Childcare?

[aupair101]

Sorry if I am posting in the wrong place, but I was wondering, in general, what parents of children who have special needs do for childcare? Are you all stay at home parents? Or do some of you have nannies/au pairs who help out?

My brother has SN and I have been his carer since I was 15, because my parents worked all the time, but playing mum at 15 to a SN child was bloody hard work!

I am also asking, because I want to be a SN/Learning disability nurse, but specialising in children, and I was wondering where you find your childcarer's? Do you go through agencies? I am currently working as a Nanny on au pairs wage in Italy, but I am being treated badly, and I am leaving on the 19th. I'd love to work with SN children before I start university.

Any advice from mummies and daddies with SN children?

Charlie x

P.S Sorry if this post seems a bit muddled and mixed.. I am writing in a hurry as I have dinner to make!!

You can come here but I cant afford to pay you!!! (SORRY) I imagine you will get a lot of replies like this. I am a stay at home mum, have never had childcare as I have not needed it but I have thought about doing it as a job myself. The problem is a lack of experience on the part of carers. I would have no idea where to look and I rely on family and very brave friends when I need help! Good luck finding something. I do know parents of SN kids that have nannies but not many.

In all honesty, I love working with disabled kids so much, that I wouldn't need to be payed. I'd do it for more experiance, although probably not on a full time basis if I wasn't being payed. My brother has severe aspergers syndrome as well have ADHD and serious anger problems. I spent my summer holidays working at a summer camp and I was 1:1 with a little girl with downs syndrome and she actually changed my life and made my mind up about wanting to be a LD/SN nurse. I got so so so much out of being her 'best friend'. And she taught me Makaton which will be useful as a LD/SN nurse :D I also have experiance with babies that have epilepsy and downs syndrome and with an older (13) girl with cerebral palsy.

I would consider giving my time in return for experiance and knowledge of your child/children and his/her needs.

As much as I would love you to come here I dont think it would be possible unless you live in Bolton, in which case I have 10 hrs direct payments being unused at the moment as I cant find the right help in the mornings. Have you thought about approaching your local social services/direct payment unit? Many parents are now wanting DPs instead of other help/respite as the parents get more say over what the child and carer does. There may be someone on here who can help you out. Its nice to hear from somebody with passion and expereience, our kids are difficult to cope with at times and finding experienced caring people can be hard. Good luck

Where are you? We employ people part time with direct payments.

get in line jimjams

we would LOVE to employ someone like you, we are currently looking for part time help but as you rightly posted, finding someone with experience and the right attitude is really hard. Are you looking for a full time & live-in position?

SNAP Childcare is an agency that places special needs nannies, I'm sure they would be able to find work for you with your experience.

Oooh - can I join the queue - we're looking for some help at weekends?

As drowninginlaundry says, SNAP is the best place to look for SN childcare work.

SNAP

Oh I'm much closer to public transport than drowninginlaundry

Yeah, I have been in contact with SNAP, but I haven't sent my CV yet. (Mainly because I don't have one on my computer, and need to find the time to write one) But I also know that some parents can't afford to go through agencies/to have a nanny, and they just want to find someone to help out for a small wage/pocket money, which is what I am willing to do.

I will be living in Surrey as of 20th December

I have such a HUGE passion for this kind of work, and because it is not a career choice, money is not important to me. It worries me to think that there are families that really need help but that cant afford a nanny/au pair. I guess these are the families I am really interested in, as we never had help as a family with my younger brother.

x

aawwww!! Wish I lived in Surrey! You sound just like the kind of person that most parents of SN kids want to look after their snotty nosed little monsters adorable little darlings! Dont do yourself a dis-service though. Passion and enthusiasm are great but you still need to live! Carers (yourself inc) get so used to caring full time and receiving very little financial reward tht sometimes you might get caught up in trying to help out because you know your help is needed and its something that you enjoy, rather than getting paid what you are actually worth. iykwim?? I'm sure there is someone on here that lives near Surrey that will snap you up!!! Best wishes. x

I am in that situation now monstermansmum! I don't know how to copy and paste a thread, but I posted in the au pair/nanny/childminder section titled 'Resigning?'. If you read my post, you might see what I mean! I am not looking after SN children now, but I am being payed 300Euros a MONTH for a 40 hour week (sometimes more). And that is when I actually DO get payed! The family have a bad habit of 'forgetting' or 'not having the money'. Basically, I am too nice/a push over!

So if anyone is from Surrey, or is looking for a live in carer.. Get in touch! I don't actually think words could ever explain how much I want a job with SN children!

x

I live in Surrey and have 2 ideas!

CHASE & Shooting star hospices need people with your experience, I know CHASE in Guildford were hiring a while back. They do home visits and have people working in the hospice. Is such a lovely place - seems like everyone likes working there too.

Also another agency is cool2care that is a special needs agency in Surrey that doesn't charge huge fees for parents and they may have families on their books.

I have only been able to go back to work regularly now that DD2 is at school. Childcare when you have a child with SN is nigh on impossible to find.

All the best with your career

I contacted CHASE in Guildford, and a lovely lady told me that (at the time I got in touch) they were not interested in people who could work short-term (I am off to university in September 09) and that voulenteers do not get direct contact with children, i.e they work in the shop. I will get in contact with Shooting Star too, and obviously there is Disability Challengers!! I think that might only be a weekendy thing though? But I might phone and ask. I have heared of cool2care, and I am emailing them now... But like I said, I would find helping a family in need specifically rewarding.

Also, I think that this forum needs a spell checker!!

x

And can anyone tell me how the direct payments work? As far as I know, they are payed directly to the parents/carers and then they use it as they see fit? So is it easy enough for me to accept DP as a wage/pocketmoney? Or is it more complicated than that!?

The parents are allowed a set amount of money as per Social Services assesment. They may say you can have 2hrs a week or 20 hrs (if your lucky!!). The money is to pay a carer to help you look after your SN child. Ds1 (Angelman Syndrome) goes out every other Sunday for a full day because that what we wanted, (swimming, mcdonalds, wacky warehouse or even just shopping) with his carer. She gets paid £144 ish for 16hrs work on sundays. We also have 6 mid week hrs (which are available at the moment) for which his carer used to get paid £169 (24 hrs per month). She used to come 7-9am 3x a week to help get him up, breakfast and out to school on time etc. I had a toddler, new baby (breast feeding), 11yr old and a Sn child to feed and dress before 8.30! She has now got a job in a SN school. I also get an extra 3hrs a week in School hols. If you get a nice family/carer mix it can work out well. The hours are up to SS and the duties are up to the parents. Could be childcare or housework, whichever makes it easier for the parent to cope with te sn child. Where we live they advertise in the local paper, and your SS dept should be able to point you in the right direction.

Disability Challengers do activites at weekends so do get in touch with them.

Well we're in Surrey and would definately be interested in a few hours here and there, although not live in. If you ever got stuck for work (which I doubt somehow) let me know :-)

feel free to email me at.. Mccullochcj at aol (dot) com. Id be happy just to do some baby sitting if you wanted to go out! X

Would second SNAP, Cool2Care. Also try Nadine at the Enchanted Nanny agency 0845 602 8759, she is lovely.

Thanks for the Enchanted Nanny Agency R3dh3d! I'll get in contact... But like I said I really feel for the people who can't afford to go through an agency to find childcare.

So feel free to get in touch if you want my time in return for experiance

x