Child care for parents

[DWH Flooring]

This may be a daft question but I would use this service personally but my partner is dead against it!
So would you use a college/Uni student as a baby sitter if they worked for an agency that crb checked everyone, and I suppose on the flip side all potential customers would also be visited at home to check that the customer was real and not a potential.... Well nut case!

 

[arcon5]

I'd be sceptical of any person I didn't know coming in to my home and takin on such responsibility. But a student is likely to have little to no experience in taking care of children compared to an adult.

 

[gemd89]

If they look after your child for more than 2 hours per day for payment they need to be OFSTED registered, otherwise its illegal.

Gemma

 

[faradaykeynes]

Perhaps use childcare vouchers through your PAYE , it will save you lot of money too

 

[pen2670]

I'm with your partner I'm afraid I'd be concerned that the student might panic / not know what to do if something went wrong.

Feels different to perhaps using a local teen, who you know well, for short periods as, presumably you would not only know more about their experience, but also know their family who would be close by for them to call upon if unsure of anything.

 

[DWH Flooring]

Right the 2 hour rule obviously puts a stop to it really, I was just thinking aloud really to a lot of parents problems regarding baby sitting for a cinema date night type of occasion. Oh well.

Cheers anyway.

 

[gemd89]

My suggestion would be to use a family friends teenage daughter or something for a night time. I thought you means during the day. You can read more about OFSTED and childcare on their website. I only know this as I am a qualified childminder and to be registered to care for children I needed a food hygiene certificate, enhanced CRB check, paediatric first aid certificate all of which I have now.
Let me know if you have any other questions
Gemma

 

[Matt1959]

I would only use someone who was known to me or my direct family and on that basis CRB wouldnt even come into it. There is no way I'd use an agency for care of my kids, not a chance......

 

[gemd89]

Matt- Just out of curiosity, would you use a nursery for your children while you are at work?

Gemma

 

[Matt1959]

Hi Gemma, yes I would. I havnt needed to but yes I would. I can see why you have asked the question though - I think with a nursery there are more than one minder which is very different to having a single individual in your home on their own with your kids who you do not know...

 

[Genn]

Actually, you don't need to be registered with Ofsted to care for children in their (the child's) own home.

 

[gemd89]

Hey, Alot of students work in nurseries with no experience and a lot of them dont need any qualifications to work on placement in the nursery and many of the staff don't need to be qualified.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8287448.stm - Not a plug - Just info link (hope this is okay mods)
Gemma

 

[gemd89]

No Genn, But some rules still apply - These rules for caring for a child in their own home - You can look up 'nanny or au pair' in which case they need to be employed by the parent with parents paying NI and tax for them usually.
Gemma

 

[mrsadcafe]

I would put my child in a reputable nursery and childminder.That way your child is meeting other children and learning.

I had two au pairs in the past through an agency.The first one was fantastic and we treated like a part of a family but the second one locked our child in the bedroom as we came home early.

When you look on you tube and see what people can do to your children in your own home.

Childminders are the best if you can get a good one .

 

[DWH Flooring]

All very interesting and I think I must be a generation behind because I see no real problem with using a baby sitter for the odd evening just like when I was a kid (we had no local family) it is amazing though how where I live and grew up almost everyone I knew had a babysitter every now and again, I even worked as one when I was a teenager but now it is a hell no I wouldn't trust them, strange given that we place our kids in trusted and checked places where everyone has a enhanced crb check, but your only a criminal once you have been court, or isit trust issues regarding teenagers in todays society. Now I should stop digging into this as I feel I will end up waisting weeks reading up on the influence's on parents over the last 100 years, is it the media, social enviroment, public views based on (we're back to media) police incidents being reported more or are child abuse claims happening more or being reported more.... Stop now, seriously stop now, you don't have the time and should be working!
We use a child minder ourselves in the day a couple of times a week but obviously evenings are out of the question unless we ask family which I always feel guilty for as our parents are still working and although they would love to help I only feel I can ask once in a while.
I suppose this is just me being a bloke in his mid thirtys wanting to go out again... What do you call it, oh yeah a mid life crisis

Seriously though guys you have answered my question by pure emotional feelings that is what I really needed and doubted asking on here as I thought I would get a pure business response, but obviously didn't want the typical facebook yeah your great I'd use that. Of course you would you know me!
Oh and seriously don't dig into my social rantings as I will just get too sidelined, help I've got the attention of my 3 year old

