Has anyone used a babysitting agency?

[isitok]

Have changed my name for this as I'm frightened of being shouted at if someone thinks they are a terrible idea and therefore I'm a terrible mother. Stupid really, because I may still get shouted at under this name. Mumsnet's got a bit too aggressive for me lately and I'm feeling a bit delicate.

DH and I need to go to Relate as things are pretty bad. We have no-one we know close enough to do an hour and a half's babysitting on a Wednesday night.

A "sitter" agency seems our only option and although I'm not mad about the idea, we really really go to these relate appointments.

Are these agencies ok?

isitok you may prefer getting a list of local childminders from childcarelink. Very many of them will do evening babysitting locally in addition to their daytime childminding and will have lots of local references for you to check.
I certainly don't think Sitters are a terrible idea but I would personally prefer to deal(and pay) directly with the person doing the sitting and miss out the middleman.

Goosey - THANK YOU so much! It's been really worrying me, will check out your suggestion asap.

I use Sitters.co.uk and really recommend them. I was really really worried the first time, but the lady who came is absolutely lovely and probably far more capable than I am ! The other sitter we use through the agency runs the local toddler group. Both of them are local childminders.

We have used agencies for four years, because we have a regular week night commitment. All the babysitters have been excellent and they are often keen to do a regular week night so you can get the same person nearly every week.

We left one agency after the woman who ran it (not one of the sitters) let us down badly. It was a one-woman show. We now use Toybox and have been delighted with them. Have also heard excellent reports of Sitters. You will be able to set your mind completely at rest about your child/ren and focus on your Relate session. They often have a minimum booking time though, which might be four hours - could you go for a meal as well?

Are there any teenagers in your area? Could you advertise for a sitter anywhere, like at a sixth form college, church?

I don't see any problem using an agency. I have never done it myself, but I'm lucky because there are several teenagers in the neighborhood who are eager to babysit and make a little extra money.

I don't think anyone could have a problem with you guys getting a babysitter so you can go to Relate. Sounds like a very sensible idea to me.

Thanks everyone, feel I have a lot more options now.

Where do you live? I have a 15 year old dd who babysits. She is very good with other peoples children, it's her brothers she hates

omg, i need a sitter too

why would you get shouted at?

My friend is a paediatric nurse and worked for a sitting agency whilst studying at university to earn some extra money. She said that a lot of her friends did the same and that many of the agencies prefer nurses / student nurses, child minders, etc as they have specific experience. Just thought that may put your mind at rest a bit. Its very difficult if you haven't got family living nearby or very close friends. I don't think there's anything wrong with using a sitting agency!

I am registered with Sitters as a babysitter and their whole setup is fabulous. The sitters are thoroughly reference checked, I had to provide 4 references, and they phoned them all up and checked them out, I also had a face to face interview and had to provide loads of id. They are very professional. If you register with them, you pay your babysitter direct, and pay Sitters a fee which is monthly or quarterly I think. All their sitters have childcare experience/qualifications. Bookings are a minimum of 4 hours so you have to pay the babysitter 4 hours even if you come home after 2 hours. HTH.

I used childminders, we moved here from the states, and didn't have any connections here. Someone told if you used them enough you would get to know a few girls and then you could request them. Intially I needed help in the day, and I always got a sitter but most of the day time sitters came from far away(mainly south london and I am in the north) so I could never get the same one twice. Nights are easier to get people from the local area and develop a relationship with. The same woman who told me the other information is that if you get to know one sitter resonably well then you can usually use them with out the agency but I never did that. I liked the fact that the sitters were all vetted. For a long term solution, may I suggest looking one thegumtree.com?(or is it gumtree.com) There are always a ton of ads on there for sitters.

I use an agency (its a combined nanny/sitting agency) and have been very happy. Most of the sitters have child quals/experience which was important to me when I was leaving tiny babies. Now they're a bit older I will use 16yo from next door for odd stints, mainly because the minimum 4 hour booking gets a bit expensive. No relatives around, and I could use friends, but actually had amore reliable relationship with the agency (no last minute cancellations).

you could try using internet babysitters' listing sites like www.nannyjob.co.uk or www.findasitter.co.uk. Both are used mainly by professional child carers who also babysit and you deal direct with the sitters so you can talk to them and even interview them first.

Yes I have used one called supermums.co.uk, I don't know if they are just Scotland based but they were fine, quite expensive though.

Another sitters.co.uk user here
I would recommend them

I have used them many times, only once myself, but many times indirectly as a result of doing a professional event for which the organisers have arranged childcare. (I'm a single parent so generally have to take my kids with me for professional things.)

Whenever I've met anyone who is worried about doing this, I ask: would you use a babysitter you haven't used before but who a friend had recommended? If the answer is yes (which it always is), I point out that it's basically the same thing. The difference is that instead of getting informal word-of-mouth approval, you have an official organisation check them out.

Some organisations charge a fee to book sitters, but bear in mind that you can also find qualified sitters through the council - many have a list of local people. Another alternative is to ask around at the school - often there will be a few babysitters who many of the parents use. Many school staff also welcome babysitting opportunities (given how underpaid they are, unfortunately) - ask around the TAs, catering staff, pre-school staff, after-school clubs etc. If your school has a facebook page for parents, ask there too - there are usually some older siblings around who will welcome being paid £10 per hour to sit at yours and watch Netflix :)

my sister used sitters too i think- vetted and work in childcare, never any issues. Honestly in many ways I think I'd feel more comfortable with a professional than a random friend looking after my child