Sitter Services

Sitter Services provide lone parents with childcare in the parent's own home. Some services have been established mainly to give lone parents a regular break from their caring responsibilities. More recently, OPFS has been developing Sitter Services to provide registered, accessible and affordable child care for working parents and students who need care outside the usual working week or where children are very different ages or have special needs.

OPFS is funded by the Scottish Executive to develop Sitter Services at a national level.
Contact the Development Manager for further details.
Ann McKenzie
Email:annmckenzie@opfs.org.uk
Tel: 01382 513933 a
Address: 101 Whitfield Drive, Dundee DD4 0DX

Childcare @ Home Aberdeenshire...
Childcare @ Home Angus...
Childcare @ Home Dundee...
Childcare @ Home North Lanarkshire...
Childcare @ Home Renfrewshire...

A Scottish Executive Study of the Costs and Benefits of The Sitter Service in Scotland

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National Sitter Service Development

In 1997 OPFS compiled a Directory of Sitter Services in Scotland including information on how to establish new services. In 1998 an informal network of Sitter Services was started by us.

This Network meets every 6 months to share experiences and to discuss ways of developing the work which we do. Through this Network we have successfully lobbied for official recognition of Sitter Services. As a result the New Opportunities Fund are prepared to fund Sitter Services to provide out of school and holiday care and the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care will officially register Sitter Services alongside other forms of childcare from April 2003.

OPFS is represented on the Working Party which is drawing up the standards for such services. We have also spread the word nationally to other agencies who are interested in establishing similar services and an e-mail list of interested people has been established. (contact suerobertson@opfs.org.uk)

The Daycare Trust have also featured our Childcare @ Home Dundee as an example of innovative provision for shift workers. Our example has also been taken up by Bradford Gingerbread (www.gingerbread.org.uk) and by Span in Bristol.

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Sitter Services as Child Care

In 1998 OPFS was invited by City Of Dundee Social Work Department to submit a proposal to establish a Sitter Service to provide registered child-care in parent's own home. This we did and funding was initially granted for a 2 year period. The service was established in 1999 and has been running successfully ever since.
More on Childcare @ Home Dundee...

In 2001 OPFS was approached by the North Lanarkshire Childcare Partnership to tender to establish a Sitter Service for the whole of North Lanarkshire. A successful bid was submitted in partnership with One Plus and the service started operating in June 2002.
More on Childcare @ Home North Lanarkshire...

See also...
Childcare @ Home Aberdeenshire
Childcare @ Home Angus
Childcare @ Home Renfrewshire