Changing Nappies in Job Centre Plus/When there are no facilities

[Earlybirdtea]

I went to register for job seekers allowance last week for the first time after just being made redundant. I arrived on time with my seven month old son, my 2 year old is in nursery).

Anyway during my meeting my son's nappy needed changing and there are no changing facilities or even toilets so I popped him on my shawl and quickly changed his wet nappy(Not Poo). If a baby is crying and there are no facilities then as a mother I believe that to be exceptable to change their nappy in the best available place which was on the floor,not the table and I was thinking of the point of view of others around me as if he got uncomfortable then he would have started crying which would have disturbed the other interviewees.

In short, I was told, You can't do that here, I responded saying there are no facilities and was told that this is an office environment, you would have thought that you would have arranged childcare!!!

I have written a letter of complaint and been informed that the lady who approached me was in fact doing her job as a health and safety professional, fair enough and, "there are Public Facilities within 100 yards of our building and in the future we will endeavour to highlight this when appropriate." It was also communicated to me that they encourage customers not to bring children to their interviews.

Am I being unreasonable to think that they should offer changing facilities, even special access/lockable? I really don't like the idea of going down the road to some public toilet block, there may be facilities in there I will have to check.

I also feel that they have no place to tell you that children are not really welcome in this environment, it is certainly not ideal I know. I do not plan to take my son to job interviews and have only just been made redundant.

Should I just back off and except their response, I have other important things to think about I don't plan on having to go there very long or on the other hand should I escalate this within their internal complaints procedure
as this is a bit mother and young baby unfriendly.

I would really appreciate your comments

I can only assume CJBK1 hasn't heard of the current unemployment and redundancy crisis.

I had a job when I started a family thank you very much and no I didn't quit. I was made redundant.

Think if you ask them you will find that 95% of the JC staff dont want to be there either...

If you are in receipt of ESA (which replaces Incapacity Benefit), then you have to attend a 'work related' interview. They basically spend over an hour asking you if your disability has majicaly dissapeared so that you can apply for non exsisting jobs. If your medical condition is one that means you need the toilet more often, what are you suppossed to do?

YABU. You could have waited to change a wet nappy.

I'm really shocked that a government building serving the public does not have public toilets. I can only assume in this case it's because they don't see people receiving JSA as human beings. Or, like some people here, they assume they're all junkies or something

But, I don't see why you would change a baby on the floor instead of in the buggy? They really wouldn't have any grounds to criticise you if you did it in the buggy.

Yabu, it was only a wet nappy hardly an emergency. Were there no toilets in the building? Tbh it's not pleasant when someone changes their babies nappy in full view if the public, find somewhere discrete. Yanbu about taking baby with you, sometimes you cannot find anyone to look after him/her, what do they expect you to do leave him at home alone!

I would have done exactly the same as you OP.

There are some people with a pathological lack of empathy on this thread.

YAB a bit U for getting so worked up about it. Can you not change baby on your knee? baby changing on knee can be done in a few seconds with no one inconvenienced. i tend to always do DD on my knee even if there are baby changing facilities and never on the floor mainly because it hurts my back.

I wouldn't have seen changing a wet nappy as a dire emergency which needed dealing with right then tbh

Oh right no toilets, that is dreadful! A public place like the JC should have them. What are people with bowel/bladder problems meant to do, go in their pants. Shocking really is!

Would you take your baby to an interview? No thought not, so why is it ok when you are attending an interview about finding work?

A baby having its nappy changed wouldnt bother me in the slightest TBH.

Id be more bothered by people that have fights etc in there and im slightly and at some posters idea of what actually happens at jobcentres.

Where would you leave them Llanbobl?

Llanbobl so do you think that parents should be putting their young children in some mystical form of childcare each time they have to go and sign on?

Because you don't generally have a job interview as often as you have to visit the jobcentre!

I'm pretty sure they have toilets. The staff might get a bit uncomfortable if not. And I think they'd have to let a disabled person use the staff toilet if it was urgent. Like they get the security man to usher you into the staff lift when you have a pushchair.

Yabu, it is an office environment

I think it might have been better to ask the reception staff if there was a quiet spot where you could change your baby, before assuming it was acceptable to change your sons nappy in an office/public environment. Unfortuantely, many Job Centres do not have public facilities because a small percentage of the public abuse those facilities and frankly they would spend a great deal of time in disrepair and unusable anyway.

When I worked in a job centre, we were happy to let occasional clients use the staff facilities, based on our knowledge of the customer, their physical condition etc. If someone was known to us as 'volatile', they would be asked to use facilities nearby. If someone asked if they could use a non-public area to change a baby/breastfeed etc, I'd be only too happy to oblige. If someone whipped off their sons nappy in a public area, I would be mindful of my other clients and probably ask you to stop/leave.

Changing a nappy is extremely different to breast feeding in public though. If someone complained about a breastfeeding mother in my job centre, I'd shrug and tell them to wind their neck in. If someone complained about a baby being changed, I would have to act on that.

Breastfeeding and nappy changing are both an essential part of caring for a small baby though.

Why is one acceptable and not the other?

YABU its hardly an emergency

Sensible response from Snape.

We used to have toilets open to the public in the office I worked in.

Till it was taken over by our customers using it as a safe place to deal (no cameras in the loos) and for a clean fix (our poor cleaner!).

The toilets had to be closed as we do not have enough taxpayers cash to merit paying for people to sit in there all day making sure no-one is doing drugs/having sex there (yip, that happened too). Imagine how even more upset you would have been going to the loo to be greeted by someone passed out on the floor with a needle hanging out their arm.

In our place if a child needs the loo we accompany the child and mother to the staff loos. If they are nice

Well said snape

Breastfeeding and nappy changing are both an essential part of caring for a small baby though.Why is one acceptable and not the other?

You'd expect to be able to feed a baby at a table in a restaurant. I'd hope you wouldn't change a baby's nappy there.

I did actually see someone change a baby's nappy on a restaurant table. Was a bit - especially as toilets were just outside.