Latest news with #BlueCard
7NEWS
3 days ago
- 7NEWS
Childcare worker charged over alleged indecent act involving four-year-old in Brisbane
A childcare worker has been charged over an alleged indecent treatment of a four-year-old child. Police allege the incident occurred on July 10 at an Affinity Education Group centre in Tingalpa, Brisbane, Queensland. The 21-year-old Cleveland man handed himself in to Wynnum Police Station and was charged with one count of indecent treatment of a child, police said. The childcare provider Affinity Education Group said the man was immediately stood down after complaints were raised. 'Upon becoming aware of complaints regarding the individual, we immediately reported the matter to the relevant authorities, including police, and stood down the individual,' a spokesperson said. 'This matter is being taken extremely seriously and we are providing our full co-operation to the Queensland Police. 'The safety and wellbeing of all children and staff at our centres is our highest priority and we will continue to support families and our team during this time.' The group confirmed the man held a valid Working With Children Check (Blue Card) and stated the charge only related to one centre. Affinity has since announced it is fast-tracking several safety initiatives across its national network, including CCTV upgrades, updated child safety training, and secure storage for staff devices. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the childcare safety crisis must be tackled but it will take time. 'The issue in childcare centres won't be solved overnight,' he said. 'It's confronting what is occurring but we're going to confront it head on. 'We are not going to have a situation where monsters can lurk in centres where our most vulnerable and most precious asset — our children — go every day.' The childcare worker has been granted conditional bail and is due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Cour t on August 4. Policelink or Crime Stoppers. charges against former Victorian worker Joshua Dale Brown, who faces more than 70 child sex abuse offences.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘The system is so broken': Privacy restrictions helping alleged child abusers, says safety advocate
A privacy loophole is allowing alleged child abusers to game the working with children's check system, a leading child safety advocate says. The warning comes after it emerged alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown was able to keep his working with children check despite two internal investigations that substantiated his having 'forcibly' grabbed children. The 26-year-old former childcare worker is facing 70 charges including child sex abuse that allegedly occurred where he worked. Child safety advocate Hetty Johnston said she knew of three individuals in Queensland who made complaints about a worker in youth care and received compensation through a redress scheme. 'He still maintained a Blue Card [Queensland's working with children check] ... and it was because information wasn't shared with relevant authorities,' she said. 'That's because of government restrictions around privacy.' Johnston, is the founder of Safeguarding People Australia and previously founded Bravehearts, a charity dedicated to preventing childhood sexual abuse. She said the alleged Queensland victims did not go to police, which is not uncommon for survivors of abuse, but each of their complaints was found credible. Johnston said that under the Northern Territory's scheme, complaints made to police were included in the considerations undertaken for working with children checks, whereas in other jurisdictions such as Victoria and NSW only recorded convictions were taken into account.
The Age
6 days ago
- The Age
‘The system is so broken': Privacy restrictions helping alleged child abusers, says safety advocate
A privacy loophole is allowing alleged child abusers to game the working with children's check system, a leading child safety advocate says. The warning comes after it emerged alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown was able to keep his working with children check despite two internal investigations that substantiated his having 'forcibly' grabbed children. The 26-year-old former childcare worker is facing 70 charges including child sex abuse that allegedly occurred where he worked. Child safety advocate Hetty Johnston said she knew of three individuals in Queensland who made complaints about a worker in youth care and received compensation through a redress scheme. 'He still maintained a Blue Card [Queensland's working with children check] ... and it was because information wasn't shared with relevant authorities,' she said. 'That's because of government restrictions around privacy.' Johnston, is the founder of Safeguarding People Australia and previously founded Bravehearts, a charity dedicated to preventing childhood sexual abuse. She said the alleged Queensland victims did not go to police, which is not uncommon for survivors of abuse, but each of their complaints was found credible. Johnston said that under the Northern Territory's scheme, complaints made to police were included in the considerations undertaken for working with children checks, whereas in other jurisdictions such as Victoria and NSW only recorded convictions were taken into account.
The Age
09-07-2025
- General
- The Age
How do you choose a safe childcare centre?
