leaving mindees in an emergency?

[ChocolateChip]

I'm a bit confused ( just for a change- ha ha!) about emergency cover, as in if I have to leave for an emergency, say if one of my kids has to go to hospital, who can I put for cover, and what checks do they need?
Obviously if something like this happened I would get the parents to collect asap but in the meantime I was thinking of asking my friend who lives closeby- she already has CRB checks for school and youth club, would I need to get her done again, also if I ask my mum, and then my dad comes with her do they both need to be CRB'd.
I don't know any other c/m's nearby, and anyway if they were full they wouldn't be able to take over my lot would they?
Sorry for rambling on, late at night, etc,etc,! What do you all do?:huh:

[crazybones]

I have a friend I use too. She is crb checked and I have introduced her to all my mums. They were all fine (all the older kids mums knew her from school anyway). My inspector asked me about it at my inspection the other week and I showed her my permissions signed that the parents were happy after meeting her, that she would be there in any emergency. She has a key to my house and knows were my emergency phone numbers are. All my cm friends would be over their numbers if they had to take mine on.

[sarah707]

I use a friend who is also a mum who lives locally. She's not had a CRB check but most of the parents know her (she's nanna to one of my little ones) and more importantly the children know her. She's always in (a bonus!) and she has a sealed envelope with my emergency contact numbers in 'just in case'.

Ofsted were fine with this :D

[Teresa]

i use my eldest daughter and partner, my daughter lives with us and the children know her just as well as they know me, and all the mums meet her for the first time on signing of contracts permission forms ect. they all so often see her interacting with the children at pick up time.

[angeldelight]

I use my daughter who is registered also my other daughter and my hubby

Angel xx

[miffy]

I'm lucky as i have two childminders who would act for me in an emergency so far it has always been OK and never meant we would be over our numbers

miffy xx

[manjay]

My Inspector and i talked about this alot. My husband is also registered so he is my first port of call. Unfortunately he works away sometimes so is not always around. She said that in an absolute emergency (not like going to get my legs waxed or something) that CSSIW would prefer I left them with another minder who the children know(even if it takes them over numbers) than leave them with some bod off the street (obviously I wouldn't do that but you know what I mean). All my parents are able to get here quickly and if not they have to have an alternative collecter who is.

I know OFSTED work in very mysterious ways so this is just my experience

amanda xx

[Pipsqueak]

Cupboard under the stairs serves pretty well or roping them altogether and tying to nearest lampost! (joking;) ) lol

I have a couple of minders known to the kids I could call on, my hubby and my neighbour who is crb checked and known well to the children

[Polly2]

I have my husband (who is crb checked), which I think is good because all the children know him. He always has his mobile so I can reach him.

[deeb66]

I have 3 different emergency contacts.

One is Mandy (Nannan) and the other two are close friends.

Obviously my first point of call would be Mandy but if she was full she could not take them as it would put her over her numbers hence the reason I also picked a couple of friends so that I knew that it wouldn't be a problem.

I am glad to say that in the 10 years I have been minding I have never had to call upon any of them :clapping:

[Twinkles]

Thankfully I've never had to do this either, but surely in an emergency it wouldn't be a problem for another minder to be over her numbers 'till a parent could get back, would it ?

[sarah707]

Thankfully I've never had to do this either, but surely in an emergency it wouldn't be a problem for another minder to be over her numbers 'till a parent could get back, would it ?

YAY! Somebody else's turn to email Ofsted with a question! :D

enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk

[LittleAcorns]

Just one experience I had lately, if you remember when Amber had to go to A&E when she cut her eye.

I was at the school so my neighbour/minder who the kids know could take one of the mindees but I was still left with 2, the school very kindly offered to take the 2 boys to after school club, again meaning they went over their ratio but I needed to be with Amber! I rang mum and the school rang mum, she said "do you need me to come and get the boys then?" I understand that she was at work and its difficult but I had no choice, she said she would arrange for dad to go and collect....brilliant!! the next day I found out that he didnt collect them til he'd finished work, and got there at 5.35! 2 hours 20 mins after I phoned her. the little girl that my friend took, wasnt collected til 6pm without even a thank you!!!

So my advice have lots of emergency contacts, and work down the list, I thought as both these parents work only 10-20 mins drive away they'd be available.

[Twinkles]

YAY! Somebody else's turn to email Ofsted with a question! :D

enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk


Doh! me and my big mouth :D Shall I e-mail them ten times and see if they come up with ten different answers ?

