Doreen: Retiring, not retiring!

Doreen Williams, a registered childminder in Bradford, began her childminding career in 1992, that's a fantastic 31 years. Looking after over 115 children, with 23 of these being siblings from children Doreen had cared for previously, they came back time after time, as children, now adults as taking their own children.

“When you’re a childminder, you don't just care for the child, you take on the whole family” - Doreen

Doreen and her colleagues trialled the first-ever Bradford Childminding Network.  Doreen recalls searching for offices so they had a base to set up the group.  Doreen went on to become a mentor for the National Childminding Association, regularly sharing her knowledge and expertise with other childminders. 

Throughout the years, Doreen has seen many changes to what was needed to become a childminder; going from an information session at Bradford Library without training, to then moving to a two day course with First Aid Training, then a 3 day course with a range of mandatory training.

Then there was the introduction of childminding being inspected by Ofsted, rather than the local authority registration and inspection teams, so you didn't have to keep re-registering if you moved around. 

Adults that were cared for by Doreen as children still stop to say hello. One young man always gives Doreen a hug when he sees her, she believes this is because, when he seemed to be misunderstood at school, she would give him a hug, tell him that they were going to have a good evening and that he wouldn't be in trouble for what happened at school that day. 

Doreen has seen many things during her time as a childminder including leaving two children in another room for a short time, returning to them children covered in Sudocrem! 

Although Doreen has retired from a marvellous 33 years in childminding, she told us that she continues to be a dinner lady at the local primary school and works in a local cafe.

What other childminders say about Doreen

‘’Doreen is always there, sorts and organises everything, she's the Mum of the group” Amy 

“Doreen is a wealth of knowledge, keeps us up to date with everything, she takes all new childminders under her wing” Janie

“Doreen used to look after my son, now I am a childminder, she is really supportive and always knows the answer, a real life Mary Poppins!” Hayley 

‘’Always there, if you ever need anything she's there!’’Jade 

‘’Doreen is a figure of the village, she is the ‘go to’ person for anything’’ Laura