The Northern Ireland Childminding Association (NICMA) has launched a social media campaign to reinforce the importance of parents using registered childminders to care for their children in the Western Health and Social Care Trust area as the numbers of registered childminders decline.

“Over a four year period the Western Health and Social Care Trust area has seen a decline in registered childminders from 580 in March 2015 to 504 in March 2019,” revealed Patricia Lewsley-Mooney, NICMA CEO.

“This represents a decrease of 12 per cent and a reduction of 456 day care places in the Trust area. We believe that this campaign will reinforce to parents the importance of using a registered childminder and that it may prompt unregistered childminders to get registered. By completing the relevant mandatory training, Access NI checks and getting public liability insurance in place, they will be helping to not only keep the children in their care safe, but to protect themselves,” she added.

Fiona Scallon Farrell, a registered childminder from Enniskillen who has been childminding and a member of NICMA for over two decades welcomes the campaign.

Fiona said: “I love childminding. I’ve been doing the job for over 23 years and every day I have a real sense of job satisfaction. The interactions with the children in my care are fun. You can really see children grow, develop and learn. Childminding plays a transformative role in children’s lives. The training, checks and visits are critical to keep the children safe and it’s only what you would expect, if you were leaving your child with someone to ensure peace of mind.”

Commenting that “children are precious, they need to be safe”, Fiona added: “As a registered childminder, I am professional in my approach and I am committed to continuous personal development and training to ensure I deliver a service to the best of my ability. I would encourage others to consider childminding as a career. It is so rewarding and the flexibility it offers means you can choose how many hours you wish to work every week.”

For the last 35 years NICMA has been delivering supporting services for registered childminders who provide 16,284 day care places for children across Northern Ireland.

Patricia discusses the integrated communications campaign, which is being funded by the Western Childcare Partnership and supported by Family Support NI.

“We felt that it was important to get parents to think about their choice of childminder. We know that parents ultimately want to keep their children safe, and some parents will feel that they have a choice to make between using a registered childminder or an unregistered childminder,” said Patricia.

She continued: “However, quite simply there is no choice. The law is very clear, anybody looking after children for more than two hours a day, for reward, must register with the Health and Social Care Trust. This is to keep children safe. Registered childminders will have completed Access NI Checks on all individuals in the household over the age of 10 and will have Public Liability insurance.”