[manjay]

Doh! me and my big mouth :D Shall I e-mail them ten times and see if they come up with ten different answers ?

I am sure you will!! Luckily I keep the same Inspector so she has answered this question already for me

amanda xx

[Noodles]

Luckly i have not been in this situation when i have had mindees but i would rely on my partner who works very close to home and the parents know:)

[sarah707]

Shall I e-mail them ten times and see if they come up with ten different answers ?

Excellent idea! :laughing:

[Tatia]

I've been told that in an emergency, another minder can take children over her numbers but should ring OFSTED immediately to let them know what is happening. I have several back-up childminders but have never needed them for emergency care, thank goodness and knock on wood! The last thing you need in a true emrgency is trying to figure out ratios and where to send everyone. I've also been told that if there are no childminders available, you can leave children with a responsible neighbour as long as you ring OFSTED soon as possible afterwards and let them know about it.

[ChocolateChip]

Thanks so much for all your replies guys!
Hopefully from what you all say I'll be alright with my plans, and just hope I never have to use them!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[deeb66]

Thankfully I've never had to do this either, but surely in an emergency it wouldn't be a problem for another minder to be over her numbers 'till a parent could get back, would it ?

I was told on my previous inspection that I could not put another minder over her numbers.

This was done in July 2003 so they may have changed their guidelines since then.

would be interested to see what they say!

[Twinkles]

Well I did e-mail them and I got a reply this afternoon. ( Even if they did make a spelling mistake :rolleyes: )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Ms Beale,



Thank you for your email.



I can advise that in an emergency situation you would be able to take the children you care for to another childminder.



However, if the childminder was to then go over there numbers they would need to notify Ofsted with a telephone call.



You would also have to have parents consent to this if this was going to be part of your policy.



I hope this helps.

[berkschick]

Looks like I need to design another form for the parents to sign!

I know other childminders help each other out, hopefully they will let me be in their gang :D

My current emergancy contact is my friend who lives just up the road and works in a pre-school so has been CRB checked. I didnt realise I needed the parents to sign a permission form, silly me :o

[Schnakes]

This reminds me of a time when, only about into four months of setting up my business, my son had a really bad seizure and stopped breathing. I phoned an ambulance and they were doing re-sus work....just as one of the mum turns up with her son. I meet her on the doorstep, explain the situation, tell her that we have to go to hospital NOW....she says (basically) "okay" and starts saying goodbye to her son!!! Im like....um - no!! I have to go to A&E because my son has stopped breathing..I CANT take your son...In the end, it took one of the paramedics to tell her "NO"!!!!

I have to admit, I was in too much of a panic to phone my back-up, which I should have done...or at least passed on her number. What I did was to ask her to lock up for me!!! :blush: Very proffessional! :rolleyes: :( I like to think that these days I would handle the situation much better!

Sx

[Pipsqueak]

What a scary story and how pathetic of the mum. Hope your son is ok now???


I have a situation this morning,

I am dropping my son and mindee at nursery but I have to take my eldest to hospital this morning. I am worried that I am not going to get back on time to collect them and have suggested over the last 3 days several times to the parents that I will get my "stand by" to collect the children and if I am going to be much longer than 45mintues after collection time I shall call the parents and see what they want to do.

Parents will not give me a straight answer, they keep murmering about coming out of work blah blah, and they pull a face every time I mention the standby picking up. I last rang them at 8.15pm last night and left a message to which they have not got back to me, I have even prepared the "permission forms for the standby to give to nursery etc....

The poor old standby is putting her morning on hold because I can't get a straight answer from the parents (as usual).....

big sigh

[deeb66]

What a scary story and how pathetic of the mum. Hope your son is ok now???


I have a situation this morning,

I am dropping my son and mindee at nursery but I have to take my eldest to hospital this morning. I am worried that I am not going to get back on time to collect them and have suggested over the last 3 days several times to the parents that I will get my "stand by" to collect the children and if I am going to be much longer than 45mintues after collection time I shall call the parents and see what they want to do.

Parents will not give me a straight answer, they keep murmering about coming out of work blah blah, and they pull a face every time I mention the standby picking up. I last rang them at 8.15pm last night and left a message to which they have not got back to me, I have even prepared the "permission forms for the standby to give to nursery etc....

The poor old standby is putting her morning on hold because I can't get a straight answer from the parents (as usual).....

big sigh

I have been in this situation before.

Now I no longer mess around.....

