New babysitting service in Salzburg: warm care for children

New babysitting service in Salzburg: warm care for children

At the beginning of the semester, the Catholic Family Association launched a new service: “Babysitters with a Heart”. With this initiative, the association is responding to the increasing demand for childcare services. At the same time, this service expands the range of surrogate grandmothers we have been providing for almost 30 years.

The service is currently staffed by four babysitters, with 20-year-old Salome Faust being the first of her kind. Salome gives an insight into her work and highlights what qualities one should have to be considered as a babysitter for the association:

"Flexibility, openness and joy in meeting new people are essential. Building relationships with the children is also important." The right attitude is particularly important to the association.

Salome heard about the new offer from a friend and was immediately interested. After an initial meeting, the association was quickly convinced that she was the perfect candidate. Organizing officer Julia Ortmann-Radau describes Salome’s commitment as exemplary: “She has a big heart for children.”

High demand for babysitters

The decision to introduce babysitters was also due to the long waiting lists recorded by the association. “There are currently around 20 families from the city of Salzburg on our waiting list,” reports Ortmann-Radau. There is therefore a great need for more babysitters, especially for those aged 17 and over who enjoy working with children.

The babysitters are not permanently employed, which increases their flexibility. Instead, the association communicates these directly to the families. An important safeguard is that all babysitters have free liability insurance. To ensure that babysitters are well prepared for childcare, they must complete a one-day basic seminar. Topics such as dealing with children, building secure relationships and first aid measures are covered.

First positive experiences

Salome has nothing but positive things to say about her first experience with six-year-old Fiona. "I learned from her; she taught me a piano piece and even some Spanish. It was really easy with Fiona," she says enthusiastically. The family's trust gave her a feeling of security, which was important to the babysitter. After getting to know each other for the first time, she picked Fiona up straight from school and spent the afternoon with her. Salome is adaptable when it comes to changing tasks.

Currently Salome doesn't look after Fiona as much anymore, but she will soon look after a three-year-old boy. Her collaboration with the family association is going very positively: “The association understands the needs of the carers, which gives me a lot of support,” she emphasizes. She receives 12 euros an hour for her services, while the association recommends 10 to 15 euros as a guide for babysitters.

The Catholic Family Association also plans to establish the babysitting service as an internship position for education students, as is already the case in Upper Austria. “That would be important for us to recruit even more babysitters and to provide the waiting families with the best possible support,” says Ortmann-Radau.
For more information about this service and the options for registering, those interested can read the article www.meinkreis.at visit.