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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Problem With Child Minder

36 replies

TrevW · 19/09/2006 15:31

Firstly hi all, i have had quite a problem with a minder we used and need other opinions and advice. I have contacted her direct and the contents of the letter are laid out below. I am not money grabbing, this is all about my son, the how my minder thinks she can get away with murder. So my thought is to fight back the best way possible which is financially in her case. I welcome everyones views.

As requested by OFSTED I am writing to you to lodge a formal complaint following your actions over our invoice for August 2006, and also to highlight some serious issues that have come to light.

As you can understand after receipt of the invoice I was within my rights to want to query some of it and the reasoning behind it also hence my call to you that morning.
However by sending us termination notice of Kai?s placement with an amended invoice that evening you gave us no chance of trying to resolve this issue without the involvement of outside agencies. In addition we feel that you leave us in a situation whereby it is impossible for us to leave our child in your care knowing full well that you have issues with us.

Therefore you now leave us in a situation whereby it is impossible for us to leave our child in your care knowing full well that you have issues with us.

?Your Business? as you have repeatedly told us has highlighted a few very unprofessional points and appears to me to me that you have no real interest in the children under your care and that in fact ?your business? is purely money driven.

After consulting with other parents and childcare providers, I would like to raise a few initial points of concern these points include:

  1. Entry to your home is not secure i.e. front door unlocked, therefore anyone has access to your home by this entrance.
  2. We have never seen nor signed any attendance records.
  3. We have never seen you registration certification displayed.
  4. The contradiction in the contract which states on page 2 of 3 that 3 weeks notice must be given for intended holiday and yet on page 3 of 3 it clearly states that 4 weeks written notice must be given.

I believe that some of these points were highlighted in you OFSTED report carried out by Doreen Forsyth on 11th may 2005 and can be found in the ?What Must Be Done To Secure Future Improvement? section of the report.

We feel that the state Kai has be returned to some days was totally unacceptable, dirty face and hands, full nappies and for a while his hair smelt of urine. This was quite puzzling until you pointed out to me that your son uses his penis a water pistol, which you found highly amusing.

We were paying you to look after our child, I was un aware that this would mean his ?days out? were to be spent with you at an MOT testing centre without prior consent and carrying out your weekly household shopping and tasks.

The notice period you gave when you informed us you would need a week off at some point towards the end of August, not specifying any dates to help us to find suitable cover, and not trying to find cover yourself which you did explain you would was also totally unacceptable. Especially as you informed us on Saturday 5th August 2006 and called me at 0800hrs on Friday 25th August 2006 as I was leaving to drop my son off with you is still not a full 3 weeks.
This involved your other business of breeding dogs and somehow you tried to lay the blame with me for one of them becoming pregnant. As I told you before your dogs are not my responsibility and that you also told us that it may have been some one else who let them together. This then went from a week to 10 days again leaving us to find other means of child care at some expense so your demands a full 10 days payment were outrageous.

I would also like to inform you that I have spoken with a Personal Injury lower regarding Kai?s broken arm, which I believe was never reported.(Not sure if you are under any obligation to). However I do believe this accident to be negligent. As you told us you were not feeling to good that day and wasn?t paying close enough attention, this also resulted in you being to unwell to have Kai the following day. A family size trampoline is no place for a 2 year old to play unattended especially on a downwards slope with no safety net. After this incident you have still failed to fit a net and felt comfortable to ask if Kai could continue to play on it.

I will be in written contact with OFSTED and NCMA shortly to voice our concerns and opinions as I?m sure you have done so already and will keep you informed of our actions and will provide copies of any documentation I receive from NCMA and OFSTED. I would also like requesting copies of all attendance forms signed by both yourself and I for my records.

I am terribly sorry that it has come to and as you can understand I will not be releasing any payments until this whole mess has been resolved.

OP posts:
PeachyClairHasBadHair · 19/09/2006 15:50

paragrpah 4 duplicated

haven't finished rest, will now

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 19/09/2006 15:53

Um

Social Servces MUSt be copied in on this letter

I am serious, issues such as leaving a child unattended on a trampoline / the water pistol are HUGE and negligent.

And post it today..... godness only knows what'll ahppen to the next child otherwise

foxinsocks · 19/09/2006 15:57

I would put the more serious stuff near the top. You read the first bit thinking blah de blah but the bottom allegations are incredibly serious.

Also (nitpicking) - you mean 'lawyer' where it says 'personal injury lower' and in that paragraph you want 'too' in 'to good', 'to unwell' (i.e. too good, too unwell).

jura · 19/09/2006 15:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TrevW · 19/09/2006 16:01

Thanks for the comments, i am in the process of reordering and checking the spelling. As for Social sevices i have the relevant contact details and they will be included. Again thank you.

