Becoming a Childminder!

[Kay5789]

Hiya...

Just wondering if anyone can help!!

I am interested in becoming a Childminder but my area doesn't do a briefing session as not many people are interested in doing Childmining...I contacted the Family Information Service for some info but all they sent me was a checklist of what i needed to do...What i wanted to know is...What courses will i need to do? Will i have to pay for them? How long does the whole process take? Who can i contact for more info?

If anyone could help that would be great, as ive come to abit of a dead end :-/

Thanks :-)

[Playmate]

Hi Kay, welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, in many areas these are not good times for registering as a Childminder. Local Authority budgets have been slashed and this makes things very difficult. You really need to speak to someone within your Children's Schools and Families dept, someone must be overseeing Childminding, its just a case of finding who! you will need to do an introductory course, which I believe can be done on line if your LA are not running them and you will need to do a first aid course. I would assume as your LA are not being particulary helpful that there probably isn't any funding to help you with these courses :(
the other option is to ring Ofsted, they maybe able to offer some advice (but I woudn't hold my breath - sorry :rolleyes: )

What area do you live in? there maybe someone on here who lives within the same LA who maybe able to shed some light.

Good luck, I don't feel as though I have been much use, but by bumping this post maybe someone else will be more helpful :D

[Kay5789]

Thanks for the reply :) Am going to make a few calls today x