Dunfermline Childminder Pleads Guilty to Neglect After 27 Children Found Unsupervised

A self-employed childminder from Dunfermline has admitted to wilfully neglecting and abandoning the children in her care, in a case that has shocked the local community and raised serious questions about the oversight of registered childcare providers.

Amanda Mathewson, 55, entered a guilty plea at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to charges of neglect and abandoning children, offences that took place at several locations in Dunfermline and elsewhere across Fife. The court heard that at the time of her arrest, Mathewson had 27 children in her home — 19 more than her registration permitted her to look after.

Mathewson, who had worked as a self-employed childminder for three decades, was arrested by police following allegations of cruelty towards the children in her care. Her long career in childcare stands in stark contrast to the serious nature of the charges she now faces, and the case has prompted difficult questions about how such a situation could develop undetected.

The court was told that Mathewson provided childcare services at her home in Dunfermline for children under the age of 16. When she was arrested, she was responsible for 15 children aged under 12, 10 children of pre-primary school age, and two infants under the age of one. Cumulatively, this number far exceeded what any single childminder could reasonably supervise.

Procurator fiscal Vicki Bell outlined how the offences came to light, explaining that two parents grew suspicious after being told their children were not present while Mathewson carried out a school run. Unconvinced by the explanation they had received, the parents decided to investigate for themselves.

The pair went secretly to the school and discovered that their children were not with Mathewson, despite the children formally being in her care at the time. They then made their way to her home, where the situation they encountered was far more alarming than they could have anticipated.

Arriving at the property, the parents heard a child screaming and found five unattended children in the garden. One of the children told the witnesses that there were no adults inside the house and that Mathewson had instructed them to "wait in the garden."

As the parents approached the door to check whether any adults were present, they heard another child screaming hysterically inside. Finding the door unlocked, they entered the property and discovered a child crying underneath the kitchen table.

Their search of the home revealed a further nine children, all under the age of five, in an upstairs bedroom. Two of those children were strapped into prams. The court heard that although the children were distressed, they were fortunately found to be uninjured.

Police were called to the scene, and Mathewson told officers that the children had been left alone for at least 30 minutes. However, ring doorbell footage examined by investigators showed that this was actually the second occasion that day on which the children had been left inside the house unsupervised.

Mathewson admitted wilfully neglecting, abandoning and exposing children to a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to their health. The court also heard that she had offered childcare places to more children than she could reasonably provide care for at any given time.

A Care Inspectorate report published in August 2023 stated that Mathewson was registered to look after a maximum of eight children at any one time. Her registration included specific conditions limiting her to no more than six children under the age of 12, no more than three who had started primary school, and no more than one child under 12 months old.

Remarkably, an unannounced inspection carried out approximately a year before her arrest had rated areas including care, learning and the setting as "very good" — the second-highest level on the quality scale. The report described children as being cared for in a comfortable, welcoming and homely environment, and noted that they were looked after with warmth, kindness and a nurturing approach.

That positive assessment now sits uneasily alongside the serious criminal charges, raising questions about whether inspection regimes are adequately equipped to detect when a registered provider's circumstances change. The gap between a "very good" rating and the conditions found at Mathewson's home illustrates the difficulty regulators face in monitoring day-to-day practice.

Sheriff John MacRitchie deferred sentencing until 6 November to allow background reports to be prepared. Mathewson's bail was continued in the meantime, meaning she will remain at liberty until the next court appearance.

The case has reverberated through Dunfermline and the wider Fife area, where many families rely on registered childminders for essential childcare. The fact that so many children were left unsupervised in a single home has prompted concern among parents about the safeguards in place for those who use childminding services.

For the families involved, the events of that day will likely have lasting effects, even though the children escaped physical harm. The distress witnessed by the parents who entered the property — the screaming, the crying child under the table, the infants strapped in prams upstairs — underscores the vulnerability of young children who depend entirely on adults for their safety.

As sentencing approaches, the case will continue to draw attention to the responsibilities borne by childminders and the importance of robust oversight. It also serves as a reminder that the trust placed in childcare professionals by parents is significant, and that breaches of that trust carry serious legal consequences.