anyone who offers overnight care, please come and help!

[leonifay]

i'm about to move into a new area, so starting up all over again [nervous] and i have been approached by a friend of a friend asking if i would consider having her baby over night, this would be great as it would mean an income within a few months rather than not knowing when i'll get a call iygwim.

i know there are additional rules when childminding overnight can any one tell me what they are?
tia

If you are a registered childminder then you have to be registered to provide overnight care. You need to be able to provide a suitable space to sleep, have fire alarms and adequate fire doors etc

If you are not a registered cm then I think the rule is that you can offer care between 10pm and 6am in your own home without being a registered childminder (check these times as I am talking off the top of my head). But if you mind outside of these times you must register as a cm.

Good luck with the move...I may be doing the same soon and am really concernedabout it. I have as great lot of kids at the mo and the thought of starting again scares me...

HTH

When I registered for overnight care I wasn't told I needed to have fire alarms and adequate fire doors? And the inspector came to visit. I do have smoke alarms though as obviously need them for daytime minding anyway.

Can anyone confirm this rule as I'm worried now, especially about the fire door bit?

Fire doors for a loft conversion I know are mandatory - not sure about 1st floors and ground floors?

Oh, can I add another question, not that this has come up (yet) but they need their own room right?

crace - yes they need their own room

Sorry to disagree but according to my Ofsted inspector they don't need own rooms, unless parents specify.

right, own room isnt a problem, obviously have fire alarms, have visited the bromley website and looked at an overnight policy, looked at fire evacuation policy and added things for over night children. is there anything i'm forgetting, apart form the possible fire doors?

thanks for your help

Im registered for over night care and the requirements I had to meet were smoke alarms. They dont need their own room just as long as the room they are sharing is suitable to the age of the child ie a 3 yr old girl isnt sleeping in your teenage boys room.

Oh good then Was only saying what my inspector said but we all know they have their own set of rules. I agree it should be up to the parents if they do or don't share a room

I only night nanny so go to the family home - is this an option for you if not registered for overnight care in own home?

im registered for overnight care, you now have to contact local fire safety dept. they come out and then write to ofsted and you telling you what the reccomendations are, they are at least 2 fire exits, we have a loft conversion and they stated we needed a means of escape window different to velux which we had anyway, we were NOT to buy the loft ladders and we had to buy linked smoke detectors as well as having an audiable listening device, i have the break glass for key boxes to my front and back door.

hope this helps

regards

Okay from my hubby who is a fire service watch manager, standard house doors are fine. Normal smoke alarms are considered adequate in England, Scotland ask for more.

Also child does not need own room, just own bed/cot.

thanks, i also asked my dad who is a fire officer, he said the same things, and he's done my fire escape plan with me for the mew house so everything should be good...fingers crossed!