Childcare provider cancels meeting amid confusion for parents caught up in alleged sex offences saga

Australia Broadcast Center

11 hours ago

Parents say they are angry after a childcare giant that employed alleged child sex offender Joshua Dale Brown claimed police asked that a meeting with families be cancelled, amid frustration from other parents who have been asked to get children tested for sexually transmitted diseases a second time.
Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex offences which may distress some audience members.
But Victoria Police have denied advising childcare operator Affinity Education to cancel the Thursday night meeting at the Papilio Early Learning Centre in Essendon.
In an email sent to parents on Thursday afternoon, and obtained by the ABC, Affinity said: "As the investigation is still open, we have been advised by the police that there is nothing further to share at this time and therefore the meeting has been postponed."
"We understand how distressing this is and that you may still have unanswered questions."
A parent at Papilio Essendon told the ABC they were desperately seeking more information from centre management.
"It's chaotic for sure," they said.
"At the moment we know as much as the general public and that's the source of frustration."
A police spokesperson told the ABC: "Victoria Police did not advise Papilio Essendon to not go ahead with the planned meeting."
"Victoria Police has given no instruction to impacted childcare centre operators regarding their meetings with families. That is up to centre operators to determine and organise as they see fit," they said.
Meanwhile, parents at other centres where Mr Brown worked are furious at what they say is a lack of clear communication from authorities, leaving them feeling they cannnot "trust the Health Department advice".
The department said on Wednesday its highest priority was the health and wellbeing of the children, as reports emerged that families had received conflicting screening advice, meaning their children might need to be tested twice.
Two families at Williamstown's Only About Children received texts recommending their children be tested for gonorrhoea and chlamydia on Tuesday, only to receive another message also recommending syphilis screening two days later, according to media reports.
"We acknowledge this is an extremely distressing time for everyone involved, and regret that this family faced additional stress and anxiety," the department said in response.
Another parent at the Williamstown centre told the ABC they proactively had their child tested for all three illnesses.
They said their child had been recommended for gonorrhoea and chlamydia screening, while others enrolled at the same centre at the same time were being told to also test for syphilis.
"A number of other families took matters into their own hands and did the same, and also tested for HIV and other diseases, because they realised they couldn't trust the health department advice," the parent said.
The parent criticised what they characterised as a "bungle" by the health department.
"They have had weeks and weeks of working with the police to get things right and yet they still stuffed it," they said.
"They clearly learned nothing from COVID."
Mr Brown, 26, of Point Cook, faces more than 70 charges including sexual penetration of a child under 12 and producing child abuse material relating to eight alleged victims at Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023.
He also worked at several Affinity centres including Papilio in Essendon, which was his last-known employer before he was arrested in May.
Affinity did not comment when asked about the cancelled meeting.
According to information released by the Victorian government on Tuesday, Mr Brown worked at Papilio Early Learning in Essendon between February 17 and May 9 this year.
The government said he had also worked at the Only About Children in Williamstown between October 28, 2020, and March 30, 2021.
This week, Affinity said it was re-examining its records to see if Mr Brown worked for it on additional dates to those so far publicly disclosed, after the ABC approached the company with evidence he was at a different centre on a date not included on the government's list.