Would you send your child to an unregistered "childminder"?

[DoubtfireDear]

I live in a small village, DS attends the village primary school, he is nearly 5. There is no afterschool club or childcare in the village, the nearest registered childminders and daycare are 20 miles away in either direction and none do pick up.

I am about to start college 20 miles away, I wont be home until two hours after DS is out of school, twice a week.

There is a lady in our village who used to be a registered childminder but is no longer registered. She watches many of the children who go to the village school and does pick up/drop offs. She seems to be very good with
them all, lots of activities, takes them out for the day gives healthy meals and snacks and is firm but good fun from what i've seen of her with the other children and she has a playroom set up in her home for them.

I just dont think I'm comfortable with the fact that she isn't registered so her home/play room have not been checked out, I don't know if she has a limit on how many children she'll watch at a given time etc.

Just wondered what the MN view on this was, at the minute I'm still on the "no way" side of the fence but my family are not being very helpful at the minute and i'd like to be able to stop relying on them if possble.

Well it's your choice and as a professional I wouldn't go there. Hope it

Oops that should of said hope it works out ok for you.

Hi everyone, thankyou all so much for your replies, whatever the opinion you gave they all really helped flag up things I wouldn't have thought of myself and pointed out that ticking boxes isn't always the most important thing.

That said, I think that the more extreme situations some posters outlined, particularly trips to A&E are the situations where ticking boxes and follwing procedure is absolutely vital, and where I might be happy enough that she could look after my son well by having fun with him, disciplining him etc. I am not so confident about how emergency situations would be handled. Cooking a nice tea and drawing pictures or playing games is brilliant, but not life changing, I'd be really unhappy if DS had to be abandoned to go to hospital in an ambulance without a carer he knows with him, or that he could be left with a stranger so that LGM could attend something like this with another child.

I am not going to use her, I'd only kick myself down the line if something did happen.

I've decided to quit my job, so there will be less pressure on my family througout the rest of the week and it will be easier for them to help me.

Thanks again all of you for your input, I may have swithered alot throughout the thread but I wouldn't have found it as easy to come to a decision without all of your perspectives.

I'm very glad to hear that your going to use her. I have been an ofsted registered childminder for 21 years. I was graded outstanding in my last 2 inspections in Feb'09 and July'14, and Good in the goodness knows how many inspections I had prior to that. I have to work very, very hard to achieve and maintain this grade. My whole life revolves around keeping ofsted happy (and of course my minded children and their families!)
I can totally understand why your tempted to use this unregistered childminder, especially as there doesn't seem to be any alternitive care available for your son. It's true that she can have children for upto 2 hours a day for reward while keeping with in the law. I'm sure she does her best to keep all the children in her care safe and happy,and chances are nothing will happen to them while in her care.
However no one will be regulating how she cares for them, whether she has enough room and suitable toys for them to play with etc. Any one could be in the house at the same time as the children, no one will be checking if they are suitable to be around children. If there was an accident would she know how to deal with it? If she noticed unexplaned injuries on a child or a child confided in her about being abused would she know what to do and who to talk to?
None of these things might happen-but they might.
Please, please everyone use ofsted registered childcare for your children.its not that people who are ofsted registered don't want other people trying to earn a living, it's for the safety and well being of children

Ahhhhhh of course that first line should have said NOT going to use her!

Thanks fudgesmummy.

You've re-enforced what I felt in my gut. She absolutely would do her best to look after all the children in here care well, and is indeed very capable doing so, however there are no provisions in place to say what happens in anout of the ordinary situation. I'm not happy thinking my son could just be left with a random person if she had to deal with another emergency or whatever. It's just not worth it for me.

I can understand why people here use her, she is literally the only source of childcare in the village if you can't call on friends or family, but now that I wont have the added pressure of work I think I'll find it a bit easier to be able to call on people I know and trust.

It's a shame, if she was registered I'd have used her in a heartbeat, but I suppose she has plenty of other business even without the paperwork so there's no immediate need for her to do anything.

I'm sorry, I lost your thread!

I am pleased you have come to a conclusion you are happy with :)

Just a question though (not in any way an attempt to change your mind!)

If an emergency happened - how do you think things would be any different if she was registered?

and someone else said

For me, childcare is so much more than just being lovely, and doing nice things. It's about knowing about behaviours/disciplines/development. Would this lady know what to do if a child was suddenly taken ill? If she isn't registered, who is to say she took a first aid course recently?

People have been raising children for a good long while now, it is only in the past few years they have turned 'minding a child' into something that needs a great deal of analysing & reporting.

Even if you did think that was A Good Thing - we are talking about 2 x 2hr afternoon slots here. 4 hours a week after school.

This woman is a mother and a grandmother, she has been minding other people's children whilst registered and unregistered for many years. She is more likely to have a First Aid certificate than any of the parents or Grandparents/Aunties/Friends that end up looking after the OP's child. She's not a clueless 14 year old.

DoutbfireDear as I said, I have no wish to change your mind :) It just annoys me when the arguments used against someone doing something are so illogical.

