Marrickville Out Of Hours School Care probed by department

The Department of Education is investigating a council-run centre after a child was allegedly picked up by an unauthorised person right under the noses of staff.

A second council-run childcare centre in Sydney’s inner west is being investigated by the Department of Education over another alleged security bungle which saw a child reportedly taken home by an unauthorised person.

Marrickville West Out Of School Care, run by Inner West Council, is subject to the probe after department workers conducting a spot-check there last week were randomly informed about the alleged incident by a parent.

The parent told the department worker about the alleged bungle, which is said to have happened eight weeks ago, but was never reported to them or the council after concerns were raised with staff at the time.

The department is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the alleged incident.

It is alleged the child was picked up by a neighbour from Marrickville West Primary School and was never signed out by staff.

Marrickville West, pictured, was where the latest alleged mishap occurred.

It’s also alleged, staff had no idea the child had been taken home and were only alerted to what had happened when the child’s parent arrived to pick them up.

Inner West Council was contacted for comment.

It comes less than a year since another council-run childcare centre at Stanmore Public School was being investigated over a June 2018 incident involving a child wandering off unbeknown to staff, getting as a far as the local shops.

The child left the premises under the nose of staff, walked a kilometre to Newington Rd where a neighbour called the child’s mother to tell her they had spotted them walking alone down the street when they should have been in after school care

Both Inner West Council and childcare worker Joni Dunn were hit with criminal charges by police, who alleged they exposed the child to harm and did not adequately supervise them.

Dunn pleaded guilty in August and was sentenced to a conditional release order with no conviction recorded.

Last February a City of Canada Bay facility accidentally handed over a young mum’s personal information more than a dozen times to the man who allegedly subjected her to domestic violence, in a bungle that left the woman “vomiting and having panic attacks”.

The Victoria Avenue Children’s Centre in Concord repeatedly sent invoices containing her address and notices about her daughter’s attendance to her former partner.

This was despite the centre being notified that a Family Court order was in place.

NEWS TIPS: [e-mail]