Marion is a childminder and daycarer in Paisley under a scheme developed to meet the duty placed on councils by the Children Act to provide daycare for children in need.
The children might have emotional or behavioural problems, learning or physical difficulties, or their parents may be recovering from surgery or suffering from a terminal illness, depression or substance addiction.
In ten years of providing daycare, Marion has looked after many children whose parents are little more than children themselves. While these teenage mums return to full-time education to enable them to get work and support themselves, Marion cares for their babies and shares parenting skills with them along the way.
A study by the Thomas Coram Research Unit in London in 1999 found that although social workers referred daycare children to nurseries and playgroups as well as childminders, a higher proportion of the childminders were also asked to work with both parents and children.
It is this family approach which Marion finds so rewarding. She and her fellow daycarers in Renfrewshire have set up a support group to which they invite guest speakers. Their next speaker will be an oncology nurse, as several of the group are caring for children whose parents have cancer.
They also run a clothing bank. 'Sometimes the children can be unkempt. We have had them arrive with lice, nits and ringworm. The policy is that we must not demean the parents. I keep a stock of clothes so I can give the children a quick bath, wash their hair and pop them into the clothes I have got and then ten minutes before they go home I put them back into their clothes - which I will have washed. I'll just say to the mother, "The wee one got in such a mess eating her porridge so I have given her a quick wash and washed her clothes too." They are always pleased.'
* 'Sponsored Work', Nursery World, 14 January 1999, p12. The report Sponsored Daycare is available from the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.