I have had to use alternative childcare solutions as a result of the trauma my child experienced when I sent her for an induction at my local nursery.
As I was new to the area I was unable to use word of mouth, which is the best reference for childcare.
After my daughter attended the nursery for several days, she refused to be left alone with anyone. When I took her swimming she refused to be handed over to a swimming instructor, and would scream and flail her arms around.
She would not let me out of her sight and would not go to sleep at bedtime without a lot of coaxing, yet before going to the nursery she went to sleep on her own. It took almost two months for her to get back to her normal behaviour and sleep pattern. I ended up paying a legal bill of more than 1,000 for the cost of a month's nursery provision that I did not use, as well as solicitor's fees.
As parents, we are not protected. Even health visitors recommend nurseries based on proximity rather than service, but they have no way of knowing otherwise unless parents tell them. The impression I get is that beggars can't be choosers, because nursery places are like gold dust and mothers need to go back to work.
Two weeks ago I thought that maybe I was being overprotective of my daughter, so I visited a local nursery. I almost fell down its rickety stairs which had old carpets - yet toddlers walk down them every day. I won't even mention how filthy with age everything was. How do these people get away with it?
If information about complaints against providers was available in the first instance, my daughter and I could have avoided this costly experience. I have not reported the incident to Ofsted because it seems its powers are ineffective, and that all the power is in the hands of the nursery.
Name and address supplied
