Quality Education and Care NT investigating ‘offences’ at Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre

A Territory childcare centre where a toddler accidentally hung herself on a fence is being investigated for ‘offences’ against the national childcare safety laws following four years of alleged breaches.

On Friday the Education Department confirmed it was investigating ongoing issues with supervision at the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre following the death of a child in their care in September 2023. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A childcare centre where a toddler accidentally hung herself on a fence is being investigated for “offences” against the national childcare safety laws following four years of alleged breaches.

On Friday, the Education Department confirmed it was investigating ongoing issues with supervision at the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre following the death of a child in its care in September 2023.

Over a heartbreaking four day inquest last week, the Territory coroner Elisabeth Armitage heard 22-month-old Ebony Thompson was left alone in the garden for five minutes before she was discovered unconscious, unresponsive and turning blue while trapped on a fence.

Ebony Thompson was 22 months old when she died an incident at the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre on August 31, 2023. Picture: Supplied

Ms Armitage repeatedly heard supervision issues had been repeatedly flagged, including in a ‘damning’ internal staff audit in 2022, and following the escape of another child six months before Ebony’s death.

However on Friday, the regulator Quality Education and Care NT revealed supervision issues continued to plague the centre even after the tragedy.

QECNT director Katy Brennan said the Humpty Doo centre was told in August 2024 the regulator had “formed the reasonable suspicion that an offence or offences may have been committed against national law”.

Ms Brennan said the regulator’s investigation into alleged breaches of supervision standards was ongoing.

NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage on a site tour of the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre where 22-month-old Ebony Thompson suffered a fatal medical incident on August 31, 2023. Picture: Zizi Averill

She said documents provided to the regulator by the Humpty Doo centre before the tragedy appeared to show it was up to the national standards, however the inquest and subsequent regulatory inspections had exposed alleged breaches of its own supervision policies.

It comes as the regulator drastically reduced the childcare centre’s intake to 72 kids, down from its previous limit of 116.

In August 2023, 22-month-old Ebony Thompson was discovered unresponsive and unconscious behind this blue shed, a known 'blind spot' at the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre.

Ms Brennan said a QECNT assessment of the centre three years before Ebony’s death found it was “meeting” all the national quality standards.

However, an assessment after her death gave the centre a failing grade for five of the seven national targets, including children’s health and safety, educational programs and practice, physical environment, relationships with children, and governance and leadership.

Ms Brennan said the 2024 assessment uncovered evidence of “non compliance” issues in the centre, noting “educators ...were not always aware of where children were in the spaces, and supervision was again a concern”.

The Humpty Doo childcare where a girl had a medical incident leading to her death. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

She said the centre was told they had to change how they used indoor and outside play areas, after inspectors noticed kids were unable to access indoor spaces to “cool off” from the heat.

The inquest heard breaches of supervision policies could result in individuals being fined up to $6000, and companies a whopping $30,000.

However in the 13 years since the National Framework was established in the Territory no one has ever been fined as a result of breaches of childcare standards.

Ms Brennan said the only penalty QECNT had ever issued was the temporary suspension of an outside school hours service, allowing it to “improve their practice before they were allowed to reopen”.

The Thompson family’s barrister, Luke Officer, asked the regulator what the threshold was for action to be taken, given the four years of documented supervision issues at the centre.

“When does it get to the stage where you say ‘enough is enough, we need to shut this place down, temporarily or for however long .... to make sure that no other child that is currently going there meets their unfortunate demise?” Mr Officer said.

Ms Brennan confirmed it was a “pattern” of supervision issues, however the regulator had been holding regular unannounced visits and was committed to continuously monitoring the centre.

Mr Officer suggested every NT centre should be required to audit their supervision policies every 12 months, with the results reported to the regulator.

Ms Brennan said while this could pose resourcing issues, it could be within the scope of the coroner’s recommendations.