How do you find a childminder?

[HolofernesesHead]

Hello all, this might be a silly question but how do you go about finding a childminder? I have had a brilliant cm in the past but we moved away and now are about to move again and as yet, I don't have any local leads for cms. I've had a quick look at Childcare.co.uk, which looks good, but are there other / better ways of finding a cm? Would greatly appreciate your advice, if you know about this sort of thing. Thank you!

Probably not the answer you want...

We've had 3 cms and all three have been found via either knowing one of their mindee's parents or via another cm. In no case was it ever advertised that the cm had a space.

Do you have any local contacts that you can ask to starting asking around?

Council's Family Information Service should have a free list of childminders. Most councils now have an online list so just go on council's website and do a search for FIS.

Ask your friends! All of my business has come via friends/family.

We recently moved when I was 5 months pregnant so I just asked one of our neighbours who has kids & got an excellent recommendation. When the kids piped up about how lovely the cm was it really made me feel confident about the choice. Also a good way to meet people, I ended up buying a high chair from them :)

OKay, thanks. Yes, we will have a bit of time after we've moved and before we need to stat with a cm, so maybe asking around locally is the way forward. Thanks!

What age are your dc?
Are you moving a long distance?

(I'm trying to think of ways that you could start getting local contacts...)

Council Family Information Service

The councils have a Family Information Service who normally keep lists. We contacted everyone on our area list and some of them referred us to other CMs as well.

Otherwise word of mouth on your local board?

okay, thanks! will look into that.

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