Prosecution of South Australian Unlicensed Childcare Operator Esther Louise Anderson-Lomann

Channel 10 has carried a report on Esther Louise Anderson-Lomann who was convicted by the Adelaide Magistrates Court of running an unlicensed childcare centre.

Red Nose Launches Safe Sleeping eLearning Program for Childcare Educators

The HealthTimes published an article on the launch of Red Nose's e-learning program in support of safe sleep policies and practices at childcare services. The National Regulations were changed on 1 October 2017 (except in WA) to require services to have policies on sleep and rest (regulation 168(2)(a)(v)).

Prosecution of James Malou Atem, director of Cushchildhood Family Day Care Pty Ltd

According to the West Australian Department of Communities website, James Matou contravened section 295(1) of the National Law by knowingly providing false information to authorised officers on 22 November 2016. That information claimed the attendance of his two children in education and care on 21, 25, 27 and 28 October and 1, 3 and 7 November when in fact the two children did not attend on those days. A prosecution was brought against him in the Midland Magistrates Court for 14 breaches of section 295(1) in January 2018.​ In March, Mr Atem pleaded guilty to all 14 charges and was fined $4,000 with $1,500 costs.

Mr Atem has had previous compliance issues with his service as reported in The Australian in 2016.

Inadeqiuate Supervision (Section 165, National Law): Update on CEO of Department of Communities, Lady Bug Holdings Pty Ltd

Further to my previous blog post in relation to this matter, payment of the WASAT monetary order was made by the approved provider on 6 April 2018. Therefore the decision to suspend provider approval was revoked effective immediately. See the Western Australian Department of Communities website for further information.

Police Investigating Educator Sacked Over Allegations at Queensland Camp Australia Service

The Ipswich Advertiser carried a story of the sacking of a childcare educator at an Ipswich service who allegedly forcibly removed a 4 year old from a slide by her feet leaving her with a "significant" bruise. The original story was published by the Springfield News on 11 April.

Study on Childrens' Physical Acitivity at Childcare Services

A study by led by the University of Western Australia of children aged between 2-5 years found that 66% of children were not getting the nationally recommended amount of daily physical activity. The PLAYCE study tracked 1600 children from more than 100 Perth early childhood education and care services over the past two years. The study found that the average daily physical activity on care and non-care days was 150 minutes for toddlers and 174 minutes for preschoolers. However, over an 8 hour day at early childhood education and care the activity was only 123 minutes for toddlers and 139 minutes for preschoolers. More information, including the published study can be found on the University of WA website.

Alleged NSW Childcare Benefit Fraud

The Sydney Morning Herald has carried a report on alleged childcare benefit fraud.

Child Protection Legislation

Child Family Community Australia has published an updated resource sheet that provides a brief overview of child protection legislation across al state and territory jurisdictions.

Further Sanctions Published on Child Care Enforcement Action Register

The Commonwealth Department of Education and Training have published updated information on their Child Care Enforcement Action Register and the Minister for Education and Training released a media release. In addition, the media have reported extensively on this, see reports on 9 News, 3AW, and The Guardian.