AIBU to report this childminder??

[mylifemykids]

There's a childminder who's house backs onto mine. I was just up in the bedroom when I heard one of the children crying in the childminder's garden. I didn't take much notice because there's usually one or other of them crying. Then I heard the childminder say 'X that was really naughty I saw you hit him then, I am very cross with you' and then I heard a slap!!! I looked out the window to see one of the minded children stood there screaming and holding her leg where I assume she was slapped. She was then dragged by the arm inside and told she was going to 'the bedroom' to calm down.

If I'd left my children with a childminder I'd hate to think they were being treated like that.

Do I assume it was just a one off and ignore it? Or should I report her (not sure who to?!)

but it isn't up to op (or us) to decide exactly what happened. it is up to ofsted, that is their job.

those of you who say watch her like a hawk - do you realise that this means wait until she hits a child again? so you think she should just be left to get on with it? nice.

No SM, still can't see where it says her career is more important.

What I have seen is posts saying to keep an eye on the woman and report if something is SEEN.

Nah, definitely doesnt say her career is more important...

well i also think my advice is measured,correct and balanced too. i also too have a professioanl responsibility regards safeguarding children.

and following every child matters
children act
no secrets documentation

protocols and guidance,that advice report any concerns

I agree 100% with scottishmummy

rcb and tomato i have consistently said report it.are you reading South mum or another SM

RCB - there are two SM's (me and scottishmummy) and we keep calling each other SM so thats where the confusion is

I need to nip off now to take DS to docs for jabs

Listen SM (scottishmummy) FWIW I really do think this person should be reported, but if it was me if I had the slightest doubt over what I saw then I would hang fire and see what her attitude is like over the next few days (to make sure I had some bloody evidence to hang around her neck). I don't for one minute think her career takes priority, of couse it doesn't, but I think caution does need to be applied when talking about someone possibly being investigated, reputation smeared and other parents having to find another CM all because someone THOUGHT they heard something.

Shit sticks and even if she is innocent people will have doubts if they know she has had a complaint made against her and no-one can say thats fair.

By scottishmummy Tue 02-Jun-09 11:20:35 Add a message | Report post | Contact poster

Shine on 4 dont do it please,"ruin" career comes up 3X

Think long and hard before you report and potentially ruin this womans career.

As Nahui said it is someones career that could be ruined because of a possible wrong assumption

you could ruin her career, even put a question mark over her as a mother. how would you like it if that happened to you over something innocent?

keep an eye/ear out for anything else happening, but think carefully before you report her

Please don't ruin this woman's career for something you didn't see.

No there have been posts like the one above, where scottishmummy is saying don't, or at the very least listing reasons why it shouldn't be reported.

I completely agree with Shiney on this one, the op didnt actually see the child get slapped, she has no proof the child was slapped, the sound of a slap could have been from the child hitting the CM, hence the reason she might have dragged the child inside

A few things bother me with this event.

1. Use of the word naughty by the CM I thought it was a no no, arn't we trained to look at what the child did wrong as "naughty" not the child? and not to use that word regardless.

2. The CM shouting, we are not supposed to raise our voices in anger / frustration

3. The fact that mindees are often heard to be crying this happens very rarely IME when children are settled, occupied and well cared for

4. The CM dragging mindee by arms is an assault in itself regardless of weather the mindee was slapped

I am presuming of course that the child was a mindee, however it doesn't make a difference to me if I was a parent and the CM treated her own child like that I would walk, and I most certainly wouldn't want my child looked after in that environment.

I think that you should write exactly what you saw and heard, don't write what you think happened, stick to the facts and mention as you did in your post that children are often crying and any other factual information you have. You should do what you can to ensure that children are not at risk, it will then be upto Ofsted to look into the matter in more detail, they will know straight away if their are safeguarding issues by how the children respond to the CM etc they are trained to look for this and will take appropriate action if needed.

5. The CM saying mindee has to go "to the bedroom" children are not allowed to be segregated from the group like this it's one of the basic welfare requirements that all CM's leagally have to abide by, on top of this the child was distressed how could the CM calm mindee, look after if it was in another room away from the others presumably on a different floor

good post atworknotworking.

Er - having read the OP again the facts sound pretty straightforward. Why on earth would a child rub her OWN leg if she had been the one doing the smacking ? Am I right in assuming that those urging caution about reporting are either childminders or smack their own kids ? You may be happy for your child to be physically hurt by an adult but there are many people who are not and if this woman is being trusted by parents to care for their kids and is abusing that trust then surely the children and parents have a right to put a stop to that ? If she is a good child minder and there are no issues, she will be happy to co operate with any questions asked of her and put the minds of all concerned at rest - no ?

tomarto.... scottishmummy is showing what other people have said about not reporting the cm. These are not her comments but those of others. If you read the thread in it's entirety this is quite obvious.

Scottishmummy has at no point said anything other than report the cm immediately. I for one am completely in agreement with her. The doubt is there, it is for the professionals to decide if there is anything to answer for.

As this cm lives right next to you I think you must have your own impression of her general character. Is this a shock one off where she was pushed to the limit or do you have wider concerns about how she is with children? If you have no other reason for concern other than this one incident then it MIGHT be appropriate to just log it and then keep a sneeky eye on things. But it sounds like you have wider concerns because you have posted here and that means you should call ofsted. Remember to stick to the facts, saying only exactly what you saw and heard not what you think she might have done. It is then up to ofsted to check her out. I know of a cm aquaintance of mine who got reported to ofsted for much less than what you saw and heard.

oh God, forget keeping a sneaky eye, report this cm as you suspect she smacked a child, if she didn't she has nothing to worry about

scottishmummy is 100% right, this woman shouldn't be childminding if she hits kids, simple as that

Sorry I've been out all morning and only just got back!

It definitely was NOT her child. She has school age children (yes I'm sure) and they were all at school at the time. Our gardens do back on to each other but the distance from her garden to our bedroom is about 15ft. This was a 2 or 3 year old girl and I'm pretty sure my 2 year old slapping her brother wouldn't be able to be heard from that distance (could be wrong but that's just what I think). Obviously I didn't see anybody hitting anybody but seeing the little girl rubbing her leg and then being dragged inside has really unsettled me. Like I said before, the mindees are often heard crying but I don't know why - it could just be that they don't get on with each other and are fighting, but again that's just speculation.

They're all happy playing in the garden at the moment (I've been spying since I got home 10 minutes ago lol) and the childminder seems to be interacting well with them all unlike a lot of CM's I've seen in action. I haven't seen it happen before and I'm still none the wiser as to whether to report her after this.

Would it be a bad move to maybe go round once the kids have gone home and ask her if everything was ok?? I do speak to her but not often....

Well i did read it in it's entirety infact i'd been following it from the start, it isn't obvious as she didn't make much sense in those posts, which confused me as the rest did/do make sense.

Could the little girl have just fallen over or walked tripped over a toy or something else that would make a smack and cause her pain? I think YABU to just assume she has hit the child without witnessing it. I wouldn't report it, I'd just keep an extra vigilant eye on them (as it seems you are doing) and leave the reporting until you actually see something.

(That should say 'walked into or tripped over'!)

Just a thought, could the slap you heard have been her clapping her hands? I mean really loudly. It's just that I used to do that when ds1 was little to shock him/catch his attention when misbehaving, with out hurting him. Doesn't explain the leg rubbing or wrong treatment but just a thought.....