Opinion: Letters

GIVE THESE NANNY MOTHERS A CHANCE

I would like to express my disappointment at employers' and nanny agencies' discriminatory attitude towards nanny mothers as highlighted in 'Nanny mothers "out of work"' (News, 10 December 2009).

When I was a nanny, I took my daughter to work with me from the age of eight months to about eight years, and it was always a resounding success, as my many glowing references will testify.

All my employers mentioned what an asset my daughter was to their own children, and the many gifts that she was showered with at Christmas and birthdays bore testament to this. We were even taken on an all-expenses-paid holiday by one of our families!

Such an arrangement brings advantages to both parents and children. First, being a mother made me a much more empathetic practitioner. Second, the children, no matter what age, benefited from having another child to play, share and interact with. In fact, my daughter often became the main attraction when we arrived in the mornings - which occasionally helped when a child didn't want their parents to leave for the day. I also did free babysitting swaps with one family, so the children would have sleepovers in comfortable and familiar surroundings.

Apparently, one concern that parents have about employing a nanny mother is what would happen if the nanny's child were suddenly taken ill. This happened only once in my experience, and a nanny friend stepped in to help.

A second concern among parents is that the nanny will favour her child over those of her employer. I certainly did not, and still felt that I could be a good mother and nanny as long as all the children had their needs met.

I really feel that these mothers are being judged before being given a chance to prove themselves and both employers and nanny agencies are missing out by being prejudiced.

Emma Marden, early years lecturer

- Letter of the Week wins £30 worth of books

LOCKED UP CHILDREN

I am writing in response to your article on child detention ('Locked up', 6 August 2009) and in my capacity as co-ordinator of End Child Detention Now.

Our campaign began as a successful citizens' initiative to release two-year-old Ibrahim Hazar from Yarl's Wood Immigration Detention Centre, where he and his parents were being held pending their removal to Turkey in July 2009.

Ibrahim, who was born in Barnsley and has an extended family living in York, was separated from his mother during her routine visit to her local police station. After four days with his aunt in York, Ibrahim was taken to his parents, then transported with them to Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, where he spent more than three weeks behind razor wire.

He repeatedly asked why he could not go home, cried for his cousins and was extremely distressed when hearing the desperate pleas of other detainees being taken to board planes. We urged the Home Office to reconsider the family's asylum claim, and the Hazar family now have indefinite leave to remain.

But Ibrahim's case is not an isolated one. Many children under the age of 17 have spent weeks or months in immigration detention centres prior to deportation or while their case is under Home Office consideration. The terrible impact of this draconian practice is outlined in the Lorek Report (www.childrenssociety.org.uk/resources/documents/media/18565-full.pdf).

At End Child Detention Now, we are aware that through an accident of birth we have the security that so many asylum-seeking children can only dream of and no longer feel able to ignore the fact that children are locked up by our Government in our name. We hope that Nursery World readers will support us in our campaign to end this inhumane and unnecessary practice.

Momentum is growing and we know the campaign is winnable. Please sign our petition at: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoChildDetention. For sample letters to MPs and information on how else to become involved, visit our website at www.ecdn.org.

Mary McCormack, co-ordinator, End Child Detention Now

- Send your letters to ... The Editor, Nursery World, 174 Hammersmith Road, London W6 7JP; letter.nw@haymarket.com; 020 8267 8401.