Ofsted suspended childminder -desperate for advice

[tiddler3]

My sister is a childminder and 2 weeks ago was falsely accused of a serious offence against a child. She reported to Ofsted immediately and was suspended pending police and social services investigation. Since then the police have dropped all charges against her but social Services say they are passing the matter to Ofsted case management. She has not been given any advice or support and we don't know what to expect to happen next. Will Ofsted inspectors visit her at her home or do they just review the information collected during the multi agency strategy meetings that have been held already? We are totally in shock and can't believe that one child's lies can ruin someone's life so easily. Is there anyone out there who has had a similar experience? Will my sister be allowed to reopen or is it a forgone conclusion that mud will stick? Advice desperately needed before my sister totally cracks up. Thanks.

Having been put in a situation by a parent who had 'concerns' with regard to another minded child in my setting, I had to call Osted myself, who in turn called the Child Protection team,

I wasnt shut down, but the inspector who came out gave me an action, but I couldnt see how I was to implement it, and told her so, all she would say that I would receive written notice of said action and I would be given 2 weeks to reply and tell Ofsted/her how I was going to put it into effect.

2 whole weeks of worryring and stress later, I still had not had said action so I chased it. I was put though to the inspector who told me that she had decided not to go through with the action, but forgot to let me know!!
I was very calm and told her how worried and upset I had been, all she she sais was 'oh, really' It was like she couldnt understand what I was worried about, I received no sorry, just a letter a few days after to say they wouldnt be putting any thing on my file..

My heart goes out to your sister and hope it is all resolved soon for her.

Oh that's exactly the way it seems to go! Nobody has kept my sis informed and she is in a terrible state, almost at breakdown point. I even wonder if she will be emotionally fit to work if she actually gets allowed to reopen. Looking at the stats it seems most people are eventually allowed to continue. As so many allegations are malicious and untrue I wonder whether there should be some sort of support offered for the poor CM victims. Surely NCMA should have support officers who can liaise and support their area CMs when this kind of thing happens. No one has given my sis any support except her parents, who have been wonderful.

I am surprised ncma are not supporting her what support is available in your local area ncma co-ordinators or local
Authority staff?

Unfortunately NCMA back off and can't be seen for dust when there are investigations going on - even when my colleague was completely innocent and they knew it. No help whatsoever, another reason to leave NCMA or rather PACEY!

Mindingalongtime that is so different to my experience and I am sorry that's happening in other parts of the country.

Well that's exactly how it is in our part of the country too, Mindingalongtime. The local co-ordinator turned up on the day the news broke, but she was already booked to come anyway. Since then we have had sight nor sound of her! LesbianMummy1 you seem to have it very good in your area!

Tiddler3 our ncma staff have all just lost their jobs so things likely to change. It so wrong that childminders can be so isolated.

Yes I agree. And no back up plan for when this sort of thing happens. I had no idea it happened so frequently either

I have heard of about eight childminders receiving complaints etc just in my local area since September which seems really high when there are only 170 childminders. It so wrong that this can jeopardise people in one phonecall.

I totally agree. And they don't seen interested in the poor CMs once they are suspended- they just leave them to rot.

I had a complaint made against me last year and Ofsted visited unannounced and did virtually a full inspection, - it was twice as long as my official inspection. I had no NCMA locally to contact for support and Head Office said there was nothing they could do, I was very isolated and also felt as though my professionalism had been challenged and it really knocked my confidence.

Fortunately for me, it was a malicious complaint as the inspector had thought before she came, but a thorough investigation took placed and I had all the documentation and evidence to back me up, plus parents arrived when Ofsted was here, including the parent of the child in question, that was interesting!

Yes it's very sickening isn't it? Did you continue to have that child and parent after things died down? Must be difficult to work with them after that. I also wonder whether once there has been one allegation made whether you are more vulnerable of ever another one gets made- God forbid! Does it lie on your file?

It was't the parent who reported me, she was sympathetic to me, and backed me up to Ofsted with a written letter too. Without saying anymore as I do not wish to be outed, there was nothing entered on my files as Ofsted said they could see clearly that it was malicious - another childminder, who accidentlly dropped herself in it to all, by repeating at a group the detailed list of 'supposed' offences word for word, she was torn to shreds taken to task by the minders.

Well I'm glad you survived it all. This has been a massive shock to us and I worry about how easy it is to ruin someone's life in this way. I don't know if my sis will come through this with her business or not, but I do know she will never be the same again.

I continued to have the child of the parent who had a 'concern' over another mindee, for over a year untill he started a new school back in September, that I couldnt pick up from, too far away.

The father of the child the other parent had a 'concern' about, was so very, very angry about it all.
Mum told me they/He emailed and phoned both Ofsted and The Safeguarding team several times over the 'concern' saying how ridiculous it all was.'
(As did the 3rd set of parents, as unfortunatly their child was 'involved' in the 'concern' too)

It was bloomin awkward especially at pick up time, as I was always on tenter hooks just in case he was here picking up at the same time as the parent who had the 'concern' arrived. Thankfully it never happened.

I had no support either, apart from another forum I go on, without breaking confidentiality, I had a 'rant' (if you can call it that) on there, they were fantastic with support and advice.

tiddler3 any news?

Hi there. We are still waiting for the outcome of this horrible mess. It seems that the cp team are holding everything up and have not passed the matter on to ofsted yet. Ofsted say they have to wait for safeguarding to complete whatever they are doing. But the thing is, they don't seem to be actually doing anything! I don't know how much longer it's going to take. Very unfair as my sis has no other income. I'm wondering if they are hoping she will just resign in despair. We don't see what else can be holding it up as we have already been told the strategy meeting judged the allegation as ' unsubstantiated' 2 weeks ago. So surely that should be that??

Tiddler3 I am so sorry that this is still going on I hope your sister gets it sorted soon. I am not sure what to advise but I hope this nightmare ends soon.

Tiddler3 any more news?

There is an alternative to NCMA in the offing called UKCMA they will specialise in this sort of thing and already the one of the co-founders Helen Dawkins has helped a huge number of people over the last year or so she can be found on Facebook if any of you feel you need help - just send her a private message or you can contact her through UKCMA - www.ukcma.co.uk/ontheweb/ - hope this helps