Back up childminder

[jlt]

Could someone please advise e how many back up childminders they have and if they have a policy for it. Do you also get permission from parents to leave your child with them? Any advice/help you can give me will be great please.

[loocyloo]

Could someone please advise e how many back up childminders they have and if they have a policy for it. Do you also get permission from parents to leave your child with them? Any advice/help you can give me will be great please.

Good morning, and welcome to the forum.

I don't have any back up childminders as there is only one other within 6 miles and she is as busy as I am.

In an emergency I would call on a couple of friends/neighbours (known to the children) or call DH at work ( 2 mins away and either he or someone from the office would come )
I discuss with parents what would happen in an emergency and that if they get a call to say it is an emergency, then they must arrange for the immediate collection of their child.
If I can't work one day either due to holiday or illness, then I give the parents as much notice as possible, and they arrange their own cover.
On the VERY occasion ( once in past 6 years ) that I needed to, a friend ( known to the children and dbs'd ) came to the dentist and sat with them whilst I had x rays and an emergency repair of broken tooth! I informed all parents and they were happy with it, as the alternative meant they couldn't work in the middle of the day!

Parents all give permission for the children to be left with a responsible adult in the case of emergency.

Hope this helps x

[bunyip]

I do not have a back up CM.

I just have a named 'responsible adult' with whom I could leave children (assuming she's in) in an absolutely worst case scenario such as needing to travel with one child in an ambulance.

I know some CMs do use a named back up CM but I see it as a whole can of worms.

I used to provide emergency cover for a couple of other CMs, but it was a lot of work and petty complications just to get the odd day's work once in a blue moon.

Btw, don't let anyone tell you it's a requirement. This used to be a favourite of our DO, which could go some way to explaining why the LA saw fit to scrap the post.

[moggy]

No back-up CMer. There are 2 scenarios to consider:
1] when you can't work due to illness, problem at your house or issue in your family.
2] real emergency- ambulance at the door, fire engine on its way etc etc

In case 1 it is not your responsibility to help the parent find alternative care. You can direct them to your LA CMer list or to childcare.co.uk. You could give them a list of CMers you know locally but no guarantees they have spaces on the day you need.

In case 2 you leave the children with whoever you judge to be the best option at the time- a neighbour, friend, childminder (even if it puts them over ratios), emergency workers etc. and call parents to collect ASAP. I explain this in a policy. You cannot predict exactly what you'd do as there are too many variables. No DBSs needed because it is a life and death situation and you have to just do whatever you think is best at the time.

No CMer is going to keep a space free just in case they need to be a back-up and if the worst happens one day, what if that CMer is on holiday? or the other side of the county on a day out?!