I could really do with some advice.
Ds (15mo) has been cared for by a wonderful cm. But her own ds has just been diagnosed with a serious illness and she's had to stop working to look after him. Though she wants to take our ds back at some point - and this is what dp and I want too - she can't say when that might be. That's totally fair, of course her priority has to be her ds.
Cm has suggested a stopgap solution - to help us out and I guess to also make it easier for her to pick up ds again once she's able to (we are talking a few months rather than a few weeks). Cm's mum and sister have both worked as nursery nurses/cms themselves and have offered to share caring for ds. Ds knows them both (and really loves cm's mum in particular). BUT neither of them are currently registered as cms - though they have been in the past. I think they both have CRB checks as regular visitors to our cm's house.
We're really stuck. We like them all and would like to make this work. It doesn't help that childcare is very oversubscribed in our area; few cms have immediate vacancies and the nurseries have a six-month wait for a viewing! We also don't want to abandon our lovely cm who is having a terrible time. We're aware that when she is ready to start work again it might not be easy to find new mindees who can be flexible around her son's ongoing treatment (we would be).
What would be the implications of trying this out? I'm thinking there must be issues around pay/tax/insurance and so on.
Please don't flame me - I know unregistered childcare is not generally thought to be a good thing, but this is a sad situation and everyone is well intentioned.
Thank you