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.

Don’t be ridiculous, I didn’t slate childminders in the slightest.
It is just a fact that if the only insight you have into your child’s day, who comes around them, who may or may not have access is via the one individual responsible then you’re much less likely to ever find out if anything subpar is going on.
Thats ultimately the main difference between a childcare setting and a single person, while there are upsides to smaller scale care there are also downsides to no other adults being around.

Do whatever feels right for you. I didn’t put my kids in nursery until the could talk and tell me if something is wrong.

Your children are statistically much more likely to be abused by their father, or yours, or your brother or brother in law.

The reason it makes for such dramatic and horrifying news is that it is mercifully extremely rare that this happens at nurseries.

Maybe we don't need to slate childminders unnecessarily either.

The overwhelming majority of childcare settings are very safe and run by dedicated and hardworking, loving practitioners in both nursery and childminder settings.

It's sadly a very small number of wrong 'uns causing this unrest and we challenge it by rigorous whistle blowing policies and a open dialect about safeguarding duties and culture.

I think a childminder is much riskier. One of my old neighbours was a childminder for a while and she had a v.shifty boyfriend. At least with a nursery you get a mix of adults.

You can of course choose whatever child are setting you like but scaremongering that nurseries are a hotbed of sexual abuse is not on.

I would not entertain my child going to a childminder because, due to them being on private property, I would have no idea what was going on while my child was there. A single adult in charge of up to several children, depending on ages, and no witnesses vs a nursery with many staff, cctv, etc was a no brainer for me. However, I know many people think their childminders are fabulous and have no doubt some are, but don’t kid yourself that they are without risk either.

I think if you are that anxious about it then you're best off being a SAHM and then home educating x

I would be more worried about leaving my child alone with a complete stranger all day every day than in a setting with multiple adults and rigorous safeguarding procedures in place

You don't think that childminders have husbands, teenage boys, Grandad popping round, Bob next door leaning over the fence?

I think DC are much safer at a nursery than at a CM

YANBU to use whatever childcare you want and are comfortable with.

I think abuse in nurseries is far less prevalent than you're making out. I wouldn't use a nursery for a myriad of other reasons, but abuse risk wouldn't really be one of them. There is a risk of abuse whoever is looking after your child (although I do believe this is lower when you've personally selected the childcarer as with a childminder or nanny).

But, yes, use whatever childcare you want.

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.

Do whatever you feel is suitable for your family.

But ultimately you have no idea or control who that childminder lets in their home, whatever their relationship status. The majority of nurseries don’t have male staff and many have CCTV (which played a big role in this being caught in the first place). None of the nurseries in our small town have male staff. I would say it’s still fairly unusual.

With a childminder, you just won’t ever know 🤷‍♀️

I always felt safer with a nursery than a childminder for the reasons mentioned above

Things that happen with childminders dont come to light.

Sure, because you can control everything a childminder does and who she sees, every single time your child is with them... 🙄

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?