It just annoys me when the arguments used against someone doing something are so illogical

Oh and just for clarity - I didn't mean YOU Doubtfire :)

Hey latte it was me who said about childcare being so much more than just being lovely. Meaning that if you are registered, you have to do so much more. We have to risk asses and show that we are able to deal with emergency situations. We have to have policies and procedures which are regularly reviewed, and we have ratios we have to stick to. All these things mean that (in theory) when emergency scenarios crop up, we are better equipped to deal with them.

Fully appreciate that this lady may be a wonderful woman with many years experience as mother and grandmother, but it's very different when you are looking after a child, who isn't yours, or related to you, and they need to go to A&E and you have 8 other children to deal with. It may only be for 2hrs a day, but that's enough for something bad to happen. Accidents can happen at any time with anyone, not meaning to suggest she is a clueless teenager, as it's just as likely that something can happen with registered CM. But at least with registered CM there are systems in place to deal effectively with the problem, because they have to be.

I feel quite confident that if one of the children in my care needed to go to hospital, I have an assistant, a lady next door who is a nanny for our neighbours, and another CM on call, all who have agreed to look after my children if needed. If she was registered, she would be expected to think about all of these things. More importantly she wouldn't be allowed to have that many children in her care.

ACM88 -

Hey latte it was me who said about childcare being so much more than just being lovely

Yes, I know. I was deliberately not name checking and making it personal, because although I used your wording, it's a general thing - it's not personal.

Meaning that if you are registered, you have to do so much more

Yes, fully understood what you meant.

We have to risk asses

Yes, we all do - all day every day. Parent, childminder, gardener, footballer.

and show that we are able to deal with emergency situations. We have to have policies and procedures which are regularly reviewed

The rest of us manage with common sense.

and we have ratios we have to stick to

The rest of us manage that ourselves.

All these things mean that (in theory) when emergency scenarios crop up, we are better equipped to deal with them

Even if you believe that - in theory is the point.

Fully appreciate that this lady may be a wonderful woman with many years experience as mother and grandmother

I don't think you do actually, I think you are quite dismissive of her experience.

but it's very different when you are looking after a child, who isn't yours, or related to you, and they need to go to A&E

Not really it's not. No. Other than letting the parents know.

and you have 8 other children to deal with

You are still going to have those children, registered or not.

It may only be for 2hrs a day, but that's enough for something bad to happen. Accidents can happen at any time with anyone

At anytime, with anyone Exactly.

not meaning to suggest she is a clueless teenager, as it's just as likely that something can happen with registered CM. But at least with registered CM there are systems in place to deal effectively with the problem, because they have to be

She has managed to look after half the kids in the village for many years, I'd say she is able to manage.

I feel quite confident that if one of the children in my care needed to go to hospital, I have an assistant, a lady next door who is a nanny for our neighbours, and another CM on call, all who have agreed to look after my children if needed

and the assumption you are making is that she doesn't have a system in place.

If she was registered, she would be expected to think about all of these things

She is a mother and a grandmother - an 'aunty' to half the village, it is ridiculous of you to suggest she would not have thought about those things.

More importantly she wouldn't be allowed to have that many children in her care

You don't know how many children she has in her care at any one time.

There are some good childminders and there are some bad childminders - being registered doesn't guarantee you get a good one. I would much sooner trust the people in my community than Ofsted when I decide who to leave a child with. That's my bottom line really.

I don't want to argue with you over this - I am quite happy to agree to disagree :)

Woah took some effort to pick apart my posts and disagree with everything I wrote, to say you don't want to argue!

Yes I see things very differently, in essence I know no more about this woman than you.

It doesn't really matter what we think as long as OP is happy with her choice of childcare

Ask her bluntly why she's no longer registered then see if what she says tallies up with her closing Ofsted report, assuming it's still available to view.

But personally, I'd take the 'risk'. Small village, everyone knows eachother's business inside out from my experience. If there were issues with her, you'd hear about it quick enough at the school gates.

ACM I was just trying to explain why I feel very differently :) As I said, very happy just to agree to disagree

ACM, do the people you would leave your charges with in an emergency situation know them? I mean, really know them? Have they spent time with them in their houses, do they know where the toilets are, have the parents met them? Are they DBS checked? Because if not, I don't see how what you are offering in an emergency situation is so very different to the childminder in question here.

Hey cruikshank yes why I asked them to be my emergency back up, they are all qualified child carers, and we socialise with them 2/3 times a week.

I think that what would happen in an emergency isn't the most important thing.after all we most of us might have already or might in the future have to deal wth an emergency situation involving our children or a family member. I think not being registered doesn't realy make much difference as to how she would cope. The fact that no one is regulating who comes into contact with the children is a much much bigger concern. A registered childminder has to have everyone living in their house over the age of 16 DSB checked. Any one who comes to stay regularly has to be checked as well. If they were having lots of visitors during the day the chances are that it would be noticed.

No, I would not.