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My area had a Facebook page and I put what days times I needed and then I visited 5 before I decided x
I had a lot of recommendations from people when I was going to children’s centers for the stay and play sessions .. so yes word of mouth best option ( we ended up going for nursery )
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We already knew ours but the site mentioned above is good. Also, word of mouth is a reliable measure of how good a childminder is. Local Facebook groups often have posts by people looking and then people can recommend.