They either give consent straight away or I tell them that I am not available to pick their child up and that I am taking the day off.......you would be surprised how quickly they sign the forms :rolleyes:

[susi513]

like your method dee !

Its a good idea to contact Ofsted if you ever have to go over your numbers in an emergency, I hadn't thought of that, but did have a lengthy conversation with inspector about emergencies. What she said was that in a genuine emergency you have to do whats in the best interests of the child(ren) under the circumstances you find yourself in and Ofsted would consider each situation on an individual basis.

[nannan]

:clapping: Hi Dee, no like you I was also told not to put another childminder over her numbers even in an emergency, would love to have the inspectors name who thinks it is ok, in my experience with ofsted and after four inspections in the last three years with them they have always struck to the same story. Which is for an emergency you can leave the children with a responsible adult, and the parents are to pick them up as soon as they possible can, i.e within an hour, two at the longest. I have Dee as my main emergency cover,and would use if not putting her over her numbers, and who my parent knows, but also have a couple of non-registered friends who ofsted told me they would prefer I used in an emergency, so far not needed to do any, sorry if gone on a bit

[Pauline]

A minder friend of mine had a serious emergency just before Christmas last year when a baby stopped breathing. Her friend was visiting at the time and looked after the children while the minder went with the baby in the ambulance. The minder phoned all the parents from the ambulance to explain and they were all happy about it and said they would get back immediately.

Because the child was taken to hospital she notified Ofsted who said that they would have to investigate because she had left the children in the care of a person with no checks. Naturally that worried her because she though she had done the best she could at the time and couldn't really let the baby go un accompanied to hospital.

Ofsted never followed it up nor investigated, yet caused her lots of sleepless nights thinking they would!

So, perhaps best to follow your instincts at the time on what is best to do?

Baby made a full recover by the way :)

[sarah707]

Gosh that's a worrying story Pauline - it must have been scary for your friend as well, being told that when she'd done her best in a difficult situation.

I think maybe the answer is, regardless of what we feel is best, we might be well advised to send the child unaccompanied and stay with the rest of the children... what a dreadful state of affairs though :(

[Tatia]

It's a whole different kettle of fish if the child in the emergency is your own, though.

[Pauline]

Gosh that's a worrying story Pauline - it must have been scary for your friend as well, being told that when she'd done her best in a difficult situation.

I think maybe the answer is, regardless of what we feel is best, we might be well advised to send the child unaccompanied and stay with the rest of the children... what a dreadful state of affairs though :(

That's the problem, you have three choices and it has to be a split second decision: -

do you leave a young baby to go alone with strangers, frightened and upset and the crew perhaps not having full details about their medical history if you don't have time to tell them at the door.

Do you leave children at home in familiar surroundings with someone you trust and go with baby.

Do you go with baby and take the other children with you to hospital too, risking long waits in a not so nice, stressful area.

I think I'd go with baby and leave the others with a trusted friend and argue the toss with Ofsted if necessary, citing you had the best interests of the ALL children at heart when you made the decision.

[Pauline]

It's a whole different kettle of fish if the child in the emergency is your own, though.

Very true and in that case you would have to go!

[Tatia]

I'd call my back-up minders or a friend, whoever I get hold of first. As I have been advised that in true emergencies and as long as we let them know, OFSTED will be okay with minders going over their numbers so long as parents are called to collect as soon as possible, then I'm not worrying about it. I just hope to goodness iot never becomes an issue for me!

[nannan]

I agree, I would leave the other children with a trusted friend or childminder, who ever I got hold of first, and argue the toss with ofsted afterwards

[ChocolateChip]

Interesting reading, and a couple of scary stories!
Very helpful again, thanks so much everyone!
I've done my forms and policy and made sure I've emphasised the fact that they need to pick up asap if this happens, and even done a separate bit for the schookids, whether they can be booked into after school club, parents liable for any fees, check closing times, etc, so quite pleased with that!
Don't know what I'd do without you all! :eek:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Rach30]

But i have a form stating that i wouldn't go in the ambulance with a child as i'd have to stay with the others . Seems harsh i know but what can you do ! If it was child in the emergancy it would be different .

[lissy]

What do you do if you dont know any other minders or have anyone close by for back up?? I have on my emergency form i wouldnt be able to go in ambulance if have other children in my care, and that parents should have cover in place in case of sickness or emergencies but that wouldnt help me if something happened. Any advice??

[Kat]

Hi,

I have question regarding permission to leave kids in care of someone else?

Do parents have to sign prmission for that?

Can any body have some example of that kind of letter ?

Thank you

Kat