Statement on Childminder found Guilty of Neglect
“SCMA was shocked and saddened by this case. Our thoughts go out to all the families who have been affected, but we would wish to stress that incidents of this nature are extremely rare and we do not believe it is in any way reflective of childminding.
“The safety and wellbeing of children is of paramount importance within the childcare sector. Childminding is a high-quality registered form of childcare, with robust child protection, safeguarding and quality assurance processes in place.
“All childminders in Scotland are required by law to undergo a formal registration process with the Care Inspectorate in the same way as all other registered childcare providers, and this involves the successful completion of disclosure checks (PVG and criminal record) for the childminder and their family, and home visits from the Care Inspectorate.
“Childminders undertake child protection training as part of the registration process and throughout their career. They are also required to keep up-to-date with national guidance and to ensure their own Child Protection policy and procedures are reviewed and updated regularly.
“Childminding is recognised as a high-quality form of childcare with childminders consistently achieving high ratings across all quality criteria through independent inspections by the Care Inspectorate.
“While the majority of childminders are sole practitioners, additional checks and balances are also provided by parents and carers entering childminding settings which are also based within their local communities.
“Recognising the gravity of this case, it is really important that we understand what factors contributed to this, so that learning can be taken from it and applied by all involved to prevent recurrence. However, we should also be careful to ensure that the actions of one individual are not allowed to undermine the high-quality support provided by the childminding workforce to families around Scotland."
Graeme McAlister
Chief Executive, SCMA