Specialist child protection training for childcare workers should be strengthened in the wake of a former childcare worker being charged with more than 1,600 child abuse offences, the Australian Childhood Foundation has said.
Under national regulations that set a standard for children’s care, those in charge of childcare services are required to have child protection training and the service providers are required to ensure all staff understand their child protection obligations.
But Joe Tucci, the chief executive of the Australian Childhood Foundation, said this should be expanded to all workers and include training on perpetrator behaviour.
“They need to understand how perpetrators can groom organisations and coworkers by manipulating them into not seeing the abuse, minimising the abuse, or putting up barriers to reporting it,” he said.
On Tuesday, police revealed a 45-year-old Gold Coast childcare worker had been charged with child abuse offences – including rape – against 91 young girls at a dozen early learning centres in Brisbane, Sydney and overseas over a 15-year period.
Tucci said childcare centres undertake a range of child safeguarding measures to protect children against abuse, including requiring all workers to have a working-with-children check, vetting new staff through referee checks, a child-centred complaints policy and reporting any concerning trends or risks within their service.
But he called for these processes to be more uniform, given the rigour with which they are applied can vary from centre to centre and state by state. Introducing a national working-with-children check system is of particular importance, he said.
“The problem is there’s different criteria applied in each state, for example some have family violence intervention orders that preclude you from working with children, whereas other don’t,” he said.
Alison Geale, the chief executive of child protection organisation Bravehearts, said the allegations show an urgent need for all child-facing organisations to provide stronger safeguards, including child-focused policies and procedures to create a “truly child-safe environment”, she said.
Adults must undergo regular specialist training to recognise and report harms and parents and carers must be “equipped to have open, honest and informed conversations with their children about personal safety”, she said.
She agreed there should be a national working-with-children check system. Her concern is that while some states incorporate registered complaints into their check, others only check for offences where they have been charged or found guilty.
“If we’ve got each state going about it a different way than that creates an extra hurdle to protecting kids,” she said.
Geale also urged all child-facing organisations to implement the Child Safe Standards, which follow standards recommended by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. The standards include ensuring people working with children are suitable and supported, policies and procedures document how an organisation is child safe and staff are equipped with the training needed to keep children safe.
Earlier this year, New South Wales legislated these standards, requiring all childcare service to adhere to standards.
Michele Carnegie, the chief executive of Community Early Learning Australia, said this has seen the state operate under one of the most robust child protection systems in the country.
“The sector has never wavered in its commitment or investment to ensure every child is safe,” Carnegie said.
A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said following the incident it will support any actions taken by providers to strengthen the current safeguards to protect children.
“We are deeply concerned about these charges and express our sympathy to those impacted,” the spokesperson said.
The Queensland and NSW education departments are working closely with police as they investigate the allegations against the former childcare worker.
• In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
