incidents in childcare are on the rise
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Pedagogical employees have seen more and more things go wrong in childcare in recent years. This is evident from a poll by KinderopvangTotaal. From children falling out of bed to runaways: the number of incidents increased.
Of the more than 700 professionals in childcare – who work as a pedagogical employee, director or childminder, for example – half see that the number of incidents has increased in recent years. The other half mainly hear this from colleagues at other branches, through the GGD or in the news. The complaints desk of the Disputes Committee and BOinK, the interest group for parents, have recently received more reports about incidents in childcare. The director of GGD GHOR also warned of an increase.
More frequent incidents in childcare
When asked what kind of incidents these are, forgetting medication, changing and feeding is mentioned about 120 times. This also applies to children who run away (75 times) and children who are injured (73 times). A few examples of incidents are children that were not given to the right grandparents, children with their necks stuck in the loop of a bouncer and cribs that were not closed properly (as a result of which children fell out of bed). According to the professionals, staff shortages in particular play a major role in the increase in incidents. Regulatory pressure, inexperience of employees in the group, long working days, large groups and an increase in worry children are also mentioned as causes.
Read also: Frank works in childcare: ‘Men see me as a threat or as a ridiculous idiot’
Major concerns
Gjalt Jellesma, chairman of the Association of Parents in Childcare (BOinK), responds to the poll by KinderopvangTotaal: “BOinK is very shocked by the result of this poll. It confirms our deep concerns about the declining safety and loss of quality that we have been publicizing for more than a year now.” He continues: “The fact that no less than 75 times it is reported that children have run away can mean in practice that a child gets hit by a car or ends up in the water. […] The fact that basic things such as nutrition, changing or medication are forgotten is also typical of inexperienced employees and employees who are hardly familiar with the children.”
Source: KinderopvangTotal
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