More frequent childcare mistakes due to understaffing, ‘this will go wrong once’

• Francesco Interma

  Interior editor

• Anna Mees

  online editor

Beds not closed properly, children lying in the sun for too long on outdoor beds, not getting their own food or sometimes not having a bottle. These are examples of mistakes being made in childcare. Supervisor GGD GHOR Nederland says staff shortages are putting pressure on the quality and safety of childcare and sounding the alarm in The Hague.

During their inspections, GGD supervisors most often identify shortcomings related to staff shortages. And that, they say, comes with risks.

“We see that in most cases things are going well, but due to staff shortages, more reception locations are breaking the low limit,” says Director Ton Coenen of GGD GHOR Netherlands. The GGD umbrella organization sent a letter in mid-November expressing its concerns to the ministries of social affairs and education.

Whether the deficiencies lead to harm in children, Coenen can’t say. “But we haven’t drawn up the requirements that the GGDs control for nothing. They have to ensure the safety and health of children. The risk of things going wrong is increasing.” The sector relies too heavily on employees who are still in training, sees the umbrella, whether in daycare, out-of-school care (BSO) or pre-primary education (VE).

In day-to-day work, GGD supervisor Jean-Peter Brizzi in North Limburg sees the effect of the staff shortage: “We work very hard and it’s usually fine. But I often see problems that arise because the employees are inexperienced or don’t know the children of In the summer, for example, children sometimes stay too long in the sun outside on their sunbeds, or stay longer in the bedroom because a substitute worker doesn’t hear them right away. serious.”

These signals also reach the parents. “We hear more and more about accidents,” says chairman Gjalt Jellesma of the interest group for parents in childcare (Boink). “By the babies who didn’t miss the BSO as they came home in cribs that didn’t close properly.” Even the Foundation for Working Parents sees that quality is under pressure.

Due to the many replacements and the change of employment, the job falls mainly on the shoulders of permanent employees who know children, according to the professional association for pedagogical professionals Ppink.

“They really fail to deliver very high quality every day,” says director Myrte van Gurp. Examples are babies who have received the wrong food or no bottle of milk. Or a child who wasn’t put to bed when he was supposed to, or who was pulled out of bed much later when he was already awake.

“This is going to go wrong once. People from our supporters are afraid that something might happen that could have been prevented. There is high absenteeism, people just can’t handle it or they say, ‘I don’t know if I still want it, responsible for what it wants to be’.”

Van Gurp also says he is “extremely proud” of the generally high quality in childcare. “That’s exactly why it hurts so much that now we can’t achieve what we strive so hard for: to deliver the best quality.”

The Child Care Branch Organization (BK) is also concerned. The poor bond between child and employee that exists in some places can lead to problems, says director Emmeline Bijlsma.

“You have to get to know the kids, especially when they’re so young and they can’t tell you what’s going on.” According to Bijlsma, childcare providers are facing a “huge dilemma”. “Work with substitutes and then compromise on quality, or close the group.”

The Branch Association for Social Childcare (BMK) is calling for more vigilance. President Loes Ypma wants to talk to the GGD, just like in the days of the corona virus, when the industry was working with a “force majeure plan”. “Even in the event of a staff shortage, we will always continue to offer responsible childcare, because all children deserve good and safe childcare, otherwise unfortunately we will have to close temporarily.”

A social affairs spokesman says in a response that safety must always come first in childcare. “If you can’t provide a safe and responsible environment for children, the only solution, however annoying, is to (temporarily) close a group.” According to him, the minister closely monitors the situation in childcare and is in constant consultation with the sector.