Originally Posted by
hectors house
I did take on a little boy who sounded only half as bad as the one you had come for a visit - on first visit he threw toys across the room and then picked cat up by her tail and swung her round when in garden! The mum was a teenage mum doing a college course, so got funded childcare - I increased my hourly rate on the forms "danger money". For the next meeting I suggested meeting at the park - on neutral ground.
I only looked after him for a year and I do feel I made a difference to his behaviour, but he then went to a "free for all nursery" his behaviour lapsed again - he is at school now and I hear from a friend who works with his mum, that she is always being called out of work by the school because he is in trouble again.
I wouldn't have taken him on though if he had attacked other children on first visit. I also once had to give notice to a little boy with disabilities, I was worried that it would be classed as discrimination and was actually considering giving up minding due to his behaviour - I found another minder for him but she couldn't cope with him either (she had SENCO experience from working in a Nursery). Like you said we aren't social workers and have to know when something will seriously impact on our lives and our mindees.