About this childminding agency
Smarttkids is a childminder agency (gastouderbureau) that has been connecting parents with childminders (gastouders) across the Netherlands since 2007. The agency offers personal guidance and support to parents seeking quality childminder care (gastouderopvang) for their children. With 10 locations spread throughout the country, Smarttkids provides nationwide coverage and easy accessibility. The agency focuses on personal service, advice, and taking care of administrative hassle for parents. All registered childminders meet legal requirements, including a valid diploma, paediatric first aid certificate (EHBO), and a Certificate of Good Conduct (Verklaring Omtrent Goed Gedrag).
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For parents
Smarttkids is your partner in finding suitable childminder (gastouder) care. We mediate between parents seeking care and childminders, ensuring a good match based on your wishes and needs. Our agency takes on the administrative burden for you, including invoicing, annual statements and communication with the Tax Authority. You get access to a personal portal where you always have insight into your administration and care hours.
Subsidy & costs
Smarttkids offers support with applying for childcare benefit (kinderopvangtoeslag). Parents can do a trial calculation via the Tax Authority website to see how much benefit they can receive. The agency helps with filling in the necessary forms and ensures the forwarding of data to the Tax Authority. For the application, an LRKP number (National Register for Childcare and Preschool Facilities) is needed, which every registered childminder receives.
The costs for childminder (gastouder) care at Smarttkids consist of two components: an hourly rate that parents pay directly to the childminder (the childminder determines this rate themselves) and placement costs that are paid to the childminder agency. The placement costs depend on the number of hours used and cover services such as invoicing, evaluation interviews, risk and health inventories, drawing up agreements, cashier function and support with childcare benefit applications.
Trust & screening
Smarttkids applies a thorough screening process for all childminders. During intake, a placement coordinator assesses the house, furnishings and garden for safety, hygiene and space for children. Childminders must at least meet the following requirements: a valid diploma, first aid certificate for children, Certificate of Good Conduct (also for housemates over 18), valid proof of identity, knowledge of pedagogy and child abuse protocol, and registration in the persons register. The placement coordinator guides the development of an action plan for any points of attention.
Smarttkids is a recognized childminder agency (gastouderbureau) that meets all legal requirements for childcare. The agency is responsible for the quality of care, compliance with the pedagogical policy plan, child abuse reporting code and registration in the persons register. All childminders are screened based on risk and health inventory forms approved by the Municipal Health Service (GGD). The agency works with its own evaluation forms and conducts regular inspections.
Next steps
The matching process at Smarttkids works as follows:
- Get in touch by phone or email for a no-obligation appointment
- Personal intake interview where you can indicate your wishes
- Search in our childminder database for a suitable childminder (gastouder)
- If no suitable childminder is available, Smarttkids actively searches for a new childminder
- Matching interview between parents and potential childminder
- Start of care (within a week if the childminder is already registered)
Highlights
Support services
- Invoicing
- Annual statements
- Tax Authority
- Personal portal
- Intake interviews
- Matching interviews
Service area cities
Mission & vision
Smarttkids focuses on personal service, advice and good accessibility for parents looking for childminder (gastouder) care. The agency strives to relieve parents as much as possible by removing administrative hassle and ensuring fast, accurate and transparent administration. With national coverage through 10 locations, Smarttkids guarantees good service and support for parents throughout the Netherlands.
Pedagogical vision
Smarttkids follows a pedagogical policy based on the basic pedagogical competencies of Marianne Riksen-Walraven. The agency strives for a home-like environment where children feel safe and secure, so they can develop optimally. The vision includes providing social-emotional security, developing personal and social competencies, and passing on values and norms. Childminders (gastouders) are seen as professional co-educators who make an important contribution to children's upbringing.
Linked childminders
GGD Inspection
Violations
Inspection date: November 24, 2025
Strengths
- The pedagogical policy meets all content requirements and is readily accessible to childminders and parent clients
- All directors and childminders hold valid Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) documents and are properly registered in the childcare personnel register
- The child abuse reporting protocol meets all requirements and knowledge is structurally promoted
- The childminder agency has been dispute-free in 2024 and no written complaints have been filed
- Administration is well organised and information is provided to the supervisory authority in a timely manner
- The minimum supervision time of 16 hours per childminder per year is ensured
Shortcomings
- The procedure for identifying and reporting termination of care by childminders needs to be arranged more proactively
- Risk assessments must always be carried out physically at the care address together with the childminder
- Home visits need to be better planned and documented to ensure all childminders are visited twice per year
- Communication about which inspection reports must be published on the website can be clearer
Violations
- Changes in designated data are not in all cases reported to the municipality without delay; a childminder who stopped providing care on 1 September 2025 was still registered in the LRK on 24 November 2025
- Risk assessments for safety and health are not in all cases carried out jointly with the childminder during a home visit; in two cases by telephone and in one case without the childminder present
- Not all childminder care facilities have been visited at least twice in the past twelve months by a mediation worker, as a consequence of the shortcoming regarding risk assessments
- The most recent inspection report of the childminder agency was not published on the website; instead, the report of a franchisee was mistakenly posted (resolved via recovery offer)
Summary
The annual inspection by Municipal Health Service (GGD) Limburg-Noord at childminder agency Smarttkids in Stevensweert (head office of a franchise formula with 30 affiliated childminders) presents a mixed picture. The provider does not meet all assessed conditions. Four shortcomings were identified: changes are not always reported to the municipality without delay, risk assessments are not always carried out jointly with the childminder during a home visit, not all childminder care facilities are visited twice per year, and the most recent inspection report was not on the website. Only the last point was resolved through a recovery offer. Strong points are the pedagogical policy, VOG registration, child abuse reporting protocol, and complaint-free status. The directors partially disputed the findings in their response.
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