Unregistered CM - could it work?

[herbaceous]

Hello there

I'm going to be starting working again at the end of March, two or three days a week, and am looking for a childminder who can preferably work flexible days. I've seen a couple ? Ofsted registered - but neither were inspiring (one just left the telly on, loudly, while I was there, and her huge dog slobbered over the gate into the kitchen). Both were a bit far from my house.

I've found another lady via childcare.co.uk who lives just round the corner. She's an ex-teacher, and has enhanced CRB checks, but isn't Ofsted registered. She looks after her grand-daughter, and two other children two afternoons a week, so is already illegal I realise.

But if she's good, should I consider her? I'll check she knows first aid, nutrition, etc, and that her house is safe and clean, but is there anything else? What does public liability insurance actually do? Should I insist she has it?

Chellesgirl - our local FIS are actually quite good at x-ref childminders in area/school pick up (actually that is about all they are good at mind!!).

Wouldn't it be nice if NCMA had a list BUT not every childminder has membership with them so i cannot see how it would be feasible.

The only other way i could think of is contacting the childcare development officer for the specific area - again FIS should be able to give that contact information. The development officer should know of childminders and know many of them well.

Ok im in Brum and ive never heard of FIS - let me research a lil. Cant find anything..all im getting is some Ski thing and Family income support????

Family Information Services I think.

FIS is linked to your local council, I think.

It does seem so ridiculous that Ofsted go to the trouble of inspecting childminders, but people wanting a CM can't access the reports until they've chosen one. When looking for a school, you look at the Ofsted report first, don't you. But with CMs, it seems you have to visit them before getting their report, which seems a bit arse about face.

Sorry - I get a bit aerated about irritating bureaucracy.

I've now taken to emailing people on the directgov childcare link. No answers as yet.

As for yesterday's lady, I think what she actually means to offer is babysitting. That's what she does for the two kids she looks after. Not sure she ever really meant to have DS at hers. So don't really want to dob her in...

'cant access reports until you chosen one'???? I can access any childcarer's and childminders reports just like that?? are you having problems herbaceous???

I even have been able to read the complaints of each individual childminder??? Emailing can do wonders when theyve 'actually' got someone behind the desk

I personally woudnt 'dob' her in cause as the saying goes 'what goes around comes around' and Im a true believer - unless you see her harming a child then theres not much you really need to do...and if the parents of the existing children in her care are happy then it would be up to them.

Chellesgirl - tell me your methods! On the Childcarefinder website it lists childminders by name, and rough location, but not their Ofsted ref number. On the Ofsted site, it lists them by ref number but not by name. I therefore don't know how to look up a CM's report, as can't match the name to the number. How do yo do it? Am I being a moron?

No - its not that easy lol. You have to look at the number/ref then the report and then find out who the CM is. You see whn choosing a CM u want one with a good report, so you look at ones in your area, then look at thier ref, then check out the report...if you like then you can ring up and get name etc... you see my mum used to be a childminder back in '02' and its all to do with the protection of the CM...say if you were to find out one CM had a complaint about child molestation...then someone could easily track her down and 'burn the house down' (sorry may be a bit extreme) but you get my jist. so u just have to find 'one' with a good report in your area then call ofsted or childcare link and ask for name etc...

I think childminders were consulted again when EYFS came in and the majority vote was that they didn't want details like postcodes/names put on their reports on the Ofsted website for safety reasons; like Chellesgirl said.

If you ring the council, they will email or post you an up to date list. (the lists on the CIS website are woefully out of date).

That list gives you their street address and ofsted number (well it does where I live anyway). I rang four or five based on location. Also a lot of them know one another so one I range couldn't do it and she put me in touch with a friend of hers.

Until recently (well last October) you could go to the childcarelink site, put in your post code and come up with all childcare within a radius of your home.

Then the goverment took over, and we have the Directgov site

It dosnt work, hardly any of us are on it, and if we are the wrong info for us is usual.

But you can get the local FIS number from there.

BTW, one of the reasons that you cannot get the address from Ofsted, is that we dont want you to, it would be far to easy for anyone with a criminal mind, to target a woman at home alone with children that way, and far to easy for benifit fraud, with somebody using our registration numbers to claim falsely.

Another good way is to ask at your local school, they usually know all the local childminders, as often does the baby clinic, and HV's.

Thanks all. The search goes on - I've now joined NetMums too. (Am I allowed to say that here? .

Ah, LB. You see my FIS list doesn't have street names or Ofsted numbers. So it's something of a shot in the dark.

The FIS list only has nearby schools, so you have to take a wild punt as to where the CMs are. The Ofsted site doesn't say if there are vacancies, so even if you could work out where they are and if they're any good, you don't know if they're free. Good lord.

Asked my HV today if she knew any, and she gave me the FIS booklet. Thanks.

herb did you have to give your postcode when you asked for the list?

Here you do and then they start the list with those closest to you.

What is your nearest children's centre. There are three in E17 Lloyds Park, Woodside Childrens centre (near Wood Street) or Chapel End CC (near Billet roundabout). There are usually childminder drop-in and I think the childrens centre in Lloyds park is where childminders do a lot of training. Netmums is good for advertising.

Ah.... The nearest one to me is Church Hill. I went to that childminder drop in, but no-one had any vacancies. Top tip about the Lloyds Park idea though. I'll pop along.

Thanks for all your suggestions ladies. I just never realised it would be so hard even finding out about CMs, let alone finding one I liked!

I have a vacancy but I live on the borders of Walthamstow/Highams Park not sure how far you want to travel.

Oooh. Ideally not far, as I'll be working from home so it would be nice to just pop out for 10 mins and back again.

Do you want to email me your details? It's sherbert3 at mac dot com.

What a bloody shame that you have had such awful experiences with the registered childminders you visited. Having a telly on at all is really rude and unprofesional amyway.. (You would be foolish to choose someone unregistered imo..)

childcare is so important and it can take a while to find the person best suited to you and your little one.

my referrals are all word of mouth now, isnt there anyone around you who uses childminders? ask health visitors and go to the local health clinic, school. They cant reccommend but they may have a list of local ones.

Ofsted website... mumsnet.. childcare link..

best of luck..

"A good nursery will have a separate room for babies so they aren't subjected to torture the hustle and bustle of toddlers."

It may also mix up the rooms when they're short-staffed, subjecting babies to toddlers who've never been taught to be careful of the babies.
Many Scandinavian nurseries allow the age groups to mix and it's considered good practice.

tanith we used to do that quite alot so that the toddlers could see the younger babies and the brothers/sisters could see thier siblings and play with them. in a decent nursery the rooms will be seperated by dividers/low walls or actual rooms. I think she was just joking about the hustle and bustle...you get bustle in the baby rooms too, trust me, it aint always quiet!