Evdokia Toulos fined after Bliss Early Learning ribbon incident

A 16-month-old girl went limp with her head hanging forward after getting a ribbon wrapped around her neck in a childcare cubby house. Now the supervisor has been punished.

A supervisor of a Maroubra child care centre has been fined $8000 after a 16-month-old child became tangled in ribbons in an outdoor cubby house and spent three days recovering in hospital.

Bliss Early Learning supervisor Evdokia Toulos has been convicted of two offences including failing to ensure all children being educated and cared for were adequately supervised at all times, and failing to ensure that every reasonable precaution was taken to protect children from harm and from any hazard following an incident that unfolded at the 118-space centre in November, 2019.

On the day of the ordeal, the 16-month old was playing in an outdoor cubby house which had ribbons attached to the beam of the structure.

The incident occurred in November 2019. Photo: 9 News.

The staff member, who was looking after nine children in the play area, was singing to three children before turning and noticing the 16-month-old had stopped laughing.

The staff member then called out to the child, who did not respond, before noticing the girl had a ribbon fixed with a triangular wooden toy wrapped around her neck.

The girl’s feet were limp, she was unable to support her body weight and her head was hanging forward.

The staff member took about 30 seconds to remove the ribbon from her neck and called out for assistance, however no other staff member came to her aid.

Bliss Early Learning Maroubra was closed down after the incident. Photo: 9 News.

Ms Toulos, who was the nominated supervisor on the day, was advised of the situation and called emergency services before commencing emergency first aid on the child at the direction of paramedics.

In hospital, the 16-month-old was noted to have been suffering from ‘stridor’ – a noisy or high-pitched sound usually caused by a blockage of a child’s upper airway – and ligature marks around her throat.

The girl spent three days in hospital for treatment and went on to make a full recovery.

Ms Toulos was convicted in the District Court.

The NSW District Court found Ms Toulos failed to ensure children at the service were adequately supervised at all times, and failed to take every reasonable precaution to protect children from any form of harm or hazard.

The court heard the incident could have been prevented through measures such as conducting a risk assessment in relation to the ribbons, ensuring adequate supervision of the children playing with the ribbons, and providing staff with adequate training in supervision and child safety.

Ms Toulos was fined $8000 following a severity appeal in the NSW Local Court last year.

Bliss Early Learning was located at 211-215 Maroubra Rd at the time and was closed down after the incident.