Workers slipping through child check net

Schools and community organisations are so concerned adults who pose a risk to children are slipping through the cracks they are turning to private companies for help.

Private screening identified six Victorian employees or volunteers who should not be working with children.

Private screening identified six Victorian employees or volunteers who should not be working with children, the Herald Sun can reveal.

The six employees – picked up in 33,000 staff reviews – were immediately stood down by their employers.

Schools, sporting groups and community organisations are doing their own monitoring of staff, concerned that authorities are not identifying all adults posing risks to children.

Some are turning to Oho, a Melbourne “purpose-led social venture” offering staff accreditation beyond Working with Children and police checks.

Its clients include Geelong Grammar, Plenty Valley Christian School and Australian Christian College.

It is also working with Golf Australia, Gymnastics Australia, the YMCA, Scope and Southern Cross Kids Camp.

Oho chief executive Claire Rogers said many organisations checked credentials of workers when they were hired, but did no ongoing validation.

“This means a fair proportion of them are willing to run the risk,” she said.

“We want to help organisations discharge their responsibility to keep everyone in their organisation safe on an ongoing basis.

“This is now a director liability as the laws have changed.”

Ms Rogers said there was a big gap between expectations and practice on accreditation.

An independent survey commissioned by Oho found 55 per cent of parents expected organisations to monitor staff continuously, but that only 5 per cent of Working with Children cards were verified after staff were employed.

In 2022 so far, 13 teachers have been suspended by the Victorian Institute of Teaching because they did not meet the standards required for teaching young people.

In some cases, there are gaps of weeks or months ­between police charges being laid and an employee being removed from a school.

Geelong Grammar principal Rebecca Cody said Oho gave the school a “systematic, ongoing and regular validation of credentials for staff, contractors and volunteers”.

As of June 2020 – the latest numbers available – 1.6 million people had completed Working with Children’s checks and 5400 notices had been issued revoking the cards.