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tigger
19-06-2009, 02:55 PM
Can anyone tell me more about community childminding please as I am interested?

jessie1
20-06-2009, 03:58 PM
I never heard of it before but just googled it and it gives a nice clear definition

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/content/socialworkservices/3192549/communitychildmindingservice

Hope it helps. I might now look into this myself so thanks

venus89
20-06-2009, 04:04 PM
I'm meant to be getting on with some coursework while the kids are out at a party but I'm taking 5 minutes out sono time to read the definition. I just wanted to add that they did used to do it in my area but they stopped a while ago. Now it's just a question of social services having the same access to our details as Joe Bloggs and being able to contact you to find out if you'd have a space.

TheBTeam
20-06-2009, 04:13 PM
I'm meant to be getting on with some coursework while the kids are out at a party but I'm taking 5 minutes out sono time to read the definition. I just wanted to add that they did used to do it in my area but they stopped a while ago. Now it's just a question of social services having the same access to our details as Joe Bloggs and being able to contact you to find out if you'd have a space.

Same here, a few approved childminders such as myself used to be paid a retainer to keep a space open for some of the week, but this turned out to be such a waste of money that they stopped it. Last year tho i was contacted by social services and did a 10 week full time stint for a lad and they just picked up on my details as anyone else could.

venus89
20-06-2009, 04:17 PM
Same here, a few approved childminders such as myself used to be paid a retainer to keep a space open for some of the week, but this turned out to be such a waste of money that they stopped it. Last year tho i was contacted by social services and did a 10 week full time stint for a lad and they just picked up on my details as anyone else could.

I have a LO through SS - respite care for mum. it started as 8 hours per week and is now 32..... They phoned me and another local minder - I think they got our information online.....

manjay
20-06-2009, 05:15 PM
I am going through the process of joining our local network which is a community one. Our coordinator has a pot of money to spend to provide care for families with children under 3 who are classed as in need. So ours is completely seperate to Social Services who could also get our info and request care.

venus89
20-06-2009, 05:18 PM
I am going through the process of joining our local network which is a community one. Our coordinator has a pot of money to spend to provide care for families with children under 3 who are classed as in need. So ours is completely seperate to Social Services who could also get our info and request care.

Yes, our network used to be linked to the community childminding - I'm also in the process of joining the network but they no longer do the community childminding. Personally i think it's a brilliant idea

manjay
20-06-2009, 05:23 PM
Yes, our network used to be linked to the community childminding - I'm also in the process of joining the network but they no longer do the community childminding. Personally i think it's a brilliant idea

I think it's a good idea. Unfortunately I don't live very close to what are classed as the deprived areas of our county so may not get the chance to help out much:(

venus89
20-06-2009, 05:29 PM
I think it's a good idea. Unfortunately I don't live very close to what are classed as the deprived areas of our county so may not get the chance to help out much:(

Would it also cover things like if a mum broke her leg and needed a bit of respite care? Because that could happen anywhere.....

Yes I AM doing my work, honest! :blush:

manjay
20-06-2009, 06:26 PM
Would it also cover things like if a mum broke her leg and needed a bit of respite care? Because that could happen anywhere.....

Yes I AM doing my work, honest! :blush:

Yes it does where we are or say a parent with a serious illness who needed some time out. Just going by what the other members tell me is that people in these situations very often don't ask for help.

Daftbat
21-06-2009, 11:08 AM
I used to be a community childminder along with my hubby a few years ago. Basically you are given contracts by social services to care for children for lots of different reasons such as:

Parent in hospital with no other childcare support
Lone parents with few parenting skills who are attending courses to help them
Children in families where there are issues such as drug use, alcohol misuse, domestic violence issues.

The contracts will typically be for 3 months at a time and may be renewed.
The idea is that Social Services will pay you to care for these children which helps the parents get the support they need from relevant authorities and the children get a taste of "normal" family life etc. Its quite a demanding role and some of the children as you can imagine are difficult to deal with becasue of the environemnt in which they live. The children themselves may have behavioural/medical issues too.

On the good side it felt great to be able to give some support to families which need it. On the down side it can prove difficult with some children whose behaviour issues cause problems when working with privately minded children. I had to have one child removed as he was being violent to me and towards my other minded children. Also, Social services are not always good at paying on time - basically forget about any payment during August if you live in Derbyshire!

I gave up being a community childminder for a number of reasons. 1. I had become very busry with privately minded children and had no space. 2. I was concerned that the social workers involved with the families were not giving me the full information at times about the behaviour and needs of the children which in turn caused me lots of problems with integration in to my setting. I now firmly believe that community childminders should be fully employed by Social Services to provide exclusive minding services to them. This would mean that where children require one to one attention they are able to provide it as the minder would be paid a wage rather than hourly rates per child. You do get specialist training provided if you decide to do this type of minding but you are dealing with children whose parents in a lot of cases haven't got a clue about parenting and the children can be very difficult.

manjay
21-06-2009, 11:19 AM
I used to be a community childminder along with my hubby a few years ago. Basically you are given contracts by social services to care for children for lots of different reasons such as:

Parent in hospital with no other childcare support
Lone parents with few parenting skills who are attending courses to help them
Children in families where there are issues such as drug use, alcohol misuse, domestic violence issues.

The contracts will typically be for 3 months at a time and may be renewed.
The idea is that Social Services will pay you to care for these children which helps the parents get the support they need from relevant authorities and the children get a taste of "normal" family life etc. Its quite a demanding role and some of the children as you can imagine are difficult to deal with becasue of the environemnt in which they live. The children themselves may have behavioural/medical issues too.

On the good side it felt great to be able to give some support to families which need it. On the down side it can prove difficult with some children whose behaviour issues cause problems when working with privately minded children. I had to have one child removed as he was being violent to me and towards my other minded children. Also, Social services are not always good at paying on time - basically forget about any payment during August if you live in Derbyshire!

I gave up being a community childminder for a number of reasons. 1. I had become very busry with privately minded children and had no space. 2. I was concerned that the social workers involved with the families were not giving me the full information at times about the behaviour and needs of the children which in turn caused me lots of problems with integration in to my setting. I now firmly believe that community childminders should be fully employed by Social Services to provide exclusive minding services to them. This would mean that where children require one to one attention they are able to provide it as the minder would be paid a wage rather than hourly rates per child. You do get specialist training provided if you decide to do this type of minding but you are dealing with children whose parents in a lot of cases haven't got a clue about parenting and the children can be very difficult.

It must work differently in different areas (maybe as I am in Wales) then as if we take on this kind of community work it is nothing to do with Social Services.

Daftbat
21-06-2009, 05:52 PM
Who do you work with in Wales then? Would be interested to know.