to be stunned at the waiting lists for Rainbows/Brownies/girl guides

[Gigantaur]

I have been speaking to the county guides co ordinator.
Apparently there is such a shortage of adult volunteers to help out with the clubs that the waiting lists are huge!
she said that there are currently something like 50,000 children on the waiting list around the country.

She said that she has heard of people registering their daughters onto the list at birth. and that at one branch locally she has a girl aged 14 months on the list!
She told me that the chances are that I wouldn't get dd (5.8) into rainbows at all and instead she would just about get a place at brownies aged 8.

luckily I managed to get Dd a place at an almost local branch but still. Its such a shame.

it made me wonder why there is such a sudden shortage. Do you think it's because women are too busy juggling work and homelife to have time to spare? are people scared of being branded a "peedo"?
or is youth work simply not a fashionable hobby?

either way, im glad DD got a place, but i feel sad for those that can't.

Actually you're still checked against the old 3 lists because there was a mix up with some transfers from List 99.

If you work in a care home for the elderly, for example, you're not/weren't checked against POCA so you can't say a CRB check is transferrable. People seem to have this bee in their bonnet that because they've been checked one they're fit to do anything.

Not getting at you, BTW, but I find it quite horrifying that people even consider allowing CRB checks to be transferrable. It was one check, done on one day, for one position.

Or are you talking about a basic disclosure (aka the criminal conviction certificate), which you can apply for as an individual and is reuseable, and not the Standard or Enhanced CRB check which is what's required?

Should add that the basic disclosure only applies to Scotland AFAIK (although I think Access NI do them) - one of many peculiarities.

I think the way you DD has been treated is disgusting Riven, if you are anywhere near me she can come to my unit and have a whale of a time.

The God thing is not really that much of an issue now, I personally am a church goer but my sister is a pagan witch and my other leader has no belief. The actual wording of the promise is to 'Love my God' so you can make of that what you will. I do not do 'God' stuff with my girls except for Taps at the end and if some want to do their Discovering Faith badge.

I am sorry but I will never not comfort a crying child. I don't understand why you would think that we don't? I was at Pack Holiday with my local brownie unit a couple of weeks ago and had one brownie on my lap for over half an hour because she was homesick.

There is a vast difference between putting yourself in a vulnerable position with a child and comforting them when they are upset!

My Guides know they can come to me with any worries or upsets and be reassured, supported and comforted as needed. When you leave a child in Guiders care they are in loco parentis and act accordingly, I am not a soulless heartless robot who would leave a child to cry, and I resent any implication that I am!

people are to scared to volunteer these days, they get accused of being a nonce. sad state of affairs, sorry have not read whole thread

www.crb.homeoffice.gov.uk/portability

I didn't know that there had been a delay with the lists btw thanks for that info.

I absolutely do not think that you should by the way, just observing that you can.

I can see why there's a waiting list - last weekend my niece went to cadbury world with the guides. Do they let in 38 year olds?

Yes they do! We always get a flurry of mums, aunts and older sisters when we do a fun trip like that!

crikey. my dd is 5, how old should she be for rainbows? am new to this i used to be in brownies and then guides but never heard of rainbows

Hee hee yum yum

Mrsm Rainbows starts at 5, so you can try your local unit now. Rainbows have only been going 21 years which is why you may not have heard of them. My daughter was never a rainbow as there was not a unit in my village at the time.

lol thanks tawny

Just been reading this thread & obviously been very slow off the mark as only just put ds down for Beavers and he's 6yrs old when clearly should have done it at 6m! But based on timescales on here, he'll be offered a place when he's about 14

Should I have offered to throw dh in for free? (CRB checked) Although never a scout, sure dh would pitch in.

The CRB itself isn't transferrable. The new organisation is waiving their requirement to carry out a new one. There is a difference. It's still one check, one day, one position and it's not a proof that you're fit to be in your next role but it would be a valid reason for an organisation to not carry out a CRB if, in their opinion it was sufficient - which IMO they should anyway but that's a separate issue.

"You may be required by law to carry out a fresh check with List 99, POCA and/or POVA. In certain circums||Rtances, portability cannot be used e.g. care workers need a new POVA check each time they change employment."

IIRC GGUK actually falls into this category, because you have to have a fresh POCA/List 99 check every time you change position to work with children, so in any case it's not an organisation that can accept portability. It can accept portability between the umbrella organisation (for example a check done for a unit for LASER can port to the Midlands if you lived on the Regional border and helped in units on either side of the regional border) but it can't accept a check from the NHS.

So, for the purposes talked about here CRBs aren't transferrable, even between the Guides and Scouts. (I know far too much about this, don't I? I hate the hours that working groups have stolen from my life) Saying that they are on a thread like this implies that you can take your existing CRB over and use it for Guiding, which you can't.

i am getting one from the school as a parent helper, so that one won't carry over either?

Afraid not for aguidibg or other work with children.

There are 2 issues though and I think we're insisting the same thing in different ways. One is the issue specifically to do with Guides - CRBs from other organisations are not permitted. This is the case for pretty much anywhere else that checks you against the banned lists. The other is whether CRBs already transferrable between jobs. The check -the piece of paper is not transferrable - because it is done for a specific position. You're not checked as, say, an NHS employee. You're checked as a staff nurse in a specific area. That said companies can take a decision based on people having an existing CRB not to apply for a new CRB if they'll be doing a similar job, they don't under law need to be rechecked against List 99 or whatever and the company is satisfied it's adequate.

Depending what you're checked for your parent help at school CRB may only check you for that school or it may check you for the whole LEA. It depends who applies for the check, what their checking structure is and what else you want to use it for.

If, on the other hand, you wanted to be a non-uniformed parent helper with Guides you won't need a CRB as you'll be supervised.

Ah a technical argument - touché! This is my specialist subject at work. A bugger to get your head round!

I wouldn't feel so depressed if I got paid for knowing it. Or if it was even still relevant. Or if I didn't still get emails going 'why do the crb checks still have a list99 box?' when I've left the country and am sure as hell not Division LQ mentor any more!

Once a Guider, always a Guider....

springy sorry for the late reply but if you are around all year then i am SURE they will get back to you as soon as they've gone through all the student applications and sorted everybody out, remember that there's some poor volunteer tryign to do this and run their own life at the same time - it's really really NOT a slap in the face.

Ok so everone CRBs are NOT portable, thank you to those who pointed that out! Isn't it so confusing.

Fluffles I agree with you, it's hard doing all the admin it takes over your life!