What do I do-un registered childminding

[iMum]

I am a registered childminder. I have become aware of a lady at our school who I had previously thought was registered-anyway turns out she isnt. I know I should report her but am convinced she will know it is me as she has been very distant with me since I became registered. I dont wish to cause friction with her but realise my duty to her mindees.
However surely it is at the parents discretion who they send their kids to?

Help help help!

Report her!

These registration measure are put in place to protect children and ourselves.

Before I was registered I wrote a letter regarding a registered childminder who I knew wasnt looking after the children appropriately. As far as I was aware I had posted this letter and when a friend asked if I had reported her I said yes.
It wasnt until I was having a sort out that I found my letter so it wasnt actually me that had reported her.

I would never hesitate to report somebody nowadays. She will never know it is you and if she is already acting distant towards you already, reporting her wont make any difference.

If you are uncomfortable reporting her you could just let lots of people know she is unregistered and somewhere along the line someone else will surely report her.

Hi i-Mum

Would you consider talking this lady through the registration process, and help her to get registered?

Obviously unregulated care, with no insurance, first aid, or training is not good for the children and their families, but you could do a lot of good by 'mentoring' her - continuity of care for the children is something to think of.

HTH

Agree with BoysAre. A much more constructive approach than just calling OFSTED outright which feels a bit vindictive really, however correct it is by the letter of the law. Remember that many parents and even some 'childminders' aren't that familiar with the details of how the regulations have changed. These women abound in our area, have been doing it for years, and have no clue about OFsted. This is in the absence of specific safety or other serious concerns you may have about her ability to care for these children - if there are some, report away. But it sounds like your issue with her is more general.

Are you absolutely sure that she's not registered?

there is a mum at mindees nursery who looks after one f the nursery children almost every day, she TOLD me she gets £50 a week off parents, when i told her she should be registered and that she could earn more moeny being reg she said she couldnt be botherd and the perents earn too much to claim tax credits anyway so she wasnt botherd!...thing is she 'used' to work with children so she DOES know the procedure!

sorry, terrible terrible spelling

In our area there are numerous 'old dears' who often started life as cleaners for people and then began helping out with the children, or got involved in a bit of babysitting when their kids were young which expanded to after school care for others, etc. I'm not excusing it, I'm just describing a situation which seems to be pretty common. I suspect some do have an idea that they need to be doing something official, and some don't.

Glad someone started this thread.
Yesterday i was helping out at our playschool as a parent helper and a lady which i see regularly was looking after a baby.
I've seen her look after this child quite a lot and she does pick-ups for other people.
Mentioned to her about me going to pre-registration briefing for childminding and she went all quiet.
Then started to blurt out that her garden would never pass the inspection and that anyway she does it as a favour for friends... (but she still gets paid).
So she knows damn well that she is illegal, but all the mothers know and they don't mind as they "trust" her.
Only a matter of time.
AB

This is it you see, this woman did start on the pre reg briefing, i think she also got part way through the course but didnt get as far as inspection-so she knows damn well she is illegal but .....
Anyway she too was at school yesterday with a baby-she was really avoiding my eye but I went up and said hello/look at the baby-anyway she said it is her sisters, so that is perfectly legal right?
Anyway, im going to watch for the moment, if i see her picking up/dropping off others then I will re think.

I also asked the school if i could put up a notice advertising my services, hopefully people will see that and think (if it gets put up)

Thing is how can we compete, unregistered charge very competitively, i think only about £2 an hour-its damn annoying.

If they look after them at the child's house then it is fine
If they look after them at their own house it is illegal

This is an interesting thread. I've never used a childminder so don't know the first thing about it. So if you pay a friend to look after your child for an hour or so a week, is that illegal?

Up to 2 hours a day is unregulated more than 2 hrs a day is childminder (governments??)

what about less than 2 hours evry day?
governments??) what they will do for un registered childminding?i have heared that some do it for very low fee?for years.
it is not fair for registered childminder like me.have to pay more for ofsted,ncma,paper works,tax,toys.......

what about registered childminder take a child over the numbers for 1 and half hour evry day ???

They might have a variation - do you know their postcode you can put it into the OFSTED website & see their certificate

no i sure she haven,t.the same day of inspictions she send away that child and his mum ask me to have him that day as i have 2 free places for under 5 but the mum want to pay me low fee as 2.5 per hour.

REport her. She is putting people at risk, adn unless the parents know the rules, they will be unaware. I went to see lots of childminders when looking for my 2 and only one of the 8 or so I saw was genuinely able to take my 2.

The rules are there to protect you and the children. Like them or not, people should not be doing their own merry thing outside of it - without people knowing.

Most of the parents I know in RL don't know the rules about how many kids childminders can take.

the mum know evry thing anduse her for more than 2 years without contract she covered her!!!!

I actually think that

the training for childminders is laughable, with the exception of the first aid course of course

the bureaucracy of ofsted is abominable

the inspections are a joke

the only reason I wouldn't condone unregistered childminding is becuase it's illegal, but the fact that a childminder is registered gives me no peace of mind / security at all

(I'm an ex registered childminder and a mum who has used childminders)

Twiglett, Im inclined to agree with you-the course wasnt exactly helpfull, the bureaucracy a pain in the arse, the inspections a nice chat over a cuppa. However the amount of hoops to jump through should help filter out some of the less dedicated people?
I had hoped that the course would take me through the hows of the paperwork side of things, or be more helpful with the child protection/safety but really im not sure what I spent 10 evenings doing at the college.

Do you still childmind? Im fairly new to it all and have been lucky in finding children to care for quickly and conveniently (they already new me well as are friends with my ds) but another friend of mine is finding it very hard to get going.

Am on a bit of a high at the mo tho as received my business cards through today!

I don't think 'jumping through hoops' weeds out people who would make bad childminders, I actually think the reverse ..

really?
I guess i mean that you need to be quite focused to get registered, theres lots to have in place, lots of hoops that perhaps if you werent that bothered about it you wouldnt go to the effort? not saying that those who do get registered are any more appropriate to the job than those who give up at the first hoop-just more determined?

I think that the 'hoops' are bureaucratic and officialese and nothing to do with childcare, again with the exception of the first aid course.

I think the paperwork that is now involved is sadly indicative of legalese rather than of childcare.

I would prefer a childminder to be painting and playing with my kids rather than writing out reports on the painting and playing they have done.

Early years? what a pile of poo .. love them, care for them and treat them with respect .. not form filling

here here,

tbh it is all a bit daunting when you are first starting out.
If only it were as simple as all that eh twigs?

I'm with Twiglett - registering is hardly a guarantee of quality. Even in terms of bare minimum standards. My sister got herself registered in order to look after a friend's child - piece of piss, it seems.

There are plenty of very good childminders out there, but registration doesn't tell you anything meaningful.