Please can I ask your opinions (again!) childminders??

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My ds (3) went for his 2nd settling in session with our CM yesterday (I am due to return to work next week).

My ds goes to pre-school until lunchtime, then is collected by the CM and taken back to her house for lunch.

When I arrived to collect him, the CM had my ds, another 3 year old and 2 babies. According to her registration, she is allowed 3 under 5 years. According to her latest Ofsted report (which was good), there has previously been a complaint which led to Ofsted doing an unannounced visit, where they did find she had too many children).

On Tuesdays her husband is at home (as far as I'm aware he is not registered as a CM, or CRB checked). My friend saw my ds collected by the CM from pre-school and she didn't appear to have any other children with her at this point, so I am assuming that the others were left with her dh at home.

In addition, I have provided a car seat (whole other thread!), which was sitting in the hall when I arrived to collect ds. The CM said that she has to take it out reguarly, in order to collect her other children from school, so this is probably okay, but it still concerns me slightly, especially if she has 3 other little ones to fit into her car (a 7 seater) - not sure how she manages this...

My ds had a nice time, and appears to be happy to stay with the CM. Am I being neurotic to worry about these things?? I am aware that I am worried about returning to work anyway, and don't want to go charging in with a list of questions if I am being daft. What do you think???

TIA.

You need to be 100% happy with your CM, you need to ask her more questions, and possibly arrive early to see everything working. She may be able to have all those babies and under 5 s as she may have permission from OFSTED it is possible to get this, but you dont seem happy, and if you are not happy your child may pick up on this too This is probably one of the hardest decisions we make as parents, I pulled my daughter out of a privatenursery because I didnt like how she was being treated so I can fully understand how you feel

this does not sound good
overnumbers is a big no no
dont know what to do i would be tempted to phone ofsted
not good if she left other childrenwith her dh if he's not reg i wouldnt be happy if i were their parents
lets she what other mumnetters think

Hiya, my mum is a childminder and when I was living at home with my boyfriend we had to be CRB checked so I think he will have been.
But if he isn't registered then he shouldn't be left in charge of any children unless of an emergency.

Going over numbers is not good. If something happened she is not insured for that number of children and do you think she is not even using the car seat?

I think you should phone Ofsted and have a chat with them.

Thanks both of you, just feel a bit daft!

Is such a huge trust issue, just don't want to over-react on the basis that I will find it hard to leave ds anyway, iyswim?

It just makes me wonder, if a couple of rules are "bent" sometimes, whether it is the right setting for my ds. Presumably, all of the rules are in place for safety reasons in the first place.

Thanks as well Taylorsmummy, I feel like a bit of a novice iro this whole childcare thing, so am doubting myself. It helps to ask people that know!

As a Cm I dont mind how many questions parents ask, how many times they arrive early or anything as I know how tough it is to leave dc s Good luck with evrything and just keep asking the questions on here if you have any doubts

Thanks as well Taylorsmummy, I feel like a bit of a novice iro this whole childcare thing, so am doubting myself. It helps to ask people that know!

All adults in the house should have been checked as standard practise.

If any of the children are hers it could be said that her DH was in charge of them and she was just looking after the mindees. (only a suggestion)

I think that as you are a bit concerned and in the interest of devloping a good relationship with your CM, you should just ask her. "Oh I thought you were only allowed 3 LO's " It may have been a one off emergency and Ofsted may be aware of it.

I have just turned down a family because it would have made me over my allowed numbers for 30 mins twice a week and it would only have been for 3 months as 1 parent is going on maternity leave. They have now gone to a CM who is already full

Husband should be CRB checked even if not registered as a childminder as it is a requirement for all adults over 18 living or regularly visiting the property to be CRB checked. However this does not mean she is allowed to leave children in care of hubby - she can only do this if he is registered, ie permission from Ofsted.

Each time I have had a variation to care for 4 under fives I checked with all parents to make sure they were ALL happy with arrangement before it started.

No childminder should mind a parent asking questions in a friendly, inquisitive manner such as: which seat position are you putting my child's car seat? who else is in the car at the same time? Is hubby registered? If not have you applied for a variation for 4 under fives? Can you keep me informed if your registration changes again?

None of the children were cm's. The mum of the other 3 year old arrived 2 minutes after me to collect her ds, but cm had already told me that the he would be there all morning, so don't think it was an overlap.

Think I might ring Ofsted as suggested. The whole thing makes me feel a bit uncomfotable, although I am sure that cm probably has good intentions, ultimately though it is a business she is running and the rules are there for a reason...

were the babies twins? If the babies are twins sometimes you can get a variatian but I think they would have issued her with a new certificate. Is her certificate on show?

every cm should have reg cerf on show
she should also have informed you when you enrolled that her dh was a cm
did she show you all her cerf? first aid, insurance,etc she should have done
have a look round next visit or ask to see then she should also give you a copy of her last inspection

You can check her numbers on the OFSTED website (if she has been inspected recently)

The babies are unrelated, but not sure about the variation thing so I may check with Ofsted.

