Requirements for childminders

Are you responsible for looking after children in a family situation? Either in you home or the childrens' home? a childminder (gastouder)? Then you are a childminder.  or in the childminder's own home. In the Netherlands, childminders must satisfy various requirements. A childminder is not allowed to also be the owner of the childminding agency.

What are the requirements for childminders?

The requirements for childminders are laid down in the Dutch Childcare Provisions Act (Wet kinderopvang, Wko) and the Regulation for quality of childminder agencies, childminders, and facilities for childminder care (Regeling kwaliteit gastouderbureaus, gastouders en voorzieningen voor gastouderopvang).

• You must be at least 18 years old.
• You work according to the pedagogical policy plan, the health and safety policy, and the child abuse protocol of the childminding agency.
• You must be easily reachable by telephone for the child’s parents or carers. And you must ensure a qualified replacement takes your place in case of your absence. 

As a childminder you must also meet requirements for training, registration, and language.

Training requirements for childminders

• You must have the correct diploma or certificate. There is a list of diplomas (pdf, in Dutch) that satisfy the requirements.
• If you have a diploma from the EEA or Switzerland that is not on the list, you must apply for recognition at the Education Executive Agency (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs, DUO).
• You must have a registered and valid first aid for children certificate (kinder-EHBO certificaat).
• The diploma and the first aid certificate must be available on the childminding premises.

Registration requirements for childminders

• You must be registered in the register for persons active in the childcare sector (Personenregister kinderopvang, PRK). This applies to all adults who work or live on the premises where you take care of the children.
• For this you need a certificate of  conduct (Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag, VOG) with screening profile 84 (caring for minors) or 86 (working in the childcare sector) to register.
• You must be registered with a childminding agency that is registered in the Dutch National Childcare Register (Landelijk Register Kinderopvang, LRK). You may register with more agencies, but you are not allowed to work as a childminder for your own agency.

Language requirements for childminders

• You must speak Dutch when childminding.
• You may speak  a regional language or dialect if you are a childminder in that region.
• You may also speak the language of the relevant family, for instance when minding children of foreign parents who are living in the Netherlands temporarily.

Interns

Do you have an intern working or observing in your childminding location? They must register in the PRK if the internship lasts longer than 10 days or 2 consecutive weeks.

Requirements for childminding locations 

You must make sure your childminding location meets the set-up requirements for childcare locations.

Childminding ratios

There is a maximum number of children that registered childminders can care for at any one time. The number of children you may care for at a time depends on their ages. You may care for at most 6 children aged 0 to 13 per day. In addition, the following applies:

• you may care for maximum 5 children up to 4 years of age at any one time
• you may care for maximum 4 children up to 2 years old at any one time
• you may care for maximum 2 babies (up to 1 year old) at any one time

Please note: your own children (up to 10 years old) are included in the number of children you may care for at any one time.