childminder left 27 kids alone.

[KassandraOfSparta]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr9dzljq56ejo

Licenced for 8, had 27 in the house. "At the time of her arrest she had 15 children aged under 12, 10 children under primary school age, and two children under the age of one in her care." Reported by parents who had spotted the woman doing the school run but without the kids she was being paid to look after. Wee ones left locked in the house, strapped in prams.

Very bland statement from the Care Commission promising lessons would be learned.

Police should also be trying to recoup the money this criminal woman has earned from her business. Poor kids.

It does seem hard to understand how it happened though, I'm a childminder and only have 3 or 4, I do door step collections and parents don't come in but even so even the little ones that are under two go home talking about who they played with, mentioning my husband and teenage children.
All the children come to the door with me and parents often ask which children are in on a particular day because their child has a favourite.

The CMs house must have been huge to hide all those kids.

DD’s ex childminder was banned with immediate effect for regularly leaving the kids with her male lodger who wasn’t dbs checked or an assistant.

You can understand it when your children are so young that they can't explain or even answer questions. I really feel for you @HFMMM as you have no way of knowing what was going on and that must be very worrying and scary. I hope your kids are OK.

But older kids - primary school age - coming home to mum/dad and reporting two dozen kids in a wee house? Or even saying that when they got back with Childminder after school the wee ones were in the house alone. Or maybe I'm the only parent to subject my kids to the spanish Inquisition when they got back from school.

@KassandraOfSparta surely eight children is too many for a childminder anyway?
How can one woman take them out for a walk etc?

But that doesn't explain anything?

well it does, because kids were handed over and collected on the doorstep. Parents were not allowed inside uninvited. And that poster's kids were too little to reliably report what they'd been doing.

It's such a huge breach of trust.

I would imagine it would depend on ages - the rules say "Per Care Inspectorate regulations, childminders can care for a maximum of 8 children under the age of 16, of whom no more than 6 can be under 12, and no more than three are under primary school age, including the childminder's own children."

In England it is 6 under 8s, so for example you'd have a baby, a 2 year old and a 3 year old in the day then you could have a 5 year old, 6 year old and 7 year old after school.
Two in a double buggy, 3 year old on a buggy board, older kids walking with you.

In Scotland I think it might be 8 under 16s of which 6 can be under 12 and 3 of those under school age.

And in most cases in Scotland, children over 12 and secondary school age are not going to childminders.

So so sad

I don't understand either how the parents or neightbydidnt clock something wasn't right. Did she live in a mansion or very rurally, because it hard not to notice 27 children in a 'normal' house!

Parents obviously did have some concerns the children weren't being cared for properly.

And tbh even if your child came home talking about lots of kids, you wouldn’t automatically assume the childminder had too many kids. Abusers are clever, it’s how they get away with things.

Plus children aren’t always accurate, even without pressure, narrators of their day. Our 4yo is adamant he had 2 fish dingers and 8 scoops of ice cream for lunch at school today, and that his teacher told him he could be a ladder when he grows up…

The person at fault is the childminder. Where people are saying I find it hard to believe the parents didn't see this or didn't see that -What I find hard to believe is that you're quite willing to suggest that the parents must have noticed and didn't care and just dropped the kids off anyway. I find that very difficult to believe .What is much more likely Is it the woman [like many awful people }has been completely deceptive and manipulative.
The victim blaming that goes on in these threads is really quite appalling.

My kids, from tiny, would tell me what they ate, what they drank, what they did, who they played with, what colour top Jenny was wearing, who smelled of soup... of course babies can't say anything but as soon as they are old enough - kids talk!

Wow I read this thread title and thought no way this can be true.. But wow it is!

Truly truly shocking! Those poor children

Be interesting to see if she gets a custodial sentence

There’s not one parent to blame for any of this. The woman was very clever and manipulative. Spanish Inquisition or not those kids were scared to speak up. Imagine the weight off their shoulders when they were finally able to.

But of course, the childminder might have her own teens who would be around after school, so the regukations would cover that.

But it dies seem a really bizarre situation.

I can’t imagine 27 small kids in one house

hopefully the ones young enough to be in nappies /buggies won’t Remember too much

sounds like the cm has some mental health issues to let this happen

and to think it’s ok to leave small babies /children on their own for hours

This is horrendous! Mine always came home telling me who they’d played with today so even if they’d been warned off, all the names would come out gradually.
The children may have been warned into silence but surely other adults at school pick up/teachers/ neighbours noticed her picking up loads of kids?

How did she get away with it for so long ?! Surely the school age kids would say something at home . If I asked my child who they played with , I think I would realise that there were a lot of names . Or did they never mention being left alone while she did school run? Or babies in prams upstairs . Hard to fathom how this could happen for any length of time. What an evil woman .

Mh issues, nah, she was just a sleekit, greedy and abusive b....

I don’t think this can be blamed on MH issues.
This is pure greed leading to neglect and deception.

most kids probably did go home and say who they played with Oh yes I played with ant n dec, John, Paul ,Ringo and George - they're not going to necessarily list the 27 other kids that they didn't play with. My son came home from nursery primary school, secondary school and now work hungry and thirsty as did many of his friends. Did that mean that none of them were ever being fed or given a drink ?of course not.
Some of the kids cried because they didn't want to go in,some of the kids cry at primary school, some kids cry at secondary school . Does that mean some bad shit is going down everywhere? no

The woman was a childminder for 30 years she's either deceived a lot of people and got away with it for a long, long time in which case it shows how good she is at being a manipulator Or she's been doing it less time and was found out quickly. Whichever way you look at it the only person to blame is her.

Some of the people who give it the oh I would never do this, my child would never do that ,my husband would never do this, I would never stand for that Want to really hope that certainty doesn't come back and bite them on the ass one day

Tho surely no person can think it’s right or normal to cm so many kids , to leave them alone or not to change nappies or even give them a drink

human basic rights 😢