 

[gemd89]

Theres no problem if you trust the person, I babysat when i was 13-16 years old, but now a parent myself I am very wary of who I leave my children with. That said you may find that alot of childminders are registered for overnight care (this would be in their own home) however alot also work evenings aswell to help parents who want to go out or are working shifts. I do offer evening childcare as well as weekends but thats in my own home and the pay is £3.50 per hour per child, when i was a babysitter i used to get £10 for the evening.
Gemma

 

[CherylDavis]

Finding care while you go out is an issue. I have a three year old too.
At the place where she goes to pre-school there is a girl who works there who I would trust. Not that I have gone out since she was born except once and I had left her with grandparents.
I am not so bothered about CRB checks, as DWH says, it doesn't pick up the people you would like it to, who have not yet been convicted. CRB checks rely on you being honest about your past anyway.
We don't have grandparents nearer then 170 miles so they can't help. We don't really know that many people in our area either. We are lucky in the sense we live in a nice area and the kids here are lovely. It is more of a cost issue really. Getting £10 for babysitting for the evening is what I used to do. Kids get more these days. Our neighbour paid £30.

 

[CherylDavis]

Oh to your original post of trusting university students

I think not!
No no no.
Definetely not!
No am with your wife on this.
No.

LOL

You have to believe that whoever you leave your child with, is going to keep a close eye on what they do. A complete stranger is probably not going to do that.

 

[mrsadcafe]

Hi,
Is there anyone who you could share childcare locally with who you know, may cut down the cost and also would be a registered person, there is the aupair route but dont know how you feel about that. Good luck

 

[pen2670]

Finding care while you go out is an issue. I have a three year old too.
At the place where she goes to pre-school there is a girl who works there who I would trust. Not that I have gone out since she was born except once and I had left her with grandparents.
I am not so bothered about CRB checks, as DWH says, it doesn't pick up the people you would like it to, who have not yet been convicted. CRB checks rely on you being honest about your past anyway.
We don't have grandparents nearer then 170 miles so they can't help. We don't really know that many people in our area either. We are lucky in the sense we live in a nice area and the kids here are lovely. It is more of a cost issue really. Getting £10 for babysitting for the evening is what I used to do. Kids get more these days. Our neighbour paid £30.

I think that you are both thinking of the old police check system whereby the employee / potential employee would receive a copy of their police record and the employer had to rely on them being honest enough to bring it in (or not employ until seen). That system ran in parralel with the POCA (?) system run by social services which kept records on people who they were aware of that for whatever reason really should not be working with children, young people or vulnerable adults ie if a school sacked an employee for inapropriate behaviour with a pupil they would report it and they would go on the social services list to ensure they did not get another school job even if there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

Whilst still not perfect the CRB system is much improved on this as it incorporates both lists, police information that hasn't resulted in a conviction / is not declarable (eg final warning or caution) and is central so doesnt rely on good cross force communication.

There are two levels of CRB Disclosure Basic - that any employer might require that just checks for unspent criminal convictions and Enhanced. An Enhanced Disclosure is required for anyone working with children, young people or vulnerable adults and checks the whole schebang.

The biggest drawback of the Enhanced CRB check system is the checks against register are done by approved bodies (usually a third party) who make the decision about whether or not the potential employee is suitable or not. If not they are not allowed (even with the potential employees permission) to tell the potential employer what the person did ie indecent exposure would easily be a reason to say someone was unsuitable to work in a school, but what about urinating in public, or if the indecent exposure was with their boy/girlfriend as a teenager? With the Enhanced CRB check the employee doesnt get to put their side forward.

Agree with you about the cost of babysitting!

 

[JMRidley]

No Genn, But some rules still apply - These rules for caring for a child in their own home - You can look up 'nanny or au pair' in which case they need to be employed by the parent with parents paying NI and tax for them usually.
Gemma

Hi Gemma, I'm not sure what you mean by rules. If I get a friend's teenager to babysit in our home a couple of nights a week I don't need to formally employ them and I'm not aware of there being some set of rules I'm meant to be following. Or am I missing something?

Regarding the original question though of whether I would have someone I don't really know looking after my kids - absolutely not! I do think it is different in a nursery setting - there are systems and procedures in place and employees are to a large extent supervised. I think this is quite different from a lone individual having sole charge of your child.