Back up Childminders incase of Emergency

[vix84]

Hi everyone, I have a friend who is a registered Childminder, and have her down as Emergency carer. My question is, would you/are you allowed to give her your mindee's contact details/allergy forms etc. incase she ever has to have them, and you dont have forms on you etc. for handover. Obviously Id get the parents consent to passing on details etc.
I just wonder, if ever I was out and about and anything happened and I had mindee's with me, someone would have to go back to my house to get the information files etc. to get numbers etc. Or am I worrying too much?

And also, what about giving my oh the childrens parents contact details, is this ok?

[sarah707]

I have a bit in my permissions which says that I will share emergency contact details with my emergency back ups in case of an emergency. Also that i carry emergency contact numbers when I am out.

I keep it deliberately vague... :D

[vix84]

I see your point!!

I have a doctors appointment in a couple of weeks, and have asked my Childminding friend to care for a mindee for about 15 mins in a cafe for a snack while I pop in, and just wonder that really I should leave emergency details etc. I have permission from parents etc. I am also 33 wks pregnant, so if ever I need to dash off, I may not have all records with me. But then I do carry and emergency contact details book with me.
She is stopping Childminding soon, so what would I do then, I dont know any other back up Childminders I could put as Emergency carer!

Maybe I should make more of an effort at toddler groups!

[sarah707]

There is nothing in the rule book saying your emergency contact has to be a childminder :D

[crazybones]

There is nothing in the rule book saying your emergency contact has to be a childminder :D

My emergency contact is not a childminder. She meets all my parents before they sign the permission forms and everyone has been happy about that. She doesnt actually keep my children's details but she knows where I keep them in my bag when out and has a key to my house and knows where I keep them here.

[deeb66]

I have 3 emergency back up's

1 is a childminder and the other 2 are close friends.

[vix84]

I didnt realise that they didnt have to be a Childminder, I presumed they would have to be CRB checked etc.

So if you have a doctors appointment and the parents cant have time off, would you use one of your friends to have mindee's for an hour, even though they are not CRB'd?

I suppose either way, my firend even if not Childminding anymore, will still have her CRB.

Just makes me wonder as I was reading a post on here the other day about someone who had an Ofsted Inspector point out that she had left the mindee's with her partner and mum whilst showing the inspector around. Surely her partner is CRB checked, so whats the difference in doing that and leaving with an emergency carer? Just makes me question wether Ofsted Inspectors sometimes work to different rules!
Both of my Inspectors were very friendly, easy going and not strict!

[deeb66]

I didnt realise that they didnt have to be a Childminder, I presumed they would have to be CRB checked etc.

So if you have a doctors appointment and the parents cant have time off, would you use one of your friends to have mindee's for an hour, even though they are not CRB'd?

I suppose either way, my firend even if not Childminding anymore, will still have her CRB.

Just makes me wonder as I was reading a post on here the other day about someone who had an Ofsted Inspector point out that she had left the mindee's with her partner and mum whilst showing the inspector around. Surely her partner is CRB checked, so whats the difference in doing that and leaving with an emergency carer? Just makes me question wether Ofsted Inspectors sometimes work to different rules!
Both of my Inspectors were very friendly, easy going and not strict!

To be honest I have never used my back up to look after the childrn if I have an appointment.

I either take the children with me or insist with the parent that I have the time off!

The main reason an emergency back up is there in case either you or one of the children are taken drastically ill whilst minding and have to go to hospital etc.......your emergency back up steps in and takes the other children so that you don't have to take them all with you iyswim.

You can get your emergency help to cover if you have a doctors appointment etc but you do need written permission IN ADVANCE from the parent to say that is ok.

As you can appreciate this shouldn't really happen very often and is a totally different situation to leaving the minded children with your partner/hubby.

[manjay]

I would only use an emergency contact in an emergency iyswim! As Dee said if I had an appointment the children would come with me or have the day off. I am lucky in that my dh is registered and we both sign contracts so if I have an appointment he stays at home for the day with the children. I do have another emergency back up who is a childminder but she does not have the childrens' info. That is always on me on the little laminated cards I made up.

hth

amanda xx

[vix84]

I suppose I need to seperate the 'Emergency back up' and 'Childcare cover' and have a seperate policy for each. The Emergency back up and Childcare cover will be the same person though but suppose it is good practice to have a policy on each.

