Puzzled?

[Fairydust]

A friend had her inspection on Friday and the Inspector asked to see her policies which was fine but she asked what her policy was if a child didnt turn up as this was a child protection issue. She already has a missing child policy but was a little confused (as am I). She explained that she would phone the parents, who were maybe running late or stuck in traffic etc. but the Inspector said this was not acceptable and she would have to follow certain procedures - but she didnt say what they were!! can anyone shed any light on what the appropriate procedures would be in a case such as this.

[Alibali]

My policy says I will try to contact parents if an expected child doesn't turn up. If I can't get them, I will try emergency contact. If still no reply I will make a visit to their home and if I still get no response I would contact relevant services for advice.

I include contact numbers for social services, care commission and police.

[TheBTeam]

Had a few inspections between hubby and myself and never had that one mentioned. My initial inclination if they don't turn up is to think YES one less today!!! I usually send a text after around 20-30 minutes and depending on how early in the morning, just to see if all okay tho!

[haribo]

did she mean ,an independant arrival i.e one who is older and comes alone? this is very different to a parent not turning up with child, for which havet got a policy. we arent responsible for getting parents here are we lol. didnt think of having one for that ..

[helenlc]

I am much the same as the others - give it half hour and then text or call to see if child coming. If no response, I would assume no child so day off!!

Never thought of it as a safeguarding children issue:blush:

But if they had over slept or something, would they really appreciate us contacting their emergency contact (who wont know that they've over slept either!) or even social services? It may be that their phone has died and they cannot accept any communication but are on their way. What if they have taken the child or themselves with child in tow to A & E and the last thing on their mind is contacting the childminder (dont blame them for this!)?

But I can understand the reasoning behind it. Having thought about it, it makes perfect sense.

But how far do you go? If you text/call parent and get no response, how long to you keep trying before you move on to emergency contact? And again, how long do you keep trying them before you move onto social services?

Will this involvement of SS be on their records forever even if it turns out to be a case of them over sleeping or going to A & E, iyswim?

[Pipsqueak]

My first thought is that the inspector meant an independent arrival. If this is what she meant then I "get it" - and have systems in place

I cannot see that you should have a policy or procedure if a child/parent doesn't turn up. At the end of the day - if they ain't coming then who the heck am I to enforce a "missing parent and child" procedure. I certainly wouldn't contact emergency contacts and I most definately would not contact safeguarding teams. I am really sure that the parent would not appreciate having SS called just because they failed to show that day for whatever reason. And i am sure SS would not appreciate the waste of their time either. As for the emergency contacts - well do we expect them to go and find out why xxx hasn't arrived?

I can understand perhaps procedures in place if it was a family who were considered "at risk" or mum had phoned you to say they were going to be 5 minutes and 45 minutes later they still hadn't arrived - yes i would perhaps be concerned and would call emergency contacts if I couldn't get hold of the parents.

[haribo]

i agree with pipsqueak - how can we be responsible for raising the alarm if someone doesnt turn up? after all, schools dont phone social services when kids dont turn up- they wait for a phone call . im inclined to believe the inspector meant an independant arrival, but i may be wrong ..

[huggableshelly]

I am hoping its for independant arrivals too.

Quite often my 7:30 does not arrive, I get a call at 8am or see the child in the playground.

another child was not at sachool on minday for me to pick up, school just said mum called to say she was unwell so i didnt make a call to parents but then she wasnt there tues or thurs either, parents had failed to inform me so on thurs i made the call, poor child had been in hospital hence stressed parents forgetting to inform EVERYONE and school didnt share enough information!

hoping someone can shed some light on this too as I now feel i'm not fulfilling safeguarding issues even more so now I've thought about it, my shift workers can be quite sporradic due to arriving home from nights and being too tired to make a call. I'm used to sitting waiting then accepting a non arrival claiming it as a paid day off.

