AIBU to hope this heartbreaking story is a catalyst for change?

I think it’s very apparent that the OP is connected to this case in some way and this thread should be removed.

Not least because hopefully prosecutions will follow, and any thread like this could prejudice a trial if one happens.

Respectful conversations dont really happen when you are trying to defend a childminder that neglected a disabled child so much that she drowned and died!

Are you the CM in question here OP or related to her inn some way?

She was being paid to look after this child.

If the parent had requested the child not be taken out or supervised in a particular way then it was down to her to either not take on the child. The end. It really is that simple.

Instead she went against the mother’s wishes, having been made fully aware of the risks.

She should be prosecuted for manslaughter. There are no if’s and buts here.

And all this “it won’t bring the child back” bollocks is just language to protect the guilty.

As for “she will live with this for the rest of her life.” Good.

She should never be trusted to look after any child again.

It wasn’t an accident. It was deliberate neglect.

But it's very different to usually being out with the children, and being specifically asked not to take this child out and ignoring it.
I don't really know why you've started this thread, you want to defend the CM but her actions do seem pretty indefensible.

How can anyone think it is NOT the childminders fault?

What part of any of this thread was appropriate?

@OP how do you know so much about the detail that hasn't been written in the article?

How do you know this?

The childminder made it clear she was out a lot with the children. The issue seems to have been around wrist straps.

How do you know this? The article you linked to, and other reports I have read, make no reference to this.

I work with families who are crying out for care for their special dc when they are not at school. They may need to work, have other caring responsibilities, not be in the best health etc. There is not a bank of specialist carers out there. Why? Because other jobs are easier and pay more. I have families who have lost their own children- escaping from houses, gardens, parks and the families are just ordinary people trying to eat, sleep, cook, use the bathroom, change the baby… and the child is gone, often (thankfully) brought back by the police. One child I worked with caused an early morning car accident running across a dual carriageway in the early hours of the morning. The family were asleep. The child had climbed out of the window. The only solution I can see is specialist provision-like school- where the site is secure and the adults to child ratio is high. And this is not the ‘normal’ experience of life most families want and most children need. So the answer is? I don’t know.

Knew it was going to be this story. I read it with a lump in my throat. My DS is 5 and has SEN. I have to keep our doors locked at all times and I cannot leave the door open if I pop out to take the bin out or anything whilst he’s awake. He cannot be trusted- he leaves the house and will run down the street. He has zero sense of danger and has slipped out of our hands before to run across a road because he’s seen something he likes. It’s only sheer luck he hasn’t been seriously injured or worse.

It isn’t incompetent parenting, when they elope they are so fucking fast and it’s just a split second thing. I’ve kept up my running habit partially for this- so I’m fit and fast and can catch him when he darts off. We cannot and would not trust him in public without tightly holding his hands unless it’s an enclosed space. He’s attracted to water as well, as I’m imagining this poor little girl was. He would quite gladly jump into a pond to chase a bird.

It’s just terrible. The childminder knew the girl had to be watched at all times. Her door should have been locked. The poor poor parents. I haven’t shared the story with my DH, he can’t hear things like this without getting seriously upset.

I've been a childminder for 20 years and I wouldn't take a SEN child out of my setting unless I knew I would be physically able to grab them, in fact I have a SEN child 1 day a week and last week was the first time we had been out of the house/garden in the last 6 months because I had my smaller and vulnerable toddlers off sick so I knew I could chase if needed without leaving them unattended.
This IS the childminders fault. It doesn't being the child back but I do think negligence charges should be considered.

I just had a new dog sitter. I had about four forms to fill in- terms and conditions, vet details, behavioural details , and off-lead or not and that was to dog sit in my own home for three hours.

Surely a childminder taking on a child, with or without complex needs would have similar forms (obviously doctor rather than vets etc!) so they learn about a child’s behaviour, needs etc.

as with anything who pays the costs,

What the fuck. No it doesnt matter what the instructions are. If a parent requests they do not take the child out and the childminder agrees to this, then it is completely fucking unacceptable to TAKE THE CHILD OUT.

If the childminder could not do that due to other children then it is her responsibility to say that will not work and she cannot meet those requirements.

I don’t know if there were instructions she didn’t follow.

Then you must be on some sort of wind up here with all the excuses you're making.

I am sure there are things everyone would have done differently in retrospect but pointing the finger of blame doesn’t bring the little girl back.

Well of course not, justice never brings anyone back from the dead.

But it can certainly provide a modicum of comfort for the parent.

The childminder was specifically asked not to take the child out, and the child is known to be an escape artist (even involving special measures put in the house)and yet the childminder still took her out. I know she would have never predicted the tragic consequences, but you still adhere to the parents wishes.