Play scheme worker forced DS into her car

[Longlost10]

My 8 yo DS is in a holiday playscheme, there are two workers there I know. I employ the first one to drive DS home for me at the end of the day. The second one is her boss.

Two days ago, the first one was called away by a family emergency, and unable to drive DS home. The second one made him get into her car against his will, and she drove him home.

I rang her up that night, very very angry. I have taught DS never to get into anyone's car without my express permission, even if he knows them. He was very distressed, and said he had tried to resist and argue, but she had irresistibly over ruled him and forced him in.

When I spoke to the second worker on Friday, she got very offended, and said she thought she was doing a favour for a friend. I am however going to make a formal complaint. She probably was a friend, of sorts, we have been using that play scheme for years,and got to know each other well.

Even so, AIBU to think she should have rung me, and given me the option of leaving work early as a one off emergency, or giving DS permission to get in her car

Right thanks Boney, then she should have called you and asked what to do, I would let it go, but next time tell her, that if that happens again, she is to contact you so that you can collect him yourself.

How has she proven herself not to be trusted to drive him home? She's entrusted with his care all day long at the playscheme; why does she suddenly become a threat when she's driving him home (as a favour)?

Flogging - it's not doing a favour if no one wants you to do it.
She upset the child, failed to contact the parents, and then left him alone in an unsafe house without telling anyone where he was.
Failure all round as far as I can see, and like the OP I wouldn't trust her to look after him in the day either after seeing how little common sense and what poor decision making abilities she has.

Wow 19 pages all for 1 lift, my goodness. I personally would not have minded as the person giving the lift was the boss of the person employed, and they both work in the playscheme, so will both have the relevant checks necessary. For me, no biggie really.

Fairuza

So what are your feelings on playworker 1/childminder, who didn't contact the OP either?

Blimey I bet she's chuffed you've decided to leave.

Childminder should have called the OP and probably regrets assuming the manager had any sense.

As far as I can tell the main fault lies with ps worker/cm who delegated the driving role to her colleague without mentioning it to op. Safeguarding issue whether the second ps worker is dbs checked or not, boss or not. Second ps worker should equally not have accepted this role, although could understand in an emergency she may have told first that she would sort permissions etc and it was ok to leave, not to worry. I think the problem arises from blurring of roles - presumably ratios and responsibilities at ps were covered by boss and others but the travel arrangements were separate to this.

Pearlman - it is never acceptable for a childcare provider to take a child somewhere and leave them alone without informing anyone or gaining parents permission. It certainly should be common sense.

Fairuza

So should the childminder also be reported to ofsted for not following duty of care and safe guarding procedures?

Don't worry OP, I am sure the playscheme will respond to your complaint and make sure no member of staff ever agrees to drive children (including your dx) home in future.

Sounds likely.

The people saying that if the play leader is trusted during the day so why shouldn't she be trusted to drive a child home, what about if she's just passed her test/has had numerous accidents/likes speeding/
And did she have a car seat?

I'm really confused OP that you didn't direct any blame at the worker you employed to drive your DS home.

Surely it was HER responsibility to call you? And not her call to make arrangements for your DS that contradict what you have taught him?

I doubt Ofsted would be so interested in the childminder's failure, which essentially was in not collecting the child. Sometimes this happens, a childminder or after school club fails to collect a child from school for example, and all that happens is the school call the child's contacts. The child isn't put at risk so it isn't a safeguarding issue.
The child was only put at risk in this case because of the actions of the playworker - failing to call the child's contacts to inform them the child wasn't being collected, driving off with them and leaving them alone and unsupervised in an unsafe house without informing anyone.

At the playscheme the cm was not in that role. She should however have sorted the journey according to her cm procedures - does she not have a procedure for situations where she is suddenly unable to fulfil her childcare duties , due to illness, emergency , circumstances? She had a specific duty of care to op's Ds for that part of the day which she passed on to someone else.

LIZS - it's not clear that the CM did pass the care to anyone else. The OP hasn't said that the childminder asked the playworker to drive the child home, only that the childminder was surprised that the playscheme failed to contact the OP.

Fairuza

you are failing to see, that the OP says that the childminder is fully registered, she failed to contact the OP about the change of arrangements and apparently left the child in the care of a person that may have been a danger to the child, she didn't inform said person of the arrangements for leaving the child with the builders in the house, all in breach of her duty of care, safeguarding procedures and contract with the OP.

Pearlman - again, someone in a position of responsibility to care for a child cannot use 'big boys told me too' as an excuse for doing something unsafe. Even if a child's childminder had told the playworker to drop the kid off by a motorway, the playworker has to take responsibility.
A childminder does not have the authority to make decisions about a child's care, only the parents do. Settings need to speak to the parent to make changes to the child's care and not rely on the say so of the childminder, older sibling, grandparent, auntie or anyone else without parental responsibility.

Absolutely agree, Revolting. As ever, it's like the top trumps of liberal parenting around here when there's a genuine issue. When it's something and nothing, a quick call to the police or Ofsted seems to be the bare minimum expected.

Personally, as someone trained in safeguarding (and who has taught in a number of settings in countries across the world), I'm appalled that there are so many people on here who can't separate the facts. Yes, worker 2 was no doubt trying to be kind. Yes, she no doubt had good intentions. However, good practice would certainly not include giving a child a lift without his parents' express permission.

OP, I think you've had an extremely tough time on here. Some of the responses are just plain nasty, goady and quite frankly, not worth your while reading. Worker 2 has done a number of things that raise red flags for me, and should for anyone else with a genuine childcare background. Personally, I do think you should take your concerns further, due both to the shouting/forcing and lack of emergency numbers. I'd also question why there was just one worker left at the end of the day. What is the playscheme's back up plan if someone has to leave like this? What's their ratio like, staff:children?

To everyone calling the OP controlling and so on, shame on you. She has a genuine reason to be upset and disappointed and the childcare scheme worker (worker 2) has failed protocol on a number of counts. That you can't see this, acknowledge it and instead have a go at the OP speaks volumes.

Boney - the parent had left the child in the playworker's care, with the childminder taking over at 5pm (or whenever). She should have called the OP, but not being there to take over at 5pm is not a safeguarding issue as the child was (should have been) still safe in the care of the playscheme who should have called the parents.
Yes, she was wrong not to call, but her failure was pretty small in comparison and not really a safeguarding issue.

I hope you don't work with children in any professional capacity Pearlman.

Furious - the fact that they not only drove the child home but then left them alone in an empty house without informing anyone raises another pretty big flag!