Each week we search the internet and news websites for interesting topics on childcare, childminders and childminding. Those that are of interest or whom we feel are good reading to our vistors we post them here. All these links are from the news websites, and will take you to the respective news websites and not our own
Children's centres safe and well-resourced
19 August 2010 - Weston & Somerset Mercury
A NEW survey looking into children's centres in North Somerset shows that 98 per cent of people using them are satisfied with the services. Children's centres offer a range of family services for babies to five-years-old. They offer a wide variety of drop in sessions, fun activities and helpful services, including childcare, stay and play groups, family days out, parenting support and health services. People who responded to the survey showed an estimated 1,200 children under the age of five accessed the centres in North Somerset in a one-week period. The survey, which received 524Charitys childminder warning
19 August 2010 - Belfast TelegraphFollowing the release of ?stark? childcare statistics from a local survey, a regional childminding charity is lobbying parents to discontinue their use of unregistered childminders. The Northern Ireland Childminding Association (NICMA) is launching a major publicity drive aimed at persuading parents of the benefits of using registered childminders. It follows recent statistics which showed that just over one third of 200 newly registered childminders said they knew of at least one unregistered childminder operating in their area. Under current legislation, it is illegal for any childmiChild minder ordered to pay $50,000 compensation for sexually abusing boy over six-year period
August 19, 2010 - Courier MailAN "intellectually disabled" child minder has been ordered to pay almost $50,000 in compensation for sexually abusing a boy during regular sleepovers throughout a six-year period. The Supreme Court in Brisbane ordered Kurt Walter Willis pay his victim ? identified only as "WCA" ? for mental trauma caused as a result of numerous sex offences committed against the child between 1999 and 2004. Justice Margaret Wilson, in a written judgment published today, said Willis typically molested the boy ? then aged between eight and 14 years ? when the boy slept at his house while providing "childMilestone Reached For Buckinghamshire Parents Support Service
11th August 2010 - WalesOnlineThe Bucks Community Childminding Network helps those with disabled children or who have mental health issues. The network has also marked a major milestone of successfully supporting 500 children to date. Helen Barratt, from Cressex, was at the celebration event and sang the praises of the service "When I was pregnant with my third child I was really worried about who could look after my other two children when the time came to give birth. I have no family to help and no-one that I could ask to have them for a couple of days. My midwife put me in touch with BCCN and I was so lucky to gMy Day on a Plate: Julie Walsh
13 Aug 2010 - Telegraph.co.uk5.30am Coffee and a few of my son's Cheerios. 7am Drop him off at the childminder, then get the train to London. 8.15am Grab a coffee and toast before changing into my chef's whites. 9am The first class, making celebration cakes, begins. I'm constantly talking, answering questions and reinforcing the techniques, so there's no time to eat or drink. I taste their work as I go along. 12pm Set up the room for the next session and meet with students over lunch. I try to eat something substantial, like pasta with a tomato sauce, from the food prep area. As it's a French cookery school therground rules are needed if family tensions to be avoided
Aug 12 2010 - WalesOnlineWITH one in three families relying on grandparents for childcare, the need to establish where simple grandparenting ends and official childminding begins has never been more pressing. According to a recent Grandparents? Charter survey, 78% of grandparents and parents agreed that families should establish some kind of formal childcare arrangement when grandparents are providing the care. The survey identified six areas that can cause family tension if parents and grandparents don?t agree on some basic ground rules. These are: 1. How many days a week should grandparents be asked to proReturn to work means a tough decision for mums
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - Stoke & StaffordshireFor working parents, choosing the right childcare can seem like a bit of a minefield. Catherine Ball spoke to three mothers about how they decided who should look after their little one. MAKING sure your child is well cared for while you're not there is every working mother's priority. For Ximena Canter, deciding where to send her daughter Arwen was a relatively easy choice. The 35-year-old works at Keele University and decided to send Arwen, now aged 16 months, to the day nursery on the university's campus. She says: "Having family look after Arwen wasn't an option because we haveGranny is safely back home after two weeks childminding three, and sometimes four, grandchildren.
Aug 11 2010 - Aug 11 2010Back on home turf she says she feels as if she never went away. This is good news as it means she hasn?t got any visible scars from the campaign. She claims not to have mental scars either, which is a miracle as I often feel in need of therapy after a week?s summer holiday with the kids, their friends and the inevitable rain that accompanies them. Right on cue the bad weather started when term ended. Grannies are big business in the childminding world now. If they don?t live nearby they are summoned across the miles to help their working offspring who would otherwise be bankrupted bChildminders unveil new beach hut after arson attack
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - South Devon Herald ExpressA CHILDMINDING group has opened its Teignmouth beach hut after it was virtually destroyed by vandals earlier this year. The Estuary and Coastal Childminders re-opened the restored hut in front of children, parents and councillors. The hut, belonging to the group, had been installed on The Point in May so minders could give the children they look after days out to the beach. Just a day after it was built, its roof was torn off and burnt. It left the group devastated and having to foot the bill for a new one. After an appeal in the Herald Express, it had some offers of donations forHalf 'would split maternity leave'
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 - Belfast TelegraphAround half of women would split their maternity leave with their partner if they had the opportunity, new research reveals. Mothers-to-be in Dublin were slightly less willing to share their time away from work than their counterparts in Ulster, Connaught and Munster. Mothers are entitled to 26 weeks maternity leave together with 16 weeks of unpaid time away. The online survey of 1,000 women also found that more than two-thirds would rather stay at home than go back to employment after their baby is born. Half of women aged between 16 and 24 were more eager to get back to the grind,20,000 under-fives at risk of neglect or ill-treatment with 'inadequate' nurseries or carers
30th July 2010 - Express.co.ukThousands of young children are at risk of suffering neglect or ill-treatment with their nursery, creche or child minder, according to watchdogs. More than 850 childcare providers, catering for nearly 20,000 children, were found to be ?inadequate? at safeguarding the under-fives in their care. A further 10,990, catering for more than 200,000 children, were merely ?satisfactory? at keeping children safe. In total, nearly one in three childcare facilities - 29 per cent - were failing to adhere to ?good? standards of safety and welfare for youngsters, Ofsted discovered. Nearly 6,000 havMale childminder struggles to find work in Shropshire
Friday 30th July 2010 - shropshirestar.comIt?s a tough job that most men would shy away from but one Oswestry man stepped up to the challenge to get the vocation of his dreams. Yet despite securing the qualification to become a registered childminder 35-year-old Scott Hebson says he is finding it hard to get clients in his new job. ?It is a struggle being a childminder in Oswestry as it is very quiet anyway but on top of that is hard because I am a bloke,? he said. ?I wanted a new career. My wife went back to work and I have been training to become a child minder. I was registered last month. ?I am being victimised because I
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