Lost Child

The care of your child is paramount and we will always try to ensure that they remain with us and are safe.

However sometimes children can become “lost” in busy places and therefore as responsible childminders we have written a procedure that will be followed in the unlikely event of this happening.

• We will immediately raise the alarm to all around us that we have lost a child and enlist the help of everyone to look for them
• If it is a secure area such as a shopping centre, we will quickly alert the security staff so they can seal off exits and monitor the situation on any CCTV system
• We will provide everyone involved in the search with a description of the child.
• We will reassure the other children with us, as they may be distressed
• We will then alert the police and provide a full description and relevant information which will assist them in their search
• We will then alert the parent(s)/carers of the situation
• We will then inform Ofsted.

We take precautions to avoid situations like this happening by implementing the following measures:

• Ensuring the children hold our hands or the pushchairs whilst we are out, and/or the use of wrist straps and harnesses
• Avoid going to places that are overcrowded
• On outings the children carry cards on them with our contact details and information which states that the child is being cared for by a registered childminder and who to contact if the child is found
• We teach the children about the dangers of wandering off and of stranger danger
• We also have badges that the children wear whilst out with our contact number printed on