Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre director and two staff charged for failure to supervise Ebony Thompson before her accidental hanging
A childcare centre and three workers have been charged over the accidental hanging of an Aussie toddler who was left unsupervised in the playground for 10 minutes.
A childcare centre and three workers have been charged over the accidental hanging of an Australian toddler, who died after being left unsupervised in a Northern Territory playground for 10 minutes.
Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre director Rachel Lee Marsh appeared on the Darwin Local Court list last week charged with inadequately supervising children and failing to protect children from harm or hazards.
It is understood Ms Marsh was not required to attend the court on Thursday November 6, with her first mention appearance officially set for December 17.
On Tuesday, Northern Territory Education Minister Jo Hersey confirmed two other nominated supervisors, including the acting director of the centre, would also be charged with the same offences, alongside the Humpty Doo centre itself.
Ms Hersey said all of the charges related to the death of 22-month-old Ebony Thompson, who was found by staff unresponsive, unconscious and turning blue while hanging between the loops of a hip-high gate on August 31, 2023.
The toddler died two days later from a severe hypoxic brain injury.
It is alleged the service and the three workers breached the Commonwealth Education and Care Services National Law Act in their management of the rural early education centre on the day of Ebony’s accidental hanging.
The National Education regulations said a provider that failed to take “every reasonable precaution” to protect children from “harm and any hazard likely to cause injury” could be fined up to $57,400, while an individual could face a $11,400 max penalty if found guilty.
Similar fines apply for failing to adequately supervise children.
This is the first time in 13 years that a Territory childcare centre has been charged over an alleged breach of national childcare standards.
Ms Hersey said the charges were a “clear message child safety must come first”.
“Childcare centres need to be held accountable, and I will not hesitate to take action against providers who do not meet National Quality Standards,” she said.
“In a couple of weeks I will be announcing a plan to overhaul Quality Education and Care NT, and our plans to pull funding from centres not meeting National Quality Standards.
“Centres who are not meeting National Quality Standards need to fix their act fast.”
Ms Hersey also shared her condolences with the Thompson family “who live with the loss of their daughter Ebony every single day”.
Last month NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage found Ebony accidentally hanged herself while trying to peek over a looped-top gate to watch the chickens at the rural daycare, 40km from Darwin.
Ms Armitage said Ebony had been unsupervised for around 10 minutes, after staff failed to notice she had wandered into a playground blind spot just before lunch time.
Ms Marsh told the inquest the area where Ebony was found was a known blind spot and hazard, with the shed blocking visibility to the chicken coop gate.
She said the policy stated staff should attempt to position themselves to watch all the “high risk areas” and “blind spots”, but in reality “you go to where the children are”.
Ms Marsh acknowledged her staff had flagged there “wasn’t enough shared supervision”, there were issues with the “positioning” of staff, and complaints there was not “adequate supervision” of the children.
The coroner flagged the supervision plan marked five spots where educators had to stand to adequately watch all the ‘high risk areas’ — yet there were only three or four staff in the playground.
But Kidsafe Queensland president Ruth Barker said ultimately, safety planning had to account for the chaos childcare educators faced while trying to look after “explorative”, “inquisitive” and “unpredictable” toddlers.
She said educators should not be expected to act like guards at a “gulag” at set monitoring points, and needed an environment which maximised supervision and minimise the impact of blind spots while they interacted, played and cared for the kids.
Ms Armitage’s seven recommendations included calls for the Territory childcare regulator, Quality Education and Care NT, to inspect blind spots and fences, and conduct supervision audits of all centres.
Education Department representatives said at the time of Ebony’s death looped fencing was not a risk it was aware of or monitoring, but that had changed since her tragedy.
Following Ebony’s death the centre has installed a gate to block access to the ‘high risk area’ where she was discovered.
In her findings the coroner said one of the main factors contributing to Ebony’s death was that active supervision strategies had failed, and the risks of the blind spot were not recognised.
Following the coronial findings, Ms Hersey wrote to the federal Education Minister Jason Clare and Early Education Minister Jess Walsh calling for the fencing laws to be reviewed.
Ms Walsh said she had reviewed the coroner’s recommendations, and would ask all state and territory ministers to “consider potential Australian Government changes at our next meeting”.
“I have already asked my Department to consider whether any changes need to be made (to the) National Law in light of that report,” Dr Walsh said.
The NT Education Department said it was unable to comment further on the charges against the three childcare workers and the centre, as their matters were before the court.
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Originally published as Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre director and two staff charged for failure to supervise Ebony Thompson before her accidental hanging
