Childminder leaving kids in car

[alied321]

There is a lady who I've been told is a childminder leaves young children in her minibus outside a nursery while she picks up other kids from inside. You cannot see the vehicle from the nursery as the entrance is round the other side of the building. By the time she walks round to the door, waits to get in, gets whoever she is picking up ready she must be at least 5 minutes. On one hand it's none of my business but on the other if she was meant to be watching my kids and was leaving them unattended in a minibus on their own parked on a road I'd be raging. WWYD?

It was because the child was left alone in a car, even though she said she could see him from the shop.

Some time ago one of the local authority childminding team was told of a CM who left the child n in the car whilst she popped into a shop. She was less than five minutes. The LA officer contacted her and told her if she ever heard this again then she would be reporting her to Ofsted. (The LA officer was the one who related this story whilst I was on a course).

Yes if a cm what she is doing is wrong

Doesn’t matter if parents agree it’s not what ofsted would think safe if cm can’t see or hear them

I do this. Where I park at the moment, I can see it, soon I will have to do a nursery drop off where I will have to go into the nursery with the child so the car will be out of sight for a couple of minutes.
Where I park I'm either on a road or in a car park. My risk assememnt is, it's safer to leave the children in the car than get 3 young kids out onto a road at busy times.
Even if I walked up with the children, your not allowed to take prams into the nursery, so I would have to leave the children outside anyway.

Drogos If you're a childminder you can't do that, children must be in sight or hearing. Doesn't matter what your risk assessment is, leaving children unsupervised is explicitly against the terms of your registration.

OP I hope you've reported this. It is terrible!

Leave aside the fact this is a four month old thread.

The OP starts, "There is a lady who I’ve been told is a childminder...."

So before we all get carried away with the well-intentioned "report to Ofsted" comments (and before this spills over into labelling all childminders) it’s important to note that we really don’t know if this is a genuine Ofsted-registered childminder.

Where I live, for every proper registered childminder there are at least three illegal baby-farmers calling themselves 'childminder'. So what the OP has been told doesn’t necessarily mean much.

itsaboo you're right, she may not be a childminder. But there is no harm in reporting her to Ofsted and they can deal with it if she is a childminder.

@Blubluboo

Yes, I can see the logic in that.

I suppose then it should also be reported to social services. If this isn’t a registered childminder, then children’s social care department would be obliged to open neglect cases on all the parents involved, for putting their children at risk with an illegal 'carer'.

It might also be a police matter for an uninsured vehicle. If she isn’t a childminder, then she probably has wilfully nullified her Insurance policy by using the minibus for business purposes. If she is registered, then she’s nullified it by leaving the children in a way that breaches regulations.

@Drogosnextwife.
You are under a legal requirement as it is a must in the EYFS that all children must be either in sight or hearing....there is no debate if you cant do this risk assessment or not you shouldn't do the school run. You could be in serious trouble from ofsted.
With regard to the nursery most try this if you argue with them that it's not allowed and that they according to the EYFS must work with you therefore they have to make adjustments such as bringing the child out to you, if you wait until last. They generally back down and agree if not you just wait at the door. You cant leave children outside even if a nursery staff member is watching them.

@Drogosnextwife

The EYFS requirement to be within sight/hearing is not negotiable. You may also invalidate your childminder's vehicle insurance by leaving children unattended in the car.

You can’t just risk-assess your way round the statutory regulations. A risk assessment is no good if it isn’t an effective risk assessment.

The way forward is to explain to the nursery manager how they need to accommodate your situation or they could lose the child in question. Have the parents reinforce that message.

That still means you’ll need to find somewhere different to park, as you’ve already identified the main road as too hazardous for getting the children out. All things considered, if it can’t be done safely within the rules then it mustn’t be done.