I'm very sorry, this is not happy reading and I'm hesitant in posting it but I am going to as I feel people will have helpful suggestions. The mother of one of the girls in dd's class has terminal cancer. She is extremely ill at the moment and her husband has asked one of my friend's (one of her nurses with a child in the same class) to give him details of local childminders. She gave him the details of one she had used, having checked the local website which the childminder had recently updated saying she had vacancies. When the husband rang, the childminder said she was actually full. We suspect that she isn't but didn't want to get involved in the situation, which is fair enough, as the children (a girl & a boy both at first school)really do need stability. They have had a nanny whilst the youngest was still at nursery during the last episode of her illness, but she appeared better and was able to look after the children again and has managed to do so since a reoccurence about 6 months ago.
My friend and I were discussing it and we feel he is going to have trouble finding a local childminder, so I would like to find some other options that she could give him. Has anyone any suggestions ? I think money is a real issue, but I'm not sure and sadly unless there is a miracle time is not on her side and I think for everyone's sake something needs to be sorted out pretty quickly. My friend suggested an aupair whilst we were talking but I don't think this would be a good solution for various reasons. Any suggestions would be welcome so I can pass them on. Many thanks.