What parents need to know about alleged sexual offences at a Melbourne childcare centre

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11 hours ago

A health response has been initiated in Victoria after a childcare worker was charged with sexual assault offences against eight children at a facility in Melbourne's south west.
Joshua Dale Brown, 26, is facing more than 70 charges, including child rape, possession of child abuse material, and reckless contamination of goods to cause alarm or anxiety, police said on Tuesday.
Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex abuse that may distress some audience members.
The charges relate to eight children enrolled at the Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023, but Mr Brown had also been employed with at least 20 other childcare centres across Melbourne between 2017 and 2025.
As part of a multi-agency response, 2,600 families whose children attended the relevant childcare centres over the period the alleged offender worked there have been contacted.
Authorities have also recommended 1,200 children undergo screening for certain infectious diseases due to what they say is the "manner of the alleged offending".
If you believe you may have been impacted and need advice on where to go from here, including whether you need to get your children tested, here's what you need to know.
Eight families whose children Mr Brown was charged with sexually offending against at the Point Cook centre were notified last week.
"As you can imagine, this was deeply distressing for the families to hear. We work with our partner agencies to put all support in place to assist them through this difficult period," Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam said.
On Tuesday, all families whose children were enrolled at the 20 childcare centres listed during Mr Brown's employment there were sent letters containing advice on behalf of the Victorian Department of Health and Victoria Police.
In other cases, contact has been made via email or text message.
Mr Brown's period of employment at each childcare centre varies from a single day to more than a year.
If you haven't been contacted but hold concerns about your child being at a centre at a certain time, you can check the full list of impacted centres below.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Christian McGrath said on Tuesday that the parents, guardians and carers of 1,200 children had been contacted for precautionary infectious disease screening.
"Health advice has been stood up to ensure families are able to easily access health advice and the special services we think they need," he said.
"As a precaution, we are recommending that some children undergo testing for infectious diseases due to a potential exposure risk in that period … we do believe it's a low risk, but we want to offer this to provide assurance to the parents about the health and wellbeing of their children."
Dr McGrath did not elaborate on what specific types of infection the testing was for, citing families' privacy.
He stressed the recommendations were made out of an "abundance of caution".
The wider community has also been reassured the infections can be treated with antibiotics and that there was no broader public health risk to the community.
Dr McGrath said a dedicated advice and support hotline had been set up to provide families and health with screening information, as well as linking them to specialist support, including mental health and wellbeing services.
"When parents, guardians or carers call this number, they'll be provided with health advice, including whether testing is recommended for their children," he said.
"We'll also support them to book in that testing and it'll be provided free of charge."
You can call the dedicated advice line on 1800 791 241 if you hold concerns for your child, or need clarification about your infectious disease screenings. The line is open 7 days a week — 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Affected families can also find further information on the state government website here.
Parents are also urged to speak with their own GPs to discuss any specific health concerns relating to their children.
For advice on how to discuss the incident with your kids with care and to minimise trauma, you can refer to advice available on Victoria's Better Health Channel here.
Families who may have been affected and require testing for infectious diseases are being contacted directly by health department and police officials.
Dr McGrath said not every child who attended the 20 listed childcare centres will be recommended for testing as they wouldn't have been identified as having a potential exposure risk.
To facilitate screening for the 1,200 listed children, health officials are also organising direct referrals to medical centres around Melbourne, as well as coordinating with the laboratories to ensure a timely turnaround of the results.
Police said the investigation against Joshua Brown began in May after detectives came in possession of alleged child abuse material implicating him.
Police have not specified how they were led to that material. They said they had not received any formal complaints in relation to his alleged sexual offending.
The 26-year-old was not known to police prior to May and was employed as a childcare worker at the time of his arrest.
Mr Brown had a valid Working with Children Check (WWCC), a mandatory certification for most people looking to work or volunteer in child-related industries in Victoria.
The WWCC is obtained through Service Victoria and involves assessment of an individual's criminal record across Australian states and territories, their professional conduct, compliance with historical and current health practitioner legislation, and current or historical reporting obligations or orders under the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 or the Serious Offenders Act 2018.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the screening process for the checks would be reviewed in an investigation by state police and early childhood regulator.
Police said Mr Brown's WWCC had been cancelled as soon as his alleged offending came to light.
Victoria's Deputy Police Commissioner said lifting a suppression on his identity on Tuesday was an "unusual decision", but one taken in the interest of the community.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Mr Brown is due to appear in court in September.