Babysitting Is Illegal?

The British government has unleashed yet another obstacle for working mothers everywhere.

Two female police officers, both mothers, have been taking turns caring for each others’ children while one of them works. Their arrangement has been declared illegal and the Department for Children, Schools, and Families (DCSF) wants them to each register as a child minder and undergo criminal checks.

Apparently if child minding is less than 2 hours a day or less than 14 days a year no registration is required, but any more and it is.

Because there was a “reward” involved, the DCSF declared it a childminding business, rather than a social arrangement.

Reward is not just a case of money changing hands. The supply of services or goods and, in some circumstances, reciprocal arrangements can also constitute reward.

I am horrified that this has happened. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of working mothers who have set up reciprocal arrangements with other working families to help care for children.

Often times families can’t afford the high prices of childcare and working together with friends is what allows these women (and men) to fulfill their career aspriations while ensuring their children are safe and sound.

Family members are exempt from this rule. But what if you don’t live near your family? Or what if your family members have their own jobs every day? Or what if your parents are too old to care for a small child? Or what if you don’t have a good relationships and wouldn’t want to leave your children with your parents?

There are many reasons why cooperating with other working families is a great idea and I think it should be encouraged.

The DCSF is reviewing “the interpretation of the word ‘reward’ in this particular case”. And a petition to scrap the rules governing reciprocal child care on the Number 10 website had gathered more than 6,446 signatures by 10:15 GMT today.

If someone was caring for a number of children for a majority of the time I could see why maybe they should be registered as a childcare service. But to have a law in which 2 hours or more constitutes a business is absurd.

They need to re-examine this law and come up with a more practical definition, because, in its current state, this law criminalises hundreds of working families and will force people to spend money they do not have or to drop out of the workforce entirely.

Maybe this would have worked 40 years ago, when fathers were usually the only breadwinner, but our society has evolved to the point where both parents need to work to support the family and the government needs to be aware of that and needs to support that, rather than criminalising working families.