Parent's Page
What is Family Child Care?
Family Child Care is the care of children from babies up to the age of twelve years in the registered person's family home. Registration includes an assessment of the person's suitability to care for children and the suitability of the premises.
This involves:
- attendance at two pre-registration meetings;
- a 'fit person' check, which includes a police check on the applicant and all members of the household over the age of sixteen years;
- a health check and personal references on the applicant;
- a visit to the premises by the Manager of Child Care Registration for an assessment of safety and hygiene of the premises, and suitability of the applicant to care for children;
- a second assessment by the Family Child Care Officer to ensure adequate age appropriate toys and equipment are available before children are cared for;
- obtaining public liability insurance before a certificate of registration is issued
Depending on a successful audit and the outcome of unannounced follow up and pop in visits, the Family Child Carer will be re-registered on an annual basis. The annual audit includes self evaluation and consultation with parents.
Using childcare in a home environment can be more flexible than some other forms of childcare. Also, the children can enjoy real-life learning experiences like cooking, shopping, gardening, mealtimes and outings to the park and library. The childcarers can be spontaneous too – an unexpected sunny or snowy day is a great opportunity for outdoor play and learning.
Adult / Child Ratio Family Child Care
Certain conditions apply when calculating the adult child ratio in family child care, and this calculation must take into account the persons own children under the age of twelve years who are residing in the family home.
Taking this into account the adult child ratio in Family Child Care is:
- no more than three children below the age of full time school entry can be cared for at any one time, which includes the family child carers own children;
- if caring for a total of two children under the age of school entry, no more than one child must be below the age of one year;
- if caring for a total of three children under the age of school entry more that one child must be under the age of eighteen months;
- no more that six children under the age of twelve years must be cared for at any one time, and this includes no more than three children below the age of school entry
Managing Children's Behaviour
Registered family child carers must not inflict any form of physical or emotional punishment on children in their care. Such punishment is defined as smacking, slapping, shaking, humiliating a child or forcing them to eat or drink against their will.
Even if parents want this form of punishment used with their child, registered family child carers cannot comply with this request. Nor can family childcare carers be involved in force feeding or ridiculing a child in any way.
Ways of dealing with unacceptable behaviour must be discussed with parents so the child's behaviour is handled consistently by both. Ideas on dealing with children's behaviour can be very different so it is suggested that a time is set aside to talk when the child is not present.
Family child carers are provided with training on how to manage behaviour in a positive way.
If the family child carer is aware that the child is not behaving in the usual way, they will discuss it with the parent and ask if there could be any reasons for the change. They expect that if there are any changes to the child's normal routine or social or family life, parents will let them know.
If there is a Court Order giving one parent more rights than the other, it is important that the family child carer is provided with this information, so it can be included in the child's personal details.
Personal Details on Each Child
Family child carers must keep an individual record on each child containing the following information:
- name by which the child is known, both first name and surname;
- date of birth, home address and telephone number;
- parent's address and telephone number;
- an alternative contact name, address and telephone number in the case of emergencies;
- name of child's health visitor;
- details of allergies and special dietary requirements;
- record of immunisation
Policy on Illness and Exclusion after Illness
Registered family child carers receive training on infection control from the Environmental Health Officer on how to avoid cross contamination when a child in their care has a contagious illness. Child are, therefore, required to stay at home for a period of time after sickness, diarrhoea or childhood illness.
It is important that the family child carer is told if a child is taking any medication or has been in contact with anyone with a contagious disease.
Only prescribed medication can be given by family child carers and written parental permission must be given on each occasion the child requires prescribed medicine or treatment. If a child has an accident before being left in the care of the family child carer, it is important that the person is given an explanation of the event, so that he/she can watch your out for any after effects of the incident.
Outings
A registered family child carer is encouraged to provide a wide range of experiences for children in their care, which may include visits to shops, friends, pop in groups provided by the local family child care association, parks, the beach and other places of interest. However, they are advised that too many visits can be disruptive to the periods of exploratory free play which is necessary for young children's learning and development, for example constructive, imaginative and creative play and time to explore for babies and toddlers. These important aspects of learning are disrupted when children spend long periods of time travelling in a car.
As part of the requirements for registration that focus on the healthy all round development of children, family child carers are required to spend on average no more than 25% of time outside of the home, which is calculated in accordance with the overall time the child is in their care.
Questions to ask a Family Child Carer at Interview
- How long have you been a Family Child Carer?
- Why did you decide to become a Family Child Carer?
- Do you have any relevant qualifications?
- What training have you done?
- Do you belong to a Family Child Caring group or network?
- How many other children do you look after, how old are they and how long have you been looking after them?
- Do you have any children of your own?
- Can you describe a typical Family Child Caring day or week?
- How do you make sure you keep a good working relationship with parents?
- What arrangements do you have for meals and snacks?
- What do you consider unacceptable behaviour, and how do you deal with it?
- What would you do in an emergency involving yourself or one of the children?
- Do you ever take the children out in the car, and if so do you have suitable insurance cover, seat belts and car seats for this?
- Do you and the children regularly go on outings during the week?
- Do you have pets or a garden?
- What do you do about holidays - both ours and yours?
- How do you make sure the individual needs of each child are met?
- Please show me your registration and insurance certificates
- Can I see any references from parents?
- Can I see your policies?
For more information on child care and for the current Child Care Fee Survey conducted by the Jersey Child Care Trust, please click here