OP posts:
TrevW · 19/09/2006 16:08

The reason im asking for the records of attendance is again to point out the fact that she doesn't have them and also to stop any fake ones being procuded as i wouldnt have signed them. As for the holiday we had been going off the 4 weeks(Page) and any time off we had was given 4 weeks in advance. And yes a phone call out of the blue that morning really wasn't helpfull. This is an absoulute nightmare. I will have to see what ofsted, ncma and social services have to say.

OP posts:
Kidstrack · 19/09/2006 16:34

OMG a family sized trampoline with no safety net ! The Childminder has an obligation to report an injury of this nature to Ofsted

TrevW · 19/09/2006 16:37

exactly, after we made a comment about the lack of net she just moved it from one side of the garden to the other where it is a bit more level.

OP posts:
Kidstrack · 19/09/2006 16:43

I'm a childminder all be it a new one from April and i wouldn't have a trampoline without a net, infact i find them so dangerous i won't consider getting one, a friend is a nurse at our local A&E and they have had 37 kids from Dec with broken bones

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 19/09/2006 16:56

A friend of mine is a CM and has a trampoline with a net, she has also purchased chairs and a table so she can take a drink outside whilst they play, as she considers it too dangerous to be used without supervision, net or no net.

maggiesmama · 19/09/2006 17:05

hi. this is a tricky and difficult situation, and it sounds like you have made a good decision to keep your chils away.

i would say that the letter is a bit jumbled. perhaps bullet points would help to order it. it just need tightening up a bit. put all the correlating sections together. dont play games re attenddence records. it reads like you think they exist.
sorry hard to type with small chld blowing raspberries on my tummy

TrevW · 19/09/2006 17:22

Thanmk you for all of the comments so far. i have restructed the email now, removed certain parts and is on its way to the all those relevant. This has to be one of the hardest things i have done but the welfare and saftey of my son and all other children who we place in other peoples hands has to come first. we have since found a new minder who produces attendance records, daily activity reports and spends time educating along with proper play time activities and seems really happy to have our son with her, as he is also happy to go and realise what a mistake we have made. I hope my problem doesn't happen to anyone else but if it does that the information here will be as usefull to them as it has been to me. I will post here any responses and progress as i recieve it. Again thank you.

OP posts:
StrawberryMoon · 19/09/2006 20:23

OMG, i thought this was a wind up!
she shouldnt even be allowed near her dogs never mind children, she has no responsability to any chld and by what youve said, shows no remorse or concern!
ss, ofsted, local networl, ncma and an advery in local bloody paper should suffice!
your right to be fuming!

maggiesmama · 19/09/2006 20:25

does she have other children?
do you think you should send the letter to them too?

smeeinit · 19/09/2006 20:44

oh my f**kin god! i cant believe this,how the hell did this woman get registered?!
im a cm and i have a 14ft trampoline in my garden,at my registration inspection i told the inspector that the kiddies would not be allowed on it,she told me that it should be totally out of bounds to the kiddies as it comes in the top 10 on rospas list of serious injuries/deaths. i cant believe this woman lets the children on it with or without a net! trampolines are bloody dangerous....im 35 and broke my ankle on in last year!
you have to contact ss about this.

notagrannyyet · 19/09/2006 21:09

This letter can't be for real!

dmo · 19/09/2006 21:42

i'm
cant believe her son weed on your sons hair
and the tramoline [sock]
how can she be a dog breeder and a cm and wtf has the dog getting preg got to do with you?
keep this bumped want to know what ofsted have to say
so sorry you have had a bad experance with your cm were not all that bad honest

mysonsmummy · 19/09/2006 21:58

please tell me about the dog getting pregnant and it being your fault.

dmo · 19/09/2006 22:35

need to know about the dog b4 i sleep
will have nightmares of funny conclusions if i dont

dmo · 19/09/2006 22:36

the images are already happening

SueW · 19/09/2006 22:49

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at OP's request.

dmo · 19/09/2006 22:58

thanks i will

TrevW · 20/09/2006 00:17

Well the dog thing. Honest guv i never touched it. I went to pick up my boy, the bitch was in season and i let the dog in the garden with her. And for the pleasure she wants me to pay her £150 per week. This is totally legit, who could make this up?

OP posts:
LoveMyGirls · 20/09/2006 13:11

omg cant believe it, really cannot believe it.

who in their right mind would leave a child alone with a trampoline without a net fgs!!

who lets their child wee in someones hair?!! why would he use it like a water pistol, whytf would she allow that! absolutly disgusting!

have you phoned ofsted? have you sent the email yet? action needs to be taken immediately, are there any other children in her care?

then again im a cm and i always imagine someone starting an arguement with me and finding things to throw at me iykwim but if this is def genuine (which i do believe btw) then its just shocking i cant believe anyone "looking after" children could be so neglectful, how could you let this go on and stand there taking the money from the parents

i hope you get this sorted asap! and im so glad you have taken your son away from her and is now with someone who can take proper care of him, poor child.

breadandroses · 20/09/2006 13:31

This is a wind up, right?

I have read the op twice and I cannot believe it's true!