Emergency contacts

[Mouse]

Is it a legal requirement that we have emergency contacts for the children?

What if parents don't have anyone to name?

[loocyloo]

Ummmm, I don't know!

I think they should put someone, as otherwise our first point of call is social services! I have a relative some distance away for a few of mine, also a work colleague of another parent.... who would be at work, but would know where parent was/is/should be.

[chris goodyear]

I think it is a requirement but I can't be 100% sure. One of my families has no-one as mum's family live in France and dad's in Bournemouth and they were new to the area.So one day when their child first started with me (the first week) they got stuck in London and didn't arrive to collect him until10.00 p.m. I insisted they give me a number of a trusted neighbour who could collect him in a situation like this and take him home to his own house and put him to bed. He was only 5 and had just started school.

[moggy]

Once you explain you'd be calling Social Service to collect the child in an emergency, they usually think of someone. Neighbour, friend, colleague etc.

[Mouse]

The difficulty is I have 2 families who say they have no one to name as an emergency contact. They have no family anywhere nearby and have no friends they would call on. I am actually the emergency contact for the older siblings at school.

In an emergency it would be very unlikely that I couldn't contact either parent. In both families, both parents are easily contactable. I have their mobile numbers, home number and work numbers. It would be a very rare occurrence that there was an emergency, that I couldn't contact the first parent and even more unlikely that I then couldn't contact the second either.

I've suggested neighbours, older sibling's school friend's parents, work colleagues, but they don't want to use any of them. Their reasoning is that these people are strangers and couldn't be expected to come and collect a child they don't know. And the child doesn't know them, so if parents were uncontactable, I'd be the best person to keep the child.

On my child record form I have it written that if parents don't give an emergency contact I will contact social services if necessary. We've discussed it at length and I'm happy with the situation. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't an Ofsted requirement to have someone else named on the form.

[loocyloo]

The difficulty is I have 2 families who say they have no one to name as an emergency contact. They have no family anywhere nearby and have no friends they would call on. I am actually the emergency contact for the older siblings at school.

In an emergency it would be very unlikely that I couldn't contact either parent. In both families, both parents are easily contactable. I have their mobile numbers, home number and work numbers. It would be a very rare occurrence that there was an emergency, that I couldn't contact the first parent and even more unlikely that I then couldn't contact the second either.

I've suggested neighbours, older sibling's school friend's parents, work colleagues, but they don't want to use any of them. Their reasoning is that these people are strangers and couldn't be expected to come and collect a child they don't know. And the child doesn't know them, so if parents were uncontactable, I'd be the best person to keep the child.

On my child record form I have it written that if parents don't give an emergency contact I will contact social services if necessary. We've discussed it at length and I'm happy with the situation. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't an Ofsted requirement to have someone else named on the form.

just wondering .... would it be possible for your DH to also be named as an emergency contact? then, should you need to be in 2 places at once, you have someone to call on?

[Maza]

That's a good idea loocyloo.

I'm in the same position with emergency contacts for my DD. We moved here and didn't know a soul. I usually put my sister who lives up north - even if she couldn't personally come and collect DD in time at least she could continue to try and contact me so that school/social services didn't have to.

I think your husband/daughter/son would be a good idea Mouse - what if the emergency was with you personally and you couldn't physically be there with the child?

My mindees contact details are his aunt and uncle who also live miles away. The family have just moved to the area and again, don't know a soul.

I remember when we were growing up my mum filling out the forms. She could have put dozens of emergency contact details down as all extended family only lived a few streets away and it was a very close knot community where all the neighbours had known each other for years. Very different to many set ups these days.

[Mouse]

Thank you both. I think the idea of having my husband and daughter as named contacts is perfect. I’m happy that we’re covered if something had happened to the parents (the children would stay with me and I would contact social services, if necessary), but I did have more of a concern if something happened to me. DD babysits for both families, so is a good choice.

Maza, it’s like you say, people just don’t have the same family support networks locally these days. When my children were at school my in-laws were named as they lived very close to the school. If one of my children was ill, school would often phone MIL first as they knew she could get there before me!