[Tatia]

I wonder if it means a family that just drops off the face of the earth. I can see the concern. Abusers move around a lot when people start noticing. This is probably in regards to CAF and joined-up services and something that, in the wake of Baby P and others, the government will be really hot on. Never thought of having a policy but if a parent didn't show, I'd attempt to ring them until I either got ahold of them (just periodically throughout the day not constantly) or it proved futile. It's a matter of judgement, in't it? Not sure at what point I'd ring the emergency contact, probably not at all on day 1 unless it was a usually very reliable family. This bears some thinking about but keep in mind that childminders are very often the frontline and if we want to be included in the team of professionals then we have to consider the bigger picture.

[FizzysFriends]

Can she contact her inspector and get more details?

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I think it is the Independant Arrival Policy she is talking about. I have attached mine and hopefully it will help your friend. she will also need to get a signed letter from the parent accepting this policy.

[sonia ann]

I think it is the Independant Arrival Policy she is talking about. I have attached mine and hopefully it will help your friend. she will also need to get a signed letter from the parent accepting this policy.

I aree with Debbie I have a very similar policy for my older mindees who catch the bus from school and make their own way to me.

[Fairydust]

Thank you all for your help. I spoke to my friend again with all your suggestions and she did have a policy for independent arrivals but it was when she mentioned children not arriving in the morning with parents that really confused her! I have had to phone one particular parent loads of times when they havent turned up at the agreed time (work from home so dont stick to a rigid timetable) & sometimes they dont hear phone (huge house) so at what point in the day do I start to panic? Also, if the child was from a vulnerable family I am not sure I would put other mindees and myself at risk and visit the house to see that everything was ok. I think a phone call and text messages are sufficient.

Thanks again for all your help.

[Rubybubbles]

Strange one!

I used to collect and drop of children and one the day of my inspection I turned up at 8am for no-one to be awake:rolleyes: so did my polite make your own way then I have done my side ;)

then 4 hours later at 12pm I phoned them again to say, are you coming, a very abrute yes! My inspector never said anything along these lines !!



I think it is the Independant Arrival Policy she is talking about. I have attached mine and hopefully it will help your friend. she will also need to get a signed letter from the parent accepting this policy.

thanks debs, just what I am after for my hopefully new sign up tomorrow ;)

[Rubybubbles]

just a thought, would the school phone if you didn;t call a child in sick? or nursery, pre-school ect?

(I am a good mum and always report them not in teehee)

random thought though!

[angeldelight]

I agree with everyone else

Maybe the inspector did not make it clear what she meant ?

Angel xx

[buildingblocks]

I don't know whereabouts you are but I do know that in Scotland this was brought up a couple for years ago and it had something to do with a case where a child was found and the parent had been dead for a couple of days and the child was ina bad way I think.

[Schnakes]

Not heard of this one either.

I have a shift working family who are appauling at showing up when they say they will. But I know perfectly well that if they dont show up its because their shifts were changed and they couldnt be bothered/it was too late at night/early in the morning to let me know. I definately wouldnt be phoning the Social Services or popping round their house!!

For all other parents - a quick phone call would sort it out, Im sure?? And even if it didnt, I would be extrmely reluctant to call in the authorities.

Sx

[mandy moo]

My policy says I will try to contact parents if an expected child doesn't turn up. If I can't get them, I will try emergency contact. If still no reply I will make a visit to their home and if I still get no response I would contact relevant services for advice.

I include contact numbers for social services, care commission and police.

I dont have any children that arrive on their own, but say I do in the future,
What happens if you have, say 2 or prehaps more younger children already in your care at the time, you would have to take them with you.
Would it not be simpler to ring emergency contacts first then revelent authorities second?
As you wouldnt want your other mindees being subject to a situation that could be disturbing or where they could prehaps get hurt?
Just a thought.

[devoncm]

just a thought, would the school phone if you didn;t call a child in sick? or nursery, pre-school ect?

(I am a good mum and always report them not in teehee)

random thought though!

My kids school rings if parents havent let them know

A friend of mine picks mine up on thursfays each wk, the school rang to say her daughter wasnt in that day so wondered who was picking them up instead- hows that for checking everyone's in the loop.