Babysitter when your child has SEN/disabilities

[MinnieTruck]

I’m a single parent to two toddlers who are aged 2 & 3. 2 year old has a rare genetic disorder which brings out physical as well as a neurological disability. 3 year old is non verbal and has Autism.

For those that have children with disabilities and use a babysitter, can you let me know where you found them please? I’ve looked around and there are so many different places, it’s quite difficult to know who to trust. Ideally I’d be looking for a baby sitter for my 2 year old on some occasions. Thank you

Sometimes nursery workers will be happy to offer babysitting ….that way your children will already know them

My son has SEND, the only people who have ever offered and that I would ever trust enough was his key workers at nursery

Oh that’s so interesting. I didn’t even know they’re allowed to do that. Are they allowed to do that? Or is it kind of done on the down low? @Kitkat1523 @Min133

They used to do it at my GDs nursery……obviously it was an informal arrangement between parent and staff member

I work at an sen school and we are allowed to work for families outside of school. A lot of us do it.
Do you have an ehcp for either of them? I think you can then get an allowance to use for people to do respite (I'm not entirely certain though!)

@MinnieTruck if you want to PM me your general area, our former nanny is an SEN specialist who I can recommend (she does ad hoc sitting)

As a childcarer, the last parent with a child who has additional needs found me via ChildcareCoUk.

I use that site and also local Facebook groups to see if any parents are looking for something which suits me.

We go through a process of discussing the role and then meeting the child/children.

I live in a village near the Surrey / Berkshire border so not in a major town or city, so it may be different if you are city based, but try local community Facebook group should someone very local be suitable.

I’ve found babysitters through childcare.co.uk, the bubble app and koru kids. Also word of mouth. I’ve had to interview a lot though and make sure babysitters have met the boys first and are comfortable with their needs. Lots of people see the reality and know it’s not for them.

Thank you guys, a few good suggestions which I’ll be considering. I’m going to have a look on some of the childcare apps and see if I can find someone appropriate. It’ll be really helpful to just have one person that I can depend on as and when

I was going to say nursery as they were great with my children including my speech delayed son.

Ask the room leader. Most I know will happily do it and it's fine. My last nursery the girls had a WhatsApp group and if they were not free they would ask on nursery whatsapp to see if anyone else wanted to do it

Nursery is a great idea however I’ll be looking for the occasional childcare for my 2 year old during the day, so the times will clash! I’ve been informed of some suitable sites so I’ll go down that route for now, thanks all