Girl with Special Needs

[Hartley]

Don't know if anyone can help me with this. I have been childminding a young girl with special needs since she was 14. She is going to be 18 this year. In Ofsted's eyes they are only interested in children 0-17 so my question is can I still "childmind" her or would I have to become her carer in order to still look after her? (Her mental age is far below her actual age). I just wonder because my public liability insurance covers children with special needs until they are 25. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[chris goodyear]

Hi I don't know if I can be of much help (maybe even confuse you further!) but I looked after (childminded) a special needs girl from 4 - 18 and would have carried on for another year but getting her into the house in her wheelchair up a ramp was getting too hard. She was still in a special needs school for another year so for education she was still a child until 19. However I also used to offer respite care for children and one girl who moved to residential when she was 16 was classed as a child until she reached 25 when she then moved to the adult part of the home. So it seems every different milestone has a different age limit! probably the best thing to do is contact Ofsted or even your insurance company and see what they advise.