Clearly, measures to improve child safety across the sector are drastically needed, but what does that mean for parents with children in childcare right now, or those about to engage with a facility for the first time? How do you choose a 'good' centre? And how do you determine safety in a system that, right now, seems devastatingly broken? Elizabeth was recently contacted by a friend asking for advice on choosing her first childcare centre. 'She's just had her first baby … and she's pretty rocked by the news and terrified to put her daughter in childcare.' She repeated her approach to checking staff turnover, and recommended spending time observing staff and watching how they interact with kids, checking the staff-to-child ratio, and reading Google reviews. 'Parents who have complained about or have bad experiences at the centre will generally leave a bad Google review,' Elizabeth says. Brisbane mum Rebekah interviewed 'every single daycare [centre] in my area' and spent the first two months doing 'stay and plays' before choosing a centre for her then 13-month-old son, who is now 18 months old. 'I'd sit there and basically observe and see if my kid would even leave me, and if he wouldn't, they were ruled out,' she says. Rebekah is a child safety officer with previous experience working on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. She says the 'interviews' were mostly to understand child safety policies. 'I was very concerned [with asking] what their ratios looked like, and about their incident report mechanisms,' Rebekah says. 'I also wanted to scope out what the rooms looked like, and see if there were closed-off spaces that my kid could be put in, because that would have been a big no for me.' Loading Rebekah knows how to monitor for signs of abuse and says she is 'constantly observing' her son for changes that indicate his safety has been compromised. This includes sudden bed-wetting and resistance to nappy changes, checking for bruises or red marks, and behavioural shifts, such as becoming more withdrawn or aggressive. 'We're trying to teach him protective behaviour too, but he's still so young.' Following the roundtable meeting, Langbroek said the department would work to implement mandatory child safety training for early educators, and lobby the federal government for a national register of childcare workers. This adds to a review into the Blue Card and child safety system already underway. Goodstart Early Learning chief executive Ros Baxter added, 'there is also already a lot of work and thinking that goes into keeping your children safe' in centres, and while 'it's a terrible moment for those who have young children' and work in the sector, they are taking these issues seriously. That's lukewarm comfort at a time like this, especially for working parents with limited choice. But that makes it more important to see safety standards improved and rigorously implemented across the entire sector. Parents should be able to leave their children in the hands of childcare staff without having to worry about their safety.
Sydney Morning Herald
09-07-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
How do you choose a safe childcare centre?
Clearly, measures to improve child safety across the sector are drastically needed, but what does that mean for parents with children in childcare right now, or those about to engage with a facility for the first time? How do you choose a 'good' centre? And how do you determine safety in a system that, right now, seems devastatingly broken? Elizabeth was recently contacted by a friend asking for advice on choosing her first childcare centre. 'She's just had her first baby … and she's pretty rocked by the news and terrified to put her daughter in childcare.' She repeated her approach to checking staff turnover, and recommended spending time observing staff and watching how they interact with kids, checking the staff-to-child ratio, and reading Google reviews. 'Parents who have complained about or have bad experiences at the centre will generally leave a bad Google review,' Elizabeth says. Brisbane mum Rebekah interviewed 'every single daycare [centre] in my area' and spent the first two months doing 'stay and plays' before choosing a centre for her then 13-month-old son, who is now 18 months old. 'I'd sit there and basically observe and see if my kid would even leave me, and if he wouldn't, they were ruled out,' she says. Rebekah is a child safety officer with previous experience working on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. She says the 'interviews' were mostly to understand child safety policies. 'I was very concerned [with asking] what their ratios looked like, and about their incident report mechanisms,' Rebekah says. 'I also wanted to scope out what the rooms looked like, and see if there were closed-off spaces that my kid could be put in, because that would have been a big no for me.' Loading Rebekah knows how to monitor for signs of abuse and says she is 'constantly observing' her son for changes that indicate his safety has been compromised. This includes sudden bed-wetting and resistance to nappy changes, checking for bruises or red marks, and behavioural shifts, such as becoming more withdrawn or aggressive. 'We're trying to teach him protective behaviour too, but he's still so young.' Following the roundtable meeting, Langbroek said the department would work to implement mandatory child safety training for early educators, and lobby the federal government for a national register of childcare workers. This adds to a review into the Blue Card and child safety system already underway. Goodstart Early Learning chief executive Ros Baxter added, 'there is also already a lot of work and thinking that goes into keeping your children safe' in centres, and while 'it's a terrible moment for those who have young children' and work in the sector, they are taking these issues seriously. That's lukewarm comfort at a time like this, especially for working parents with limited choice. But that makes it more important to see safety standards improved and rigorously implemented across the entire sector. Parents should be able to leave their children in the hands of childcare staff without having to worry about their safety.
