The non-collection of children policy

Statement of intent

In the event that a child is not collected by an authorised adult at the end of a pre-school session/day, Winyates Playgroup puts into practice agreed procedures. These ensure the child is cared for safely by an experienced and qualified practitioner who is known to the child.

Aim

In the event that a child is not collected by an authorised adult, we will ensure that the child receives a high standard of care in order to cause as little distress as possible. We inform parents/carers of our procedures so that, if they are unavoidably delayed, they will be reassured that their children will be properly cared for.

Procedures

1. Parents of children starting at the pre-school are asked to provide specific information which is recorded on our Registration Form, including:

• home address and telephone number - if the parents do not have a telephone, an alternative number must be given, perhaps a neighbour's;
• place of work, address and telephone number (if applicable);
• mobile telephone number (if applicable);
• names, addresses, and telephone numbers of adults who are authorised by the parents to collect their child from pre-school, for example a childminder or grandparent; and
• information about any person who does not have legal access to the child.

2. On occasions when parents are aware that they will not be at home or in their usual place of work, they record how they can be contacted on our signing in/out Sheet.

3. On occasions when the regular parents or the persons normally authorised to collect the child are not able to collect the child, we must be advised of the substituting person, verbally and in our signing in/out sheet. We agree with parents how the identification of the person who is to collect their child will be verified.

4. If a person other than the parent or the persons normally authorised to collect the child arrives to collect a child we will always contact the parent for agreement to release the child to the collecting persons care. If contact and agreement cannot be achieved the child will not be released and will be held pending arrival of the parent or the persons normally authorised to collect the child, and/or we will apply our child protection procedures as set out in our child protection policy.

5. Parents are informed that if they are not able to collect the child as planned, they must inform us so that we can begin to take back-up procedures. We provide parents with our contact telephone number. We also inform parents that - in the event that their children are not collected from pre-school by an authorised adult and the staff can no longer supervise the child in our premises - we apply our child protection procedures as set out in our child protection policy.

6. If a child is not collected at the end of the session/day, we follow the following procedures:

• the signing in /out sheet is checked for any information about changes to the normal collection routines;
• if no information is available, parents/carers are contacted at home or at work;
• if this is unsuccessful, the adults who are authorised by the parents to collect their child from pre-school - and whose telephone numbers are recorded on the Registration Form - are contacted;
• all reasonable attempts are made to contact the parents/carers, for example a neighbour is contacted, other agencies are contacted or another member of staff visits the child's home;
• the child stays at pre-school in the care of two fully-vetted workers until the child is safely collected;
• the child does not leave the premises with anyone other than those named on the Registration Form, in the signing in/out book, police or in exceptional circumstances, agreed by the parent after specific contact.
• if no-one collects the child and the premises are closing, or staff are no longer available to care for the child, we apply the procedures set out in our Child Protection Policy. We contact the police on telephone number 101.
• a full written report of the incident is recorded; and
• depending on circumstances, we reserve the right to charge parents for the additional hours worked by our staff.

This policy was originally adopted at a meeting of Winyates Playgroup Pre-school

12/03/2007

Held on (date)

Julie Skipp

Signed on behalf of the pre-school