childminder?

affordmylife

im thinking of re registering as a childminder after a period of time working in a special needs school and having previously worked as a childminder pre ofsted.

do you think there would be a demand for childminders specifically for disabled children/teenagers and in light of the fact that i would not be able to care for a number at a time would it be appropriate to charge more??

i dont want that to sound wrong but i do want to earn a reasonable wage.

any ideas???

tessie_bear

i looked into setting up as a child minder a couple of years ago and got a very useful booklet from local council....your could do the same ? have u spoken to the parents at the school to see if they use childminders....could u speak to a current childminder for advice ?....good luck

munchings-n-crunchings

Hello affordmylife.

I think there may be issues with the term 'childminder' and the idea of charging more for a disabled child. As a childminder, you would not be able to say you only accept disabled children, and would therefore need to charge the same for both.
I think there would be an issue of an unfair practice or the DDA, in charging one price if someone is disabled, and another price if someone is not.

I suggest you look into it further, and seek advice from the National Childminders Association

http://www.ncma.org.uk

Regards
Munchie

sharon59

In my area there are respite avaiable with families for those with disabilities.This does mean overnight care though not sure if thats what your looking for.I would start with your local learning disibilities team-you will get pointed in right direction for any options available.

affordmylife

thats exactly what i was thinking.

i totally dont want to exclude anyone but on the other hand i want to do this in order to help parents of disabled children/young adults.

i will look into your suggestions and am wondering if perhaps what i want to offer is respite care rather than child care as such.

thank you all the replies.

allydowd

You probably couldn't say "I only take disabled children", but you could advertise in places where there are lots of disabled children...

Savvy_Sue

allydowd wrote: »

You probably couldn't say "I only take disabled children", but you could advertise in places where there are lots of disabled children...

And you could charge everyone at the top end of the going rate in your area, if you think you could make a living not being full to capacity.

However I think the adult:child ratios for childminding only apply up to the age of 8, so if you are offering to take teenagers as well then the respite thing may well be more what you are offering.

sheeps68

As a person who works within the system I'd suggest you contact the early years team at your local authority. I'm sure they'd be very pleased to hear from you as I know they often have difficulty in finding childminders who will take special children. If they cant perhaps they'll point you in right direction.

tsstss7

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And you could charge everyone at the top end of the going rate in your area, if you think you could make a living not being full to capacity.

However I think the adult:child ratios for childminding only apply up to the age of 8, so if you are offering to take teenagers as well then the respite thing may well be more what you are offering.

I was going to say something similar - if you charged a slightly higher rate to all, stated that you have experience with disabled children coupled with targeted ads you might be able to fill your desired number of places with higher paying individuals (who may or may not be disabled) without falling foul of any special rules.

I'm sure a mother with a special needs child would be happier to place them with a child care provider with a degree of knowledge regarding their needs.

affordmylife

thanks for all the lovely replies and suggestions. i really appreciate it.

i shall aim towards the ideas given.