Childcare abuse claims raise difficult questions for distressed parents

Parents around Australia have been shocked by horrific allegations of child abuse brought against a Melbourne childcare worker in a case that is likely to have national ramifications.

On Tuesday, Joshua Dale Brown, a 26-year-old from Point Cook, was charged with more than 70 offences, including child rape. Brown is yet to indicate how he will plead to the charges.

Joshua Dale Brown, 26, has been accused of child sex abuse.

His alleged victims – who were between five months and two years old – attended Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023, police said.

However, Brown worked at 20 childcare centres between January 2017 and May 2025, and authorities said 1200 young children should now be tested for infectious diseases.

The Health Department contacted about 2600 families, parents, children and carers of children following the allegations, and recommended about 1200 children undergo testing for infectious diseases.

These latest allegations come after shocking cases of abuse by childcare workers of infants in their care were revealed in Queensland and NSW.

Last year, former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith was sentenced to life in prison for the “depraved” sexual abuse of 73 children under his care over almost 20 years in Queensland and Italy. In NSW, a childcare worker was charged last year with abusing eight children at a regional daycare centre.

Then in January this year, Quoc Phu Tong, 35, pleaded guilty to touching a young boy on the groin and bottom over the boy’s clothes in September last year at a daycare centre on Sydney’s northern beaches. All of these cases have raised serious questions for parents around Australia desperately worried about the safety of their children.

Access to early education childcare is a key plank of the Albanese government’s federal agenda and something most working parents need and are encouraged to use. But leaving your beloved child in the care of a stranger is also one of the biggest fears parents face – and these recent cases show the dangers of what can go wrong in the worst-case scenario.

It’s worth pointing out the vast majority of children in care are well looked after and gain important social and educational benefits. But while the allegations against accused people such as Brown are yet to be tested in the courts, the recent spate of convictions shows there are bad people who deliberately use centres as a way to access innocent children who are vulnerable to abuse.

There are several areas of concern: the first is the obvious inadequacy of the vetting system, despite state-based working with children checks in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

Premier Jacinta Allan said on Tuesday that a review into how working with children checks function, which was already under way before the latest allegations surfaced, would probably lead to changes.

“We’ve already undertaken a rapid review that commenced in April and the changes are being introduced from next month,” she said. “I want to make it absolutely clear … there is further strengthening and actions we can do on top of the actions that have already been taken: increasing penalties, strengthening the regulation.”

The Age and parents alike will be awaiting details of further changes.

Secondly, there are questions about the use of casual workers in the sector, who can move about at ease and escape proper supervision. Thirdly, many parents are asking why centres allow workers one-on-one access to their children without other people being present.

The government has now ordered the early childhood regulator to investigate the conduct of the childcare operators for whom Brown had worked.

Finally, there is the vexed question of whether male early childcare educators should be subject to extra supervision, or even be employed in the first place. Of course, extra oversight of males or not employing them would be unfair to the vast majority of male workers, who do a terrific job and wouldn’t dream of abusing a child in their care.

But some parents are quietly deciding they just don’t want to take the risk – and experts in the field predict this latest case may lead to innocent male early learning educators leaving the sector rather than work under increased suspicion.

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