police - shift work

[slowlearner]

Hi - my sister-in-law is in the police and does shift work so doesn't know how to organise childcare when she goes back to work. Anyone else had this problem? What did you do?

I think that luckily the police have their shift patterns up to a year in advance and so this will help.
Nurseries are usually open 7ish till 6.30ish so this may be an option.
childminder is another option.
does she have a partner or hubby that can take responsibility for some drop off pick ups?

For me, i negotiated set shifts.
is this an option for her?

the childminder who is registered for overnight care is the best option if she gots a night shifts as well,

DH is in the police. He has moved into a unit where nights are infrequent as he does half the childcare here. He only does 3 weeks of nights each year, and I can cover this with my a/l. Could she see if there are any posts like this available - might be a nice career move too!

When I was in the police and I went back to work after having the children I went part time .

My children were in a day care nusery so had to have set days each week, so I worked my shifts round that.

Children were in day care every Monday & Tuesday , i worked every Monday & Tuesday, Saturday Sunday with my team whatever shift they were with the exceptions of nights when I worked Friday Saturday Sunday Monday nights.

we had a five week rota but longer hours , it wasn't an 8 hr shift it would be 9 or 10 hr. One week in five I would work an extra day , so either Dh would take day off or I would see if they had space at the nusery that day.

My DH is also in police but works 9 to 5 ( ish) and was able to have the children when I was nights , at weekends and do pick ups and drop offs at nusery.

You should find the police very accomdating in their atttude . I had no problems .

as the rota is planned a year in adance she should be able to work out a suitable pattern , she needs to have a word with her duty office or whoever is in cahrge of the rotas.

PerkinWarbeck - Can my DH transfer to where your DH works - he does a nightmare of a shift pattern and yours sounds much better

PerkinWarbeck - Can my DH transfer to where your DH works - he does a nightmare of a shift pattern and yours sounds much better

whoops!

ah sophie rosie - I feel your pain. Dh used to do 12 hour shifts, starting either 7am or 7pm, when he was in uniform.

I think he only moved to CID for the hours .

My Force is same as CaptainUnderpants. Most Forces now have a flexible working policy which I'd advise her to seek out with her HR department..there are all sorts of options available to police officers now in order to keep mums in the job.

Yes, I am positively pushing for him to look for something else - and he is interested in CID which would vastly improve the quality of our lives! He currently does 7 on 2 off (atleast 5 of those 7 days are either halfnights or fullnights)

Sorry for hijack...

Hi I am A registered childminder who covers shift work. I am based in west yorkshire if this is any where near you.

Hey I've just been accepted into police and I'm waiting for my start date... am also a mum to 2 little devils!!! I'm worried about childcare as I can't seem to find any in my area that cover shift work!!!

where are you lenz82?

LS14??!!

very far.....

oh well never mind!!! cheers anyway!!

Im a single parent who works in the police. I currently work mon-friday day shifts, but this is going to change immanently. Any suggestions as to how I manage lates and nights with two young children. Thanks.

my friends in the police got a childminder who was prepared to cover shift - they paid a her a few days when they were off just to even out her money - but as they knew their shift pattern way in advance it worked well
the mum worked 3 10 hour shifts a week I think - she was a community suport person
Jilliebabe - lates and night - you could in theory get an au pair if you could manage a spare room - you would have to pay some other childcare as well though