few years ago that UK safeguarding (from a social work point of view) has been dramatically effective in the results for children compared to other countries. However the public will never see it this way. The successes are never reported, only when it goes wrong.

We cannot eliminate risk, I have to balance it everyday in the job I do. However, compared to how things were a few decades ago, when the church, professional institutions etc really failed children, I hope as a society we are in a very different place. Of course we need to protect children and the vulnerable, but vilifying men taking on roles traditionally viewed as 'women's roles' is nonsensical. For a start, we have been shouting out for decades to end gender stereotypes. There have been endless studies supporting the need for more men in early years/primary education. Finally, the majority of men are not sex offenders. There have been as many cases of women in nursery setting being sex offenders. Shall we ban them too? It is a person thing.