I did look on the Ofsted site, at the numbers my cm is registered for, is that what you mean by numbers Katymac?

Dmo, she showed me a whole folder of info when I first went for a visit but, tbh, I didn't register what all the docs were properly, I just looked throgh.

She has certificates displayed on her front door (back of!!), & a copy of her Ofsted report, which I have also double-checked on-line.

So confused!! Thanks for all of your replies.

Yes the numbers she is registered for

They will not include her own children (normally)

you can always ask to see them again just say you information overload on your visit
my folders are availble for any parent to look at
yes the number it says on her cert is the number she is allowed not inc her own
so if it says she is able to have 4 under 5 then everything is above board

for me i am allowed 3 under 5 and only 1 child may be under 1. and 3 children over 5

so at the moment i have a 9 mth old, a 18 mth old and a 2 yr old

hope this is clearer for you

I would speak to her before you report her to Ofsted. If she was over her numbers then yes thats naughty and a no no but maybe there was a justifiable reason for it...can't think of one at pres but I would give her the chance to explain before you complain. Innocent until proven guilty etc

If one of my parents had a problem with me or my practice I would much prefer that they tried to sort it out with me first or at least brought their concerns to my attention

I would say you might need to find another CM..by the sounds of it you don't trust her and your ds hasn't even started properly with her yet. Not a great start

Hope you get it all sorted.
Jenna

My dh is registered as my assistant, he sometimes works from home (with his grown-up job) and I can then have more than 3 under fives. You are, apparently, able to leave minded children with an assitant to do, for instance, a school run. Maybe the babies were asleep?? (I don't leave my mindees though!)

I agree with JennaJ - don't automatically contact Ofsted until you have spoken to your CM. If there is a perfectly innocent and legal explanation, involving Ofsted in anything can cause dreadful problems for childminders.

Hi!

Don't want to report cm to Ofsted, was going to ask general questions without implicating cm. Don't want to cause any trouble!

I don't quite know how to approach her to ask these questions without sounding like I am checking up on her or just neurotic! Equally, I don't think that I can just ignore these issues... As a cm, how would you prefer a parent to raise these concerns (a script would be good!!!)

A friend has suggested that I ask to borrow her big folder of info overnight due to the information overload (as suggested earlier!), but I am not sure that she will agree, as I think it contains original certificates etc.

Thanks again.

I am afraid I would not give my folder to a parent to take from my home but perhaps you could ask if you could go to another room (without children) just to peruse and absorb? When prospective parents visit, I always give them 5/10 mins alone to look through my folder and provide them with a copy of my policies. I encourage them to look at my certificate on the wall and point out what is written on it!

As for broaching your concerns with her; well as childminder myself, I would prefer a parent just to be straight and share any concerns they may have.

Let us know how you get along and good luck!

Just to present another side my CM sometimes went over numbers breifly for various reasons usually becauseshe was doing someone a favour! Her own child v. similar age to DS was there as well. I never had any concerns about the care he recieved. Her husband was at home and CRB checked I'm not sure he was registered as a helper but he was very good with the boys and when DS was older (2 or above ) he would take theboys to the park while my CM stayed home with the baby. Maybe i am naive but it all seemed fine to me. He was there for nearly 2 years.

Message withdrawn

naughtymummy
in an ideal world this should be fine, i think its fine (but wouldnt do it) but if my dc's went to a cm and her dh took them to the park i would be ok with it
if Ofsted found out there would be trouble!!

some children grow up in one parent familys and for them to experances a family life is great, but rules are there for a reason

Well, on Thursday afternoon my cm gave me her folder to take away for weekend. She also gave me her registration cert (which was hanging on back of door). I am returning these on Tuesday...was a bit surprised that she didn't mind myself but it has been useful to go over when ds in bed!

There is a copy of the formal warning letter that cm received in 2005 from Ofsted for going over numbers. It is strongly worded and I would think, in most cases, is enough of a deterrant to prevent this happening again.

Naughtymummy - I feel the same as you, but also agree with dmo!! Am very torn. Ds seems happy with cm, and in all other respects she is v honest (eg, regarding what ds has eaten, played with, how he reacted when she collected him from preschool etc.) I can't dismiss this niggle that I have though, if rules are "bent" in certain circumstances, there could potentially be safey issues, and I would never forgive myself if anything happened to my ds in her care.

It was Tuesday last week that she had an extra child, so I will see how many are there this week and, now I have seen file, I hope that I will be brave enough to broach the subject!

Thank you all for your advice .

how did it go?