A childminder in Dunfermline, Fife, has admitted to neglect after leaving 27 children unattended in her care, well beyond her licensed capacity. Amanda Mathewson, 55, was authorised to care for up to eight children but was found to be supervising more than three times that number.

Concerns about the childminder’s conduct arose when parents noticed their children returning home thirsty and wearing clean clothes, raising suspicions that they had not been adequately fed. Some parents also reported their children coming home with dirty nappies or dry feces in their underwear.

The situation came to light when two parents discovered their children were absent during a school run. They subsequently visited Mathewson’s home and encountered several unattended children. According to testimony heard at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, five young children were found alone in the garden while a child was heard screaming hysterically inside the house and another crying under the kitchen table. An additional nine children, all under five years old, were located in an upstairs bedroom. Although distressed, none of the children sustained physical injuries.

A police investigation revealed that leaving children unattended had been a recurring issue at Mathewson’s residence. She has admitted to willfully neglecting, abandoning, and exposing children to conditions likely to cause unnecessary suffering or harm to their health.

Mathewson had been operating as a self-employed childminder for 30 years. A Care Inspectorate report from August 2023 noted that she was registered to provide care for up to eight children, and an unannounced inspection conducted a year prior rated various aspects of her service—including care, learning, and the setting—as “very good.”

A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate described the case as “distressing” and indicated that changes had been implemented following lessons learned from the incident.

Mathewson is scheduled to be sentenced on November 6.