Revealed: The big blunders in NSW childcare centres

A child left on a bus for six hours and another who suffered second degree burns on a heater are among a list of unrelated blunders at childcare centres. SEE THE FULL LIST:

A child who was left unattended in a bus for almost six hours is among the list of unrelated blunders that have occurred in childcare centres across NSW.

An incidents register published by the Department of Education (DOE) has put the spotlight on the early education providers and supervisors who have been convicted of offences relating to breaches of their duties while children have been in their care.

A total of 29 significant enforcement actions have been included on the register this year with some of the incidents involving children aged as young as five months old.

NewsLocal takes a look at some of the incidents and how they occurred:

CHILD LEFT ON BUS

The bus that the two-year-old was left in outside Yass Little Learners.

A childcare centre operator was fined more than $45,000 after a child was left on a bus for almost six hours on a 30 degree day in Yass.

Sitebeau Pty Ltd – the approved provider Yass Little Learners in the Southern Tablelands – was convicted of three offences in Yass Local Court in February this year over the blunder that involved a two-year-old child left unattended in the centre’s bus in February 2019.

The court heard the child was picked up in the bus from his home and driven to the childcare centre – however was not taken out of his seat when the bus arrived at 9am.

The driver of the bus left the vehicle and did not return until 2.50pm when she noticed an “unusual smell” in the vehicle.

The driver then saw that the child was still harnessed in his seat and immediately took the child into a staffroom where she stated “she had left the child on the bus all day”.

The court heard the child looked “clammy, flushed in the face and wasn’t moving” and one of the staff members noticed “his entire body was red.”

Paramedics were called to the centre and he was later taken to Yass District Hospital to be treated for dehydration.

The court heard there was no roll call, headcount or sign-in procedure on the day of the incident.

Sitebeau Pty Ltd was convicted of three offences including failing to ensure adequate supervision of children and fined $45,450.

Jessica Grundy, the nominated supervisor of Yass Little Learners, was also fined $9000 and convicted of failing to ensure adequate supervision of children and failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury.

SPOTTED ON THE OLD HUME

Two children were seen running across the Old Hume Hwy while in the care of an after-hours school care provider southwest of Sydney.

Kids Cbass, which operated the Kids United OSHC at Camden South Public School, was fined $5000 in Campbelltown Local Court over the incident that occurred in October 2019.

The court heard two children – aged five and six – were playing in a school hall and later asked if they could play at the school oval.

The incident occurred in 2019.

Kids Cbass had a system that involved staff at the oval and hall issued with “walkie-talkies” to track movements of children between the two play areas.

On the day of the incident, a staff member at the hall used a walkie-talkie to alert staff on the oval of the childrens’ movements – but did not receive a message back.

The children were discovered missing about five minutes later when one of the parents arrived to pick them up.

Almost 25 minutes later a teacher from the school was driving home when she spotted the children 2.5km south of the school running across the Old Hume Hwy – a four lane thoroughfare with an 80kmph speed limit.

The teacher followed the children and safely returned them to the school. 

Kids CBass – which did not call police during the period the children went missing – was convicted of failing to ensure that every reasonable precaution was taken to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury.

INADEQUATE SUPERVISION

The child was declared deceased at Sydney Children's Hospital.

A Sydney family day care educator failed to provide adequate supervision to a six-month old baby who was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Helen Rateau was an educator registered with Kidstart Family Day Care, which she operated out of her eastern suburbs home in 2019.

Waverley Local Court, at sentencing hearing last year, heard Ms Rateau was looking after four children on the day of the incident in March 2019 when she put the six-month-old in a bassinet to sleep.

At about 12:50pm the child was crying and Ms Rateau entered the room to check on the child before leaving the room. The child then stopped crying and upon checking the child at about 1:20pm, Ms Rateau found the baby face down in the bassinet and not breathing.

Ms Rateau called an ambulance and commenced CPR, but the child was unable to be revived and was declared dead upon arrival at Sydney Children’s Hospital.

There is no suggestion that the baby died as a result of the actions of Rateau or anyone else at Kidstart Family Day Care.

The court heard Ms Rateau failed to follow best practice guidelines in respect to sleeping children including not removing the child’s bib, and failing to ensure that the child was within sight to monitor the child’s breathing and skin colour. 

Ms Rateau was convicted of three offences including failing to ensure adequate supervision of children, failing to ensure that every reasonable precaution was taken to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury, and failing to implement adequate health and hygiene practices to minimise risks to children being educated and cared for.

