This story about the Plymouth nursery is worrying

[crumpet]

I hope it's not as serious as it sounds
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8090790.stm

I don't really understand that point either. Why is it worse? None of the men I know are any more likely to abuse a child than I am - and if they did it would be equally horrible for the child

Well its not worse that its a woman but its a particularly shocking element. Just as the fact this happened in a nursery is particularly shocking.

Those poor parents must be reeling.

Because she is a paedophile, Riven?

Feel for the innocent children who were abused by this vile creature,what a awful awful situation for all.

I meant to say "alledgedly"

What the hell has it got to do with working mothers? You find nasty, abusive people everywhere though not as everywhere as the media would have us believe.

Maybe after Dunblane we should all have taken our kids out of school in case they were murdered by a madman!

I don't agree that her being a woman makes it any worse. Abuse is abuse. It's no less harrowing for those involved because the abuser is female.

Though Riven, statistically, I suppose you do lessen your DD's risk by employing female only carers.

I note the accused woman has a family too. Their lives have now been turned upside down as well.

Abusers are very plausible to those in the outside world.

what is being alluded to,is societal/cultural sterotypes are that females are nurturing/caring/kind/good with children

so it can seem more deviant
harder to understand as it seems to go against deep held beliefs

unfortunately,abuse is a vile act perpetrated by men and women

that's interesting in a way - statistically one can't deny that most child sexual abusers are male. But I refuse to buy into the attitude my mother brought us up with - that men are filthy animals who will stick it in anything She used to say all single men should be issued with a cat on the NHS - charming woman

why are there so few female paedophiles compared to male? Or do they just not get caught?

sorry I'm rambling, this has rattled me a bit...

riven dont allow one alleged vile person globally taint good carers

ime,vast majority of NN and carers are kind and empathic.underpaid and under valued

I think the fact that it's a woman does make it more shocking purely because women are rarely associated with crimes of a sexual nature, so therefore it would be easier for a woman to abuse her position, and the trust of others in order to commit these crimes.

I think that what is more scary though is the fact that this woman has been working with children for eleven years. There is surely going to come a point where this investigation moves beyond this nursery to her previous workplaces, where children were cared for who are now old enough to understand what it's all about.

Greensleeves, I think there is a middle ground somewhere well away from your mothers attitude and not quite at the point of believing that women and men are as predatory sexually as each other.

The fact its such a huge news story hopefully emphasises how rare this is in a nursery setting. Found myself shocked at how utterly ordinary the suspect looked.

they always look ordinary,innocuous and plausible.that's how they get away with it

In 1993/94 (text is copyright 1993, publish date 1994) Michelle Elliott (of Kidscape Charity) wrote a book "Female Sexual Abuse of Children". You can read about this book on Kidsscape, Preview on Google Books. It was known back then that women abuse children... but the media didn't seem keen on publishing that info. Now in 2009 we have a case which the media are taking an interest in. Maybe it will help stop people thinking that only men abuse children... children are at risk from anyone regardless of gender so the same checks, procedures need to be followed regardless of gender.

Some good news... the CRB check process is already being updated by changing to a continuously monitored system... Independent Safeguarding Authority. That will start in being phrased in from October, with it being compulsory come November 2010. I expect it will be rolled out across nursery staff now much faster than planned.

Background checks are only a deterrent... it does not replace keeping an eye on what staff are doing. Staff in a nursery in my view should be watching the actions of other staff and if there are any concerns, should raise those with their manager.

what got me, as someone else said further down, is at the age of 39, how many other nurseries/childcare places has she worked in?

and how on earth did she get 'that' sort of access to the babies in her care in the nursery ?

also think it's quite unusual to have so much information on someone (her picture, age etc.) who has not been tried yet which makes me think the police are hoping people will come to them with more info

but fox NN will have sole access to changing children,taking them to toilet etc

at nursery the changing area is screened and private - for hygiene and privacy

she might not be an abuser - just doing it for ££

akthough the " top end of the scale" hints at penetration of some sort

( i meant for her sexual gratification)