“Few parents will have forgotten the day they handed over their child to a nursery worker or other carer for the first time. For many, the experience would have been tinged with a sense of guilt – but all will recall the overwhelming need to trust the person into whose hands you deliver the most precious thing in your life. The horrors that unfolded at Little Ted’s Day Nursery in Plymouth will increase the anxieties of couples who, with the aid of the Government, have turned to professional childcare in ever greater numbers over the past decade. According to the National Day Nurseries Association, 15,500 nurseries in Britain cater for 700,000 pupils. Pre-school children spend an average of 21 hours a week in nurseries, a study by the Department for Children, Schools and Families found recently.”

Full story

The Independent, 2nd October 2009

Source: www.independent.co.uk