SCALDED WITH HOT WATER

Green Leaves Early Learning Centres Port Macquarie was fined $3750.

A child had to be taken to hospital after suffering burns at an early learning centre on the mid north coast.

Green Leaves Early Learning Centres Port Macquarie was fined $3750 after the 14-month-old child was scalded with hot water in October 2018.

The court heard a staff member had placed the child on a benchtop near an electronic bottle warmer in a food preparation room and as the staff member removed the bottle the child’s hand was scalded with the water.

The staff member attempted to apply first aid on the child, who was later driven by his parents to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney for specialist treatment for “scald burns to a significant area of his left hand”.

The child required four weekly visits to hospital for treatment to the burns. At the time of the incident, the centre did not have signage to remind staff not to take children into the food preparation area and had not conducted a risk assessment regarding the use of the bottle warmer.

Green Leaves Early Learning Centres Port Macquarie was convicted of failing to ensure that every reasonable precaution was taken to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury.

INADEQUATE SUPERVISION

An educator of a Hunter Valley daycare service was fined $2500 for leaving children with a person who was not registered to look after them.

Upper Hunter Family Day Care educator Emily Simoni was issued the infringement in Muswellbrook Local Court for leaving four children – including one aged 18 months of age – in the care of her partner in November 2018.

The incident was discovered by a family day care co-ordinator who made an unannounced support visit to the centre 40 minutes after Ms Simoni left the building.

The court heard the co-ordinator saw the children unsupervised at the home and after ringing the doorbell spotted Ms Simoni’s partner – who was not registered to look after children – standing over a swimming pool pump at the rear of the property.

Ms Simoni returned to the centre just after midday – an hour after she had left the centre to make a school run.

Ms Simoni was convicted of failing to adequately supervise four children by leaving them at the family day care residence with a person who was not a family day care educator assistant.

CHILD WANDERS OFF

The incident occurred at Stanmore Public School.

A Sydney council was fined $7000 after a child managed to leave an inner-city after hours school care centre.

Inner West Council, which runs Stanmore OSHC at Stanmore Public School, was issued the infringement in Newtown Local Court after the child, aged 10, left the centre unbeknown to staff in June 2018.

The child left sometime between 3pm and 3.30pm and was later spotted by a family friend who raised the alarm when she spotted the child on Newington Rd – 1km away from the school.

The court heard no headcount or roll-call had been conducted at the centre on the day of the incident and the council failed to ensure the child was monitored by staff at all times.

Inner West Council was convicted of failing to ensure adequate supervision of children.

SECOND DEGREE BURNS

A Sydney childcare educator was fined $1500 after a child in her care suffered second degree burns on a home heater.

Carmelina Petrini, a registered educator at Chasing Rainbows Family Day Care was issued the infringement in Manly Local Court after a 10-month-old child burned both her hands on a heater at Ms Petrini’s house in June 2019.

The court heard Ms Petrini was preparing the child’s morning tea when the child began tapping her hands on the vents at the top of the heater and began to cry.

Ms Petrini rushed the child to a sink and ran her hands running water for about 40 minutes during which time blisters began appearing on her palms.

Medical staff later diagnosed the child with second degree burns to both her hands. The court heard Ms Petrini failed to place a barrier around the heater or in an area inaccessible to children.

Ms Petrini was convicted of failing to ensure that every reasonable precaution was taken to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury.

CHILD WALKS TO WOOLIES

The child walked to a Woolworths store.

Staff at a childcare centre in southeast NSW did not notice when a child with medical conditions went missing for more than half an hour.

Whatcanwedo.com Pty Ltd, which ran Our Place Educational Centre based in Jerrabomberra, was fined $9300 in Queanbeyan Local Court after the seven-year-old child left the centre unbeknown to staff in July 2018.

The child, who had medical conditions including epilepsy and autism, walked about 1km away from the centre to a Woolworths store where workers at the supermarket called police.

The court heard staff at the centre were unaware of the child’s absence until being contacted by police – 35 minutes after the child left the building.

Whatcanwedo.com Pty Ltd was convicted of failing to ensure adequate supervision of children, failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury, and failing to take reasonable steps to ensure that the nominated supervisor and staff members followed policies and procedures.

Stephen Whisker, the nominated supervisor of the provider, was also fined $900 and convicted of failing to ensure adequate supervision of children and failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury.