This is shocking-CM with 15 children in her care

know what u mean shosha fed and watered 8 yesterday and cm rates round here not that generous when I write down my expenses I feel all queasy!! Mine are older mindees tho like you summer hols situation couldn't mind that many littlies!

This case is awful. I do agree with other posters tho that 15 parents should have noticed each other and their kids!

When I have new mindees start they come at least 3 times (for a quick visit) with parents while I'm minding before I mind them officially and I only mind over 3s.

Also I welcome parents to come into my living room, some stand in hall, some at front door, some come in and sit down for a chat, whatever they want.

But I do have one parent who came to meet me with her kids was in my house 5mins and wanted to sign a contract and have them start the next week. Didn't want to see me minding, check references, have trial run etc! This same parent never comes to my house now unless I pin her down and get an appointment lol!

I have to say if my child was at a cms I would want to be in their living room seeing him playing happily when I picked him up and would then get him bundled up to take home. Just the way I feel tho we are all different.

I had ten last summer (another CM moved and her older ones where leaving at the end of the summer so they came to me) but I had 1 14month, 1 3 year old, 1 5 year old, 2 7 year old, 4 10 year olds 1 11 year old.

It was only for 8 weeks in total and bloody hard work never again, and although I earned a lot (especially in the summer holiday) Have you ever tried feeding that many. ONG my food bill was horrendous. Luckily not all were in all the time some had holidays so we could get out and about some times (have a Zafira) but going anywhere with 6 even cost a fortune, one trip to the sea life centre was over a £100.00 with petrol!

Those poor poor kiddies

I think it isn't fair that people do get away with things like that, what is OFSTED there for a reason but obv not doing their job properly at times. I'm a genuine person trying to do cm or nannying by the right rules and the law, but it's taking time, but I wouldn't risk doing what other people do, to get money. 15 as on her own? Thta's ridicoulous u def need another pair of hands, at least two more people,how the hell does she manage I do not know

oh no I get my mindies siblings name mixed up (both start with same letter) slap my hand!

Joking apart it is shocking that this has happened but Ofsted found out so maybe the parents reported it no? Just a though, I can;t get parents out of my house if I let them in on drop offs. Though they do come in when picking up, as I 'lend' a hand getting them ready ASAP hehe

I have a variation for 4 under 5's, but was told that is the maximum - only way to have 5 under 5's (even for siblings) is to have an assistant. I am sticking with the 4 though.

There are a few pied pipers around here as well. Thing is you don't know if they have variations. It does bug me though that other cms, who know that some of us need more work, just take on more and more mindees willy nilly.. they have so many. Also, I know about the continuity of care thing regarding new siblings, but does this mean that cms can have more and more under 5s? One cm I know has 4 under 5y - 2 are siblings, but the other 2 have new siblings arriving soon as well...so then she will have 6, plus her 5 after school kids (2 don't count in her numbers as over 8y)...what happens if more of the parents produce babies????? the mind boggles!

it all sounds so strange that she got away with it. i am a child minder and have 7 children who i mind but never more than 3 under 5 at a time.i know for a fact if the parents of these kids didnt get in my house each day they would be scared to leave kids. there is no way they would leave kids if there was so many there either she must hvae been hiding them. i think the parents have to take some blame surely.

things like this make me so incredibly sad. Its just awful.

surely the parents knew she was caring for more children than she should have been though?

i've just read the story and feel really upset.
Those poor children strapped in car seats and kids so cold that they had their coats on in the house.
and i do wonder whether the kids would not mention that the were put in car seats??? unless they were all babies.
i am so shocked

Oh and BTW - boefre you start with my negihbour as a CM, you do get the chanvce to go in and have a look around and get a feel for the place. it si only later, when dropping and collecting the kids that she really does most of it at the door - partly becasue she does have a lot of kids and most the parents are turning up at simialr times, so it gets busy. (in that respect she is more like a mini nursery - and she also deosn't do pick-ups/drop-offs)

I owuld agree that I wouldn't trust a CM that didn't let you look around at the facilities.

in a word, yes, but not all CMs with vacanies are on there.

Sorry for hijack, but seeing as there are a few CMs on this thread at the moment, apart from personal recommendations, is the CIS the best place to find a CM?

i cant understand leaving your kids somewhere where you havent had a good look around... v odd indeed.

Oops, I stand corrected. I'm sorry, I'm feeling a bit dizzy today

Castlesintheair - the CM with 15 kids and vacancies could be like mine in that she has people helping her. But I would definitely want to check it out (mine was a speical case, where I was on hand to get a feel for the quality.)

castle i have 17 children per week all part time and i have monday mornings off

childminders are meant to be a homely place my parents always come into the play room and some even sit down for a minute or two

just coming to the front door would indicate they have something to hide, i know one cm who does this she says its so the parents dont hang around but i disagree

not to know the childs names is very shocking but somedays i do forget my own name depends on the day i have had

My child minder, who I trusted totally, never let me beyond the hallway - but the main children's playroom was just off the hallway. She said it was 'cos she didn't have permission from other parents or something like that.

She also had quite a few children - but that was becasue her mum and MIL worked there full time, so she was able to be registered for more kids. SHe also had/has an enrormous house and enormous garden.

Part of the reason I could trust her so implicityl was a) ds was alwys happy to go there and b) she is our neighborur, literally the hiouse next door, so that we can see that all the kids always go in and out happily - and we can also see them when they are playing in the back garden.

Ds is now 6 and in Primnary 2, so it is 18 months since he was last there - but he still talks happily about his time with her, and desparately wants to play with her two boys (one of whom is only a few years older than ds, but the other is now a young man - but who had a real soft spot for ds)

SO oyuo can't just automtcially distrust someone who doesn't let you in further than the hall. But this case doesn sound strange - surely the older "speaking" kids would have made commnets that should have rung alarm bells with their parents?

Castles that wouldnt be 15 at one time honey,

At one time is usually

3 under 5 only 1 under 1
3 between 5 and 8
and up to 4 eight and over

its sounda as if the CM in question has lots of part timers.

I was looking at a website today which lists childminders by postcode and one of them in my area states that she has 15 in her care and has vacancies Kind of put me off the whole thing a bit.

To be honest nothing surprises me. I know of childminders everything above board but they don't let parents into their homes just into the hallway, don't parents wonder if they're hiding something,I know I would.

Dont you greet each child by name when they arrive didnt the parents realise she didnt know there names, sorry but the parents had to know something wasnt right, dosnt matter how much she hid it, they had to know something, was she cheaper than everybody else about, was that why they sent their children there?

And I hope the tax man now catches up with her cos sure as damn she never decalered her income, hopefully she will be jailed for tax fraud.