All government levels complicit in childcare failures

The Age

2 days ago

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CHILDCARE
The current events involving allegations of sexual abuse in Victoria's childcare sector are alarming but certainly not surprising. I was an expert witness to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It made multiple, significant recommendations, including for improvements in standards and working with children checks to be enacted 'within 12 months'.
That was 2015. Nothing much happened. Earlier this year, the National Children's Commissioner, Anne Hollands, called out the continuing regulatory failings in ensuring child safety for infants and pre-school children in childcare centres.
All three royal commissions into aged care, disability services and child sexual abuse noted the systemic failures of organisations concerned with power or profit over the care of people.
The federal, state and territory governments are all complicit in the ongoing failures to ensure the protection of our most vulnerable citizens. They all know what to do; they just can't do it.
Dr Philomena Horsley, Carlisle River
Identity management is crucial across nation
The editorial, ″⁣We can have a good childcare system, or a cheap one. When protecting children, that choice should be easy″⁣, 2/7) refers to the need for a ″⁣nationally coordinated working with children scheme″⁣. That would require a national database for identifying all individuals.
The big problem there is that states control primary identifying records through registration of births, deaths, marriages and motor vehicles. Some federal authorities have means of tracking offenders and suspects across state borders, but more must be done. Identity management is a crucial function of modern democracies and many European nations can do it. Why can't we?
Trevor Kerr, Blackburn
Priorities of a multibillion-dollar industry
Staffing childcare centres with the minimum number of staff to ensure better income to investors is the path we have chosen to go down. Why else would we refer to it in all articles as the ″⁣multibillion dollar child care industry″⁣? For me, that says it all, to our great shame.
Julian Guy, Mt Eliza
Childcare providers must face consequences too
The best, and perhaps the only way to improve the safety of children in childcare facilities, would be to strengthen any laws that might be necessary to make the proprietors responsible for the safety of those children. Any breaches, whether perpetrated against one or many children, should also be their responsibility. If owners were made to understand that they would face severe punishment, including the possibility of a jail sentence, for the actions of a staff member, maybe they would clean up their own act.
Brian Ruck, Forest Hill
Onerous checks restrict volunteers in non-children settings
Let's just calm down with tightening up on Working with Children (WWC) checks. I have absolutely no problem with requirements being tightened up for activities that involve actually working with children – schools, kindergartens, childcare scouts, guides and church groups etc, but over the past five years these requirements have been asked of the many thousands of would-be volunteers in environmental programs that do not see children attend.
When a 70-year old wants to remove weeds from their local park for a friends' group and has to get a WWC check (online, which they are not confident with), they will just decide it's too hard, turn away, and the work will not be done.
The easy solution is to decree that if any child was in attendance at a local volunteer environmental activity must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.
Mick Webster, Chiltern
Cost of corporatisation
The Age editorial (″⁣ Abuse claims raise questions for parents ″⁣, 2/7) highlights a number of issues in relation to the provision of childcare. Central to the editorial discussion is the question of responsibility for this and other instances of alleged child abuse in child care centres. While finger pointing and blame are readily directed at both federal and state governments in relation to vetting child care workers), a key issue is absent from this discussion.
The childcare centres involved in this and other terrible episodes across the country all run for profit, part of the corporate world operating to exploit the care of children, as well as their families and paid staff. Some are ASX listed.
We are witness to the unintended consequences of the corporatisation of childcare and the childcare industry, like the major banks and the many other industries (think universities, insurance and fast food chains) who simply profit from our daily lives.
The slow erosion of community based childcare services, with local accountability and oversight, has occurred almost by stealth. The community care model provides quality care, trust and investment in local services. Moreover, this model is premised on the idea that raising a child does take a village.
The corporate model operates well until it doesn't and then the state must jump in and mop up the damage. The Victorian government and its many service areas has responded well to this corporate failure. Reform can and should fix some of the failings, but it won't be corporate Australia that pays the price of this terrible breach of trust.
Kate Driscoll, Aireys Inlet
No place for young men
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese openly stated he wants to be remembered for his 'childcare policies″⁣ for financially assisting parents who choose institutional childcare as well as increasing hours for 3-year-old kindergarten – no doubt important options for many working parents.
Yet, he refuses to consider a 'childcare' policy allowing equivalent financial support to parents who financially struggle by foregoing extra work hours, but who want to make the safe choice to stay home with their very young children during the critical formative early-childhood years.
The abhorrent nature of this latest allegation of sexual abuse in childcare institutions must surely be a wake up call, not only to the industry, but to all who openly promote institutional childcare as the best 'social and educational ' experience for young children below kinder age.
Young men, so many of whom turn to pornography for their entertainment – which is a huge problem in Australia – are not the gender and age cohort that should be employed in the care of our young children in these institutions , regardless of employment equality laws.
The young children of Australia are too precious to be put at any possible risk.
Jan White, Donvale