Like you, we believe the safety of your child is paramount. Hence we do not leave anything to chance. We have taken a whole series of measures to ensure our childcare facilities are safe.
Bink has a fixed team of educational staff in place for each group. The group therefore always has familiar faces. Each day, a minimum of two educational staff members are on site. All branches have dedicated flexible employees. In addition, Bink has its own pool of emergency staff. Staff from the emergency pool can be deployed at all locations. And since they are staff from our own organisation, they have been screened, vetted and trained and are familiar with our policy.
Every member of staff has been screened and holds a certificate of good conduct. In addition, every member of staff has signed our integrity code. This stipulates, among other things, how we treat the children that have been entrusted to our care and how we interact with parents and colleagues. This code applies to all members of staff, interns and volunteers of Bink. Staff members can further rely on a confidential counsellor who is not affiliated to the organisation. We also have a whistleblower programme, enabling staff to report any malpractices, anonymously.
As from July 2013, staff members are forbidden by law to be working without a colleague being able to see and/or hear him; a second adult must be present at all times, to watch or listen. This is also referred to as the dual control or four-eye principle.
Bink has a fixed team of educational staff in place at all child care centers. Each day, a minimum of two educational staff members are on site. Our buildings are as transparent as possible and the doors in our daycare centres are often all open. Most changing rooms in the baby groups are within the group. The baby alarms in the sleeping quarters are always on. This way staff can see and hear each other at work. We often also undertake activities with children outside their own group. Staff members intermingle and work closely together as part of the activities. This at the same makes it possible to supervise each other and each other's way of working.
As from July 2013, the inspectorate checks all daycare centres to ensure the dual control principle is implemented correctly.
The policy surrounding safety is never done. We continue to think about improvements and innovations, for example, about the transparency of the child care centers, the use of the baby alarms and checking up on each other. In the event of new construction or refurbishments, the transparency issue is incorporated in the plans straight away, for example, by installing windows between the group spaces.
In the Netherlands, participation in the National Vaccination Programme is not compulsory, so parents are free to have their child(ren) vaccinated or not.
Recently (February 2020), the House of Representatives (de Tweede Kamer) adopted the bill that allows childcare organisations to refuse non-vaccinated children. This means that the government - if the Senate (de Eerste Kamer) agrees too - leaves it up to child care organizations to adopt a position themselves.
When the Senate approves the bill, we will discuss a position with the Central Parents Committee (COC) and external experts. In doing so, we will carefully consider the safety of the children entrusted to us.
