New Rules and Challenges for Childminders in the Netherlands

“Children point to the slide that they see through the window in the front garden, but they are no longer allowed to play on it. I have only put a few cars in the lawn,” says Jenny Hoogenboom-Angevare (34). As a childminder, she is responsible for five children a day, including her own daughter.

That slide has not been allowed to be used for three weeks. All childminders’ playground equipment must be inspected in accordance with the Commodities Act Decree on Attraction and Play Equipment (WAS). This was recently ruled by the District Court of Rotterdam in a case brought by a childminder against the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). Trade organization for host parents Nysa then advised host parents to immediately stop letting children play on the devices.

Professionalise

For Jenny it is yet another tightening of rules. Just last week, Minister Karien van Gennip announced that she wants to reduce the major differences in quality in childminding. The vast majority of childminders offer high-quality childcare, but for one in five the pedagogical content leaves much to be desired. Children are not stimulated enough in their development there.

“Parents must be able to trust that their child is in good hands at the shelter,” says Van Gennip. It is therefore taking a number of measures to eliminate the differences. “I understand that this means a major turnaround for some childminder agencies and childminders, but in the end this will lead to better quality of childcare.”

Pedagogical module

This means that childminders must become more professional. For example, they must follow a pedagogical module to become childminders, continue to receive further training and the mandatory back-up must be present within fifteen minutes in case of calamities. In addition, pedagogical coaching will become an obligatory part of the supervision of childminders. From now on, they must therefore have pedagogical expertise at at least higher vocational education level.

To achieve this, the maximum hourly rate will be increased by 21 cents. “A joke,” says Jenny. “It just won’t be affordable anymore. For the 6.85 I get per hour per child, I have to pay the gas bill – which was high last winter with three babies crawling on the floor -, take out health insurance, disability insurance, pension, I don’t get paid during holidays or in case of illness. Fruit is getting more and more expensive, so are craft supplies. How am I supposed to do this?”

‘No more to do’

She understands that quality comes first, which is also important to her. “Twice a year, every cupboard is opened here and checked to see if I comply with all the rules. Fine. We recently moved and this new house has a large extension where I take care of the children. We took all regulations into account during the renovation; extra smoke detectors, no visible heating, lockable rooms, no more camp beds. Now it is being tightened up again. It is simply impossible to do. If this continues, I will stop. This makes me so sad.”

According to Jenny, increasing her hourly rate is difficult. “The reimbursement that parents are allowed to ask for is a lot lower with host parents than with regular childcare. All host parents will therefore sit around the same rate, otherwise you will cut yourself in the fingers. But I just can’t get out with those 6 euros. Not at all if I also have to buy a new approved playground equipment for that.”

More flexible and cheaper

Gastouderopvang is a small-scale form of childcare that offers more flexibility to parents. A childminder often takes care of children at home or she or he comes to the house. Particularly for care workers and other people who work at varying times, childminding is often a solution.

A childminder is much cheaper than regular childcare. Parents who bring their children there are entitled to childcare allowance. About 100,000 children use childcare with a childminder. A childminder may care for a maximum of six children aged 0 to 12 at the same time. Young children of the host parent are included in this.

‘Prepared for the future’

Beate Gunnink is a childminder who complies with all the rules that will soon be expected of her. She recently completed the six-month training as a pedagogical coach (cost: 1500 euros). She has installed a new extraction system because of corona (also about 1500 euros), adjusted all smoke detectors and sockets (30 euros per socket due to internal security) and she can continue like this for a while. “I want to go on for years and I want to be prepared for the future.”

She takes care of the children in her old farm in Ommen, the adjoining stable has been converted into a childcare facility. “This gives me all the space to care for six children a day and the adjustments required by the government are profitable. This is not possible for host parents who only have two or three children.”

‘Expensive’

Partly because of Beate’s childminding company, the family with three children moved to this farm. “We come from a terraced house. I started there as a childminder, but the government demanded that there should be more space and sufficient playground for the children.” Now she has a space of 100 m2 with its own kitchen and bathroom, bedroom for the children and with a large piece of land around it with a playground, trampoline and a playhouse. “But they have not yet been approved, so they are officially no longer allowed to play in them.”

The workload is high and she is cost-driven, she says. “It is getting worse. The GGD used to check whether the playground equipment was sound and good. Now we have to have all equipment inspected. Until then, we have to go to a public playground outside our own area. In my opinion, the journey there and playing is there much more unclear and therefore with more risk.”

Nevertheless, Beate continues to invest. “The work is just fantastic. Because it is so small, I know all the children well. They help each other with shoes and coats, or if a biscuit has fallen. In addition, there is always something to do on this farm with rabbits and chickens. For now, I’ll just go along with the changes.”

Price tag

Interest organization BOinK is pleased that the rules for childminding are finally being tightened. “But it is much too late,” chairman Gjalt Jellesma said earlier to RTL Nieuws. “It should have happened a long time ago.” BOinK has been advocating for this for years.

The Childcare Branch Organization also agrees with higher requirements for pedagogical skills in particular, but the organization fears that the number of providers of childminder care will fall further if the cabinet does not want to increase the maximum reimbursement by more than 21 cents per hour, while it does have higher requirements. sets the quality.

“Gastouderopvang is a unique and irreplaceable form of childcare that helps parents with irregular shifts or parents who live in sparsely populated areas where no school can be found anymore,” says Emmeline Bijlsma, director of the trade association. “Achieving good quality also comes with a price tag.”