Single Dad, working nights!

Fosterdog

If it's a bit out of the way for her to stay with her nan could her nan come and stay at yours for the nights she's alone?

Are there any other relatives who could stay? If you could get three relatives to each stay one night a week it may not put them out too much.

Even if you could cut it down to just one night a week she is alone it would show you have made an improvement.

In the meantime if you are still looking for some type of emergency alarm for her it would be worth looking into lost phone apps if she has a smart phone. If you need to alert her you can log in on your iPad and trigger a lost phone alarm to wake her and they usually also have GPS tracking.

I know others have said taking her to work with you would be a good option but I don't agree, she should have the comfort of sleeping in her own bed with her own things around her. She has already had the upheaval of leaving her mother's house and is at a delicate age for a girl where she is likely to need home comforts and not put in a strange room in a hotel.

Maybe going to work with you is an option for one night a week but anymore may affect her sleeping which will have an effect on her schooling.

mummyroysof3

Sounds like you have had some good suggestions. Do you know any students who would stay at yours those nights over the summer to earn some money. I also wonder if looking at alarms what about those the elderly have via a button to press in an emergency. Will she be staying at her mums more over summer as school attendance won't be an issue?

FBaby

Do you know any students who would stay at yours those nights over the summer to earn some money.

What an excellent suggestion, I can think of a number of uni students who would be very happy with this arrangement for just a bit of extra money.

aniahill

When I was 12 I used to baby sit overnight for a 2 and 5 year old - so similar situation, but no mobiles, no internet, dodgy phone connections due to being in the sticks and extra responsibility.

I personally wouldn't worry about the safety of a child in that situation and I hope this is the way SS see it

duchy

FBaby wrote: »

What an excellent suggestion, I can think of a number of uni students who would be very happy with this arrangement for just a bit of extra money.

You can advertise through the student union at University of Kent -they have a job site on the web specifically for students.

Mojisola

rpc wrote: »

I would start trying to make changes.

SS have said that the current setup is not acceptable to them. In their eyes, you can either be the parent that cares and tries to make changes or you can be the parent that has been told you need to change but is just ignoring them.

I suspect you are a long way down their list of priorities (and they are likely to be overworked) but they will get to you eventually.

Is paying someone to babysit overnight an option? All they have to do is sleep, really so you might find some willing people.

I agree with all this. If, by the time they get round to seeing you, you can show that you have already made changes, they will see you as a very compliant client, heave a sigh of relief and close your file.

Skulls

Duchy....It was Shepway, not a million miles away. If I had to pay anyone, I might as well take another day off my work week and claim more child tax credits/rent/council tax not that I'm claiming any yet. I've yet to claim child benefit, I only told her Mum I was about to. I will look into working less hours and see how I would be money wise, might be another way around the matter, not the way I wanted to do it but, it would give me some time to set up a self employed business.

duchy

I'd definitely crunch the numbers regarding benefits. I found working part-time left me better off as a single Mum than working full-time by the time I'd calculated all expenses in and the tax credits.

Obviously you need to be claiming Child Benefit first so make sure you put your claim for that in as everything leads from who is claiming it.

Spendless

If finding a babysitter to sleep over isn't feasible and I can see it's possibly an issue in a 2 bed house that someone will have just been sleeping in your bed when you come in from working a night shift and want to go to sleep yourself, I thought your idea of letting your daughter sleep the night at the hotel where you work was a good one, as long as your manager would be ok with you doing that.