Basically if me or my registered childminder friend are ill or have appointments (we are both pregnant) then we have each others mindee's occassionally. I had one of hers for about 3 days, but the parent came and met me and we did a new contract and info. record sheet, so that was fine.

But there has been one occassion where I had a dentist appointment, so the other Childminder had mindee for 15 mins in a cafe at snack time, with parents permission. (as she didnt charge we didnt draw up a new contract) but on reflection I should have made sure I had the permission in writiing. Oh well, lesson learnt!:blush:

I do normally take mindee's to most appointments, but sometimes its tricky with the double buggy, everyone in the surgery is coughing and spluttering and I think the poor mindee's will come out ill:o

[disney]

i have 3 emergency back ups and they are all child minders .but would only use them for that reason . cant say that i have been dentist our doctors since i have been minding yet since i started in september .if i went dentist i think i would give parents notice in plenty of time and the same for doctorsas around hear you have to book doctors 1 week before your ill any way.

unless of course it was an emergency but then i would use my back up . things would be a bit more harder if i was pregnant like yourself as you will need to go to quite a few appointments . think you will need to talk to the parents to try and sort out best aragments for you all . just rember what ever you do to make sure parents sign to agree with it .



good luck with your pregnency :)

[Alibali]

I get all my parents to sign to say I can share their details with my emergency contact and they are all happy to do so. I have 2 who are both childminders. I give the parents their details too.:)
Ali x

[Tily Bud]

I had a dental appointment recently and took 6 children with me :eek: ( 2 were my own ) ranging from 1yr to 12yrs you should have seen the receptionists face when we all walked in !!!

[tulip0803]

I always told the parents if I had an appointment and said that I either could or could not take the children with me. I have done doctors/ health visitor/midwife/nurse/dentist/optician etc. Parents were happy for the children to go with me. The only ones that I insisted that I took time off for were my baby scans, diabetes check and smear test which all the parents understood and were happy about.:) . I would only do a dentist check-up I wouldn't go for filling etc with children there (might put them off):D .

I worked up to 39 weeks of my pregnancy, although the last few mainly involved the children getting to know their new minders when I took time off. I carried numbers and was normally accompanied by another minder and children whenever I went out:p that wasn't just during my pregnancy we did loads together anyway.

[susi513]

The emergency cover would not need all the permission forms info because they would only be supervising the mindees for a very short time while waiting for the parents/emergency contacts to collect the mindies. The emergency cover would not be providing care for the rest of the day or meals etc.

So all the emergency person needs is basic info - the childs name, parents contact telephone numbers, maybe gp details and certainly details of any specific health/medical conditions -eg asthma, epilepsy, autism, nut allergy etc.

Some people keep this type of info on a card for each child which is stored on a keyring or in a small photo album. Include an ICE (in case of emergency) card for yourself too. So its always with you in your car or in your bag and can be handed to your emergency person or if you are the emergency the paramedics can use it to find out who you and your charges are.

My policy on substitute childcare (as vix says, worth separating the 2 scenarios in your policies) simply says that if I put parents in touch with other childminders it should not be seen as a recommendation. Because childminders are all different it is the parents responsibility to ascertain the suitability of any suggested substitute. There is no obligation to use anyone I suggest and if they do their fees are separate to, and may not be deducted from my fees.

When my friends and I provide cover for each other we may pass on copies of permission forms (with parent's permission) for speed and we may compare fees to see if the parent is going to get a shock or a saving on the day. But other than that its between the subsitute carer and the parent and the regular childminder has no more involvement in the arrangement.

With emergency cover the parent has no say in who their child will be left with - its down to the childminders' judgement and the circumstances on the day. Recommend a vague statement as well, in case none of the named cover are available- i put "with a trusted friend, neighbour or relative". So parent can't make a complaint if all your named people are sick/on holiday etc and you have to leave children with someone who's not registered or they've never met or whatever else they might complain about.

[vix84]

Thanks for everyone's input, I am going to review my policies soon so will be reading back over the replies to help ammend them.
I have decided to just take the 2 mindee's in with me to my next doc. appointment, she will just have to lump it!
She always refers to them as my children, shows how well she knows me!! I always have to say they are not mine.
I think I just felt uncomfortable, that I look young (Im 23 and expecting first ds) I go in with little ones in tow, and feel she doesnt take me seriously as she just thinks I am a young mum with lots of kids:mad:

Anyway, thanks for all your great advice and sharing how you do things