Update on Childcare at HBES2024

– Letter from the HBES President

Dear HBES community,

I’m writing with an update regarding child care arrangements for the HBES 2024 conference in Aarhus. Thank you for your patience as we have looked into available options, and to those of you who replied to our recent survey.

Although the local hosts put Herculean efforts into arranging childcare, they were unable to do so at the conference venue due to complicated local legal and liability reasons, including that the hosts and host institution were not legally allowed to be involved. They did find one option that worked within those constraints, but it required a startup fee of over $7000 plus a high hourly fee per child. Given that we only heard from three attendees who would use this service in our most recent survey, the executive council decided against this plan.

The host committee has arranged for an alternative: a dedicated on site room that is equipped with a large screen TV and some toys. It will be open for children, parents, and other caregivers to use for the duration of the conference. There will not be staff assigned to the room, but families and other caregivers will be free to use this space throughout the conference.

Families may wish to pursue their own childcare options while in Aarhus. If parents wish to independently contract caregivers in Aarhus, these caregivers will have access to the family room space. We have found a few websites that enable parents to search for independently contracted child care in Aarhus. A few of these sites are listed below.

https://www.babysits.dk/barnepige/aarhus/
https://findbarnepige.dk/barnepiger-i-aarhus?
https://www.care.com/da-dk/babysitter-rlp-sbn-s013-aarhus?rx=SEM

Note that we have not vetted these sites, nor are they affiliated with the conference. Contracts and arrangements for child care must be made by conference attendees, and neither HBES nor Aarhus University can be officially involved. However, host committee co-chair Marc Malmdorf Andersen (mana@cas.au.dk) has generously offered to help if assistance is needed with translation or other issues. Marc will also create a WhatsApp group for parents who wish to coordinate with each other – please e-mail him with your phone number to join.

Again, thank you for your patience during this process. We are looking forward to seeing you all, and your families, in Aarhus. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Sincerely.
Clark Barrett, HBES President on behalf of the HBES Council