Posted on March 5, 2008 in latest news
English parents need to think twice before they leave their toddlers at private nurseries and daycare centers. An eight-month investigative program initiated by the BBC discovered that these centers do not check the carer’s criminal records and references before hiring them to take care of young children.
BBC reporter Imogen Willcocks worked undercover with her colleagues inspecting 700 nurseries in Britain and affirmed that she would send her children to only 5 of these centers.
She also found that most trainers were less than 21 years of age and had no clue what they were supposed to be doing. Each childminder sometimes had to take care of 10-13 children at a time.
She also severely criticized Ofsted, a government agency in Britain that regulates childminders and nurseries. As a final part of her investigation she borrowed a large house, completely unsuitable to accommodate young children and applied for a childminder’s license.
“I admitted to the Ofsted inspector who visited that I had no fireguard, no first aid kit, no stairgates, no safety glass or socket covers. I didn’t even have a table for the children to sit at.
But I did say I had a wish-list containing all those items and planned to install them. That was enough for the inspector and I got the go-ahead. No one ever came back to check up that I had put them in place,” she said.
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