Inspire Early Learning to stop male staff changing nappies in wake of shocking child abuse allegations in Victoria

News.com.au

6 hours ago

Male educators will reportedly no longer be involved in changing nappies or toileting duties at a string of Victorian childcare centres.
Inspire Early Learning – which operates 16 childcare centres in the state – sent a letter to parents on Friday announcing the changes, as per 7News.
Chief curriculum and quality officer Eleinna Anderson told families the changes were to ensure they remained 'sensitive and responsive to family needs', and that male staff would still play a 'vital role' in activities and classroom preparation among other duties.
'The wellbeing and safety of your children are at the heart of everything we do,' she said.
'We're writing to share a few important updates to our guidelines around staff interactions with children and team responsibilities – changes made with careful thought and a continued commitment to maintaining a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for all.'
It has been reported educators have also been told to refrain from kissing or having other unnecessary contact with children, and to seek consent if holding hands or a gentle hug is needed.
It comes after childcare worker Joshua Brown was charged with more than 70 offences, after he allegedly abused eight children at a childcare centre in Point Cook, Melbourne.
It is alleged some children were as young as five months.
The families of 1200 children have been directed to have their children tested for sexually transmitted infections.
Police confirmed they are investigating Mr Brown's employment at 20 Melbourne childcare centres and had a suppression order on his name removed to inform families with children at the affected centres to get tested.
Inspire Early Learning is not among the centres Mr Brown is said to have worked at.
The allegations against Mr Brown sparked an immediate reaction from authorities and advocates around the country.
Child abuse victims' advocate Louise Edmonds, a founding member of the independent Collective of Survivors, was among the most prominent voices calling for men to be banned from working at childcare centres.
'This is the third case of huge amounts of children being exposed to alleged pedophiles and alleged child sex abuses in a childcare centre,' she said on Today.
'We actually have to look at the safety first and foremost of our most vulnerable citizens, which are our children, and a lot of them are voiceless.
'So children start communicating well at around two years old. The children under two years old, they cannot speak.
'The sad reality is there's so much lived experience and evidence and data around child sex offenders, and 97 per cent of them are male.
'And this is a scary topic and a lot of people, we don't want to talk about it because it's so horrific when it comes to the abuse of children.'
Politicians have vowed to introduce new laws to strengthen working with children checks, that were recommended a decade ago during the 2015 Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said he would introduce legislation to allow fraud investigators to conduct random, unannounced visits at childcare centres without a warrant, and without the need to be accompanied by police.
He would also introduce laws to allow the federal government, which currently provides $16bn of annual funding to centres, to scrap payments to places which do not meet standards.
State and federal ministers will discuss how CCTV cameras can be used to monitor childcare centres and Attorneys-General will work out better ways to share information.