to ask if you would leave your children here

[manicinsomniac]

... and whether you consider it a safe set up for all parties.

The church I go to is on an estate which suffered quite bad flooding from the storms on Saturday night.

Yesterday and today the church has opened up for 2 different services - 1) assistance with cleaning and clearance in the flats/streets and 2) childcare for local people flooded out who need to be able to sort things out without their children underfoot.

Yesterday there were around 16 children on site from about 10am to 5pm. We gave them lunch and snacks and we have stuff to do. Some were apparently quite happy but others wanted to go home and had to be watched so they didn't 'escape'. Permission forms were made up for 'younger' children which parents needed to sign and they had to be dropped off and collected. But 'older' children could come and go during the day as they pleased.

I wasn't there yesterday but am running it today with a couple of other DBS checked adults and I'm a bit nervous about the set up. I don't know what counts as 'younger' and 'older' and I'm worried that a) it's not a great experience for children (especially for a second day) and b) that we are opening ourselves up to a whole host of potential problems - neither the parents nor the children know any of us at all.

I'm sure it's a very sad reflection of the times that I'm worried but I am. Would you be happy for your child to be in this set up? And, if you would be happy, what would you be expecting of the completely unknown adults caring for your child?

Surely your forms would state who could "drop in and out"? However I assume those children wouldn't really be in need of childcare anyway?

I'd be wary of the legalities too... there see minimum ratios so check out how this applies.

Tbh I wouldn't leave my children but they're only 2 and 4 months.

I don't know, I haven't seen the forms yet - I have a feeling they were hand made in a hurry yesterday as it seems to have been a bit of an evolving, 'what needs to be done in this situation' kind of day!

And yes, I guess if a child wanders in on their own we can safely assume they are allowed to be out on their own anyway so it doesn't matter as such where they are exactly. But I know that some of the children play around the area alone at around age 6 and I'm sure others wouldn't be allowed at age 11.

There was a 2 year old yesterday apparently! I think the parent was probably desperate though.

Permission forms are needed for all under 18s. Are you CofE? You can download templates from the website. Speak to your churches safeguarding advisor too.

Does your area begin with an H? Feel free to PM me for more help if it does.

It might be worth ringing (or popping into) your local police station or ringing the council and ask to talk to a rep for your Local Resilience Forum they are the people who coordinate for this type of event and may be able to help ad give you some advice.

Thanks, I will try the council. Not C of E, we're non denominational. And doesn't begin with an H but thanks!

Council popped in once or twice during the day so I did ask them but they were (obviously!) mainly concerned about sandbags, rehousings etc, not childcare. One lady said it probably depended whether we were calling ourselves independent volunteers making use of a building or church members using the church building. Felt very much like semantics either way and the whole situation made me uncomfortable. Children everywhere - some as young as 5 or 6 coming and going on their own (hard to stop them leaving when they've arrived without a parent and say their parents don't know they're here!). The ones who came with parents were signed in and out but it wasn't very official looking.

I know it was very unusual circumstances but I did report my concerns to the church and today it's been decided to open for refreshments, lunch, chat and redistribution of spare furniture/clothing etc only. We'll have children's games and activities but only for children who have a guardian in the building at the time. I feel bad in a way because it might not be what's most helpful but we were leaving ourselves wide open to trouble yesterday.

So random older kids can come as they please were are the forms for them u are not obligated to look after these children and I don't think that's legal are u.set up as temp daycare or drop in center it takes 5 mins for the kids that can come and parents to sign form then u know