Flexible, affordable home based child care & a varied opportunity to work with children.

With 61% of working families containing parents who work outwith regular 9-5 hours (Department of Education and Employment) there is now a great demand for childcare flexible enough to meet the needs of families.

What is a Sitter Service

A Sitter Service provides affordable, quality registered child care in the child's own home at times when other care is not available for families who are working or students (lone parents and two parents). The service will be available between 7am and 10.30pm seven days a week. Sitters look after children in the home, will take part in activities with children and will collect children from school or nursery. They are not expected to carry out household tasks. Parents using the service will pay an hourly fee according to their household income. This covers care of all their children. Sitters are police checked, have First Aid training and are trained, supervised and employed by the Service. As far as possible, the same Sitter will care for the child when the Service is used. .

Who runs the service

One Parent Families Scotland established the Sitter Service in partnership with One Plus, with funding from North Lanarkshire Childcare Partnership. We modelled the service on Childcare @ Home Dundee which has been running successfully for the last three years and has helped over 100 lone parent and two parent families.

Families interested in using the service should get in touch with the address below.

Families using the service are charged on a sliding scale according to family income to try to make the service more accessible for low income families. However, in common with other childcare services we are having to maximise the income which we obtain from parental fees. This means that it may take longer to provide a service to low income families and some existing users may be asked to reduce their use of the service, especially where there are alternative kinds of childcare available.

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How do I get information about using the service? If you are a working or student parent who might be interested in using the service, please contact the number below and you will be sent an Information Pack and Registration form.		How do I find out about working in the service? If you would be interested in working with the service, please contact the number below and we will send you an Information Pack and application form. We are looking for people aged 18 and over with experience of looking after children or an interest in doing so. If you do not have any formal qualifications, certified training on the job will be available. We are looking for men and women as Sitters, including people who have experience of caring for children with special needs.
For Information Packs contact the number below, stating whether you require a Family Pack or a Sitter Pack.
Comments from users of our current Childcare @ Home Dundee service "I use the service to fit in with shift patterns. The effect of no longer having a sitter would be devastating as I would be hard pushed to replace the service provided and the children would suffer as they have a relationship with the sitter they have." - Single Parent of 2 children aged 3 & 7 - Working "I use the service to attend meetings one evening a week and also for study evenings, school holidays, in service days and after school care. Without the Service, I would no longer be able to attend University or be on a committee meaning my future would revert back to tunnel without a light in it." - Single Parent of 2 children aged 4 & 8 - Student		Comments from sitters at Childcare @ Home Dundee "The flexibility of working hours means I still have time for my own family." "The variety of working with a number of different families is good." "Every day is different so I never get bored."

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Contact

Childcare@home North Lanarkshire
Dalziel Building
Suite 1.2
Scott Street
Motherwell
ML1 1PN
Tel: (01698) 250 025
Fax: (01698) 261 188
Email: northlanarkshire@childcareathome.org.uk

Project Manager: Anne Fullerton
Senior Administrator: Janette McLelland