Sofia began working with my baby earlier this year, two days per week with the promise that she intended to be in the UK until at least spring 2022 and could work with us until then.

Things initially got off to a great start, she was motivated with my child and full of energy. However, cracks began to appear as Sofia become more comfortable in our company and 'confident' in her parenting suggestions. This was exacerbated when she reported that a change in her visa status meant the number of hours in attendance required at university had consequently been increased. While this seemed unlikely, we ironed out a solution as a compromise in anticipation that she would resume her normal days/hours during summer vacation period. Despite only being required to attend one day per week from 10-5.30, Sofia was frequently late over the following two months. Indeed, cancelling a shift at 8am on account of realising she had gotten word she had last minute uni work to work on. Having spent 10 years in university and currently working in academia, I did not appreciate the lie nor the last minute notice.

Over the next few weeks, it became apparent that this post was not her priority and her friend who was filling in her 2nd day let slip that she was working elsewhere. It took her two more weeks to tell me this and I was promised that this fit comfortably around our days and would continue as such throughout the summer. I asked her to tell me if this changed, if she became unhappy, wanted to make changes; effectively I asked her to be honest about her plans and intentions and she emphatically agreed.

Unfortunately, this was not the case in the end and Sofia sent me a message at 8pm at night to let me know that her manager had offered her double shifts and she could continue for me for another two weeks until I found a replacement, took up plans to visit relatives in England (restrictions pending) or 'just eased my daughter off' [her one shift a week]. This, in conjunction with things like providing parenting advice on the basis of having lived with her siblings child for the first few years of their life before coming to study in the UK, frequently being unaware of what clothing my child had left the house in and it coming to light that she'd been sharing pictures of my child through whatsapp with people I don't know I came to the decision the next day that it was best that Sofia did not return, my reasons why and the suggestion that it may be a good idea to avoid working with young children again in future.

Sofia then opted to assert that she had been nothing but reliable and did not give a specific notice period, that she has worked with many children in the past (although never disclosed a single child except her siblings child which, having worked in childcare for 20years before my current academic post I found very odd) so my actions were therefore rude, uncalled for and unnecessary. As soon as she sent this message, she proceeded to block me. In terms of ensuring our situation was entirely clear and there were no misunderstandings, I wrote to Sofia and detailed the reasons why I asked her not to return. She did not respond on this occasion but did proceed to deactivate her childcare.co.uk account which I discovered when I tried to report the situation to childcare.co.uk customer services who advised me to leave a review.

I notice that this account has now been reactivated so would like to take every opportunity to ensure parents know that Sofia is lovely, very bubbly young lady, who built a lovely rapport with my baby over the almost 3 months she was with us (my baby was 8 months when she started) and was mostly competent in taking care of a baby of that age. However, she was frequently unreliable in both timekeeping and turning up, she could be overconfident in her opinions and ability, she lacked the maturity to discuss or confront situations she found uncomfortable without the screen of a message, she had agreed to complete household tasks in addition to (and outwith) the childcare hours but could barely manage to clean up after my baby (in fact, towards the end of one shift, she put on her coat, was wanting to go 20mins early and had to be asked to tidy away the toys and wipe down the mats which were covered in food) and seemed generally unaware or lacking in understanding of early child development.

Above all, as I said in my last contact with Sofia, the only thing which matters in this situation is my baby and the effect her unprofessionalism has had on them. When you work for a family, you become a part of the child's support structure and close attachment network. To knowingly let an infant develop an attachment bond without care for the consequences of disrupting or breaking that bond is the epitome of unprofessionalism and an absolute no no in a childcare provider.

I would further suggest that her reactivation of this account within a month indicates she has deliberately done this to avoid a review from me and that her true intentions and availability for work remain dubious at best.

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