Shocking images of a 10-week-old baby covered in scratches inflicted by another child at a Melbourne childcare centre have sparked cause for concern among parents this week.
The mother of the young child, who spoke to the media via a Chinese translator and did not wish to be identified, said it was painful to see her child’s face covered in dark red scratches after being notified of the incident by the Only About Children centre in Melbourne Central.
“We couldn’t believe a horrible thing could happen to our boy, we couldn’t accept this,” she told 9News.
So what can parents do to prevent their child being injured in childcare, what steps can they take if an incident does occur, and what responsibilities do providers have to protect children in their care from harm?
Emotions run high when children are hurt
After the incident, Only About Children and the Victorian Department of Education conducted reviews and found the scratching was an accident.
“This is obviously an upsetting issue for the family involved and we would like to apologise for the distress caused,” Only About Children chief executive Anna Learmonth said.
A Victorian Department of Early Childhood spokesperson said the regulator was notified of the incident by the service provider, which has since put in place measures to address the incident, including reviewing its procedures to ensure an additional educator is present at nappy change times, above the required ratio.
But the incident has rattled young mums.
Ada Liang, a Chinese-Australian mother living in Sydney, said it was “heartbreaking” to see a baby injured, especially when they were too young to speak or defend themselves.
She said it would be hard for her to communicate with the educators if something happened to her child because of the language barrier, but she would ask family members with better English skills to investigate further and see what action could be taken.
“Parents spend money on childcare, we actually want our children to be in a place where teachers take care of them,” she said.
“We just want them to be happy. There might have been some moments of crying or fighting, but I haven’t imagined such a bad thing to happen.”
Ms Sun, another Chinese-Australian mother living in Victoria who gave only her surname, sends her daughter to childcare regularly and was alarmed by the incident.
“I felt quite shocked to see what happened to the baby,” she said.
If a similar incident happened to her, she said she would “go to the management, find out what really happened and ask for action plans to be put into place to prevent future incidents”.
Trang van Heugten, special counsel at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, said emotions could run high when a baby or child is hurt in care, but legal action was not always the best course and frank conversations were the best starting point.
Ms van Heugten has personal experience — several years ago, her young child was bitten on the cheek by another child during an argument over a toy.
She was notified, requested the incident report, and spoke with the childcare educators, who she said were often distressed themselves when a child was hurt in their care.
In response, the educators had taught her child ways to protect himself – such as holding out his hand and saying, “Stop, I don’t like it”; and they spoke to the other child to explain biting was not acceptable.
“For me that instilled a bit more faith, rather than disappointment, in the childcare provider, knowing that they were taking preventative measures after knowing an incident occurred,” she said.
What if an injury does occur?
Ms van Heugten pointed out that prevention was better than cure.
But if something did happen, parents should first ensure their child was safe, remain calm, get the facts, and engage in open communication with the childcare provider about what happened and how to prevent further incidents.
“All parents can immediately request an incident report, [and] request details of how the childcare facility managed the incident,” she said.
“If it’s an incident that could have been prevented, you do need to gather evidence.”
She said parents could request photos of the immediate aftermath of the injury or faulty play equipment, a copy of the incident report, and CCTV footage, if the childcare facility had it.
“If the parents know it’s a serious incident … [and] there was something negligent about the conduct of its employees, the facility, or its equipment, they should ask for the footage to be retained,” she said.
She said sometimes CCTV footage would not be supplied due to privacy, but parents ought to request the childcare facility saves it so it would not be erased.
“If it’s really serious and the parents can’t gather the evidence themselves, they need to ensure that the matter has been escalated to the Department of Education,” she said.
“They have the investigative powers and they can take the appropriate action.”
She said legal action should only be taken when there is negligence on the part of the childcare provider, and in Victoria, there was a threshold of more than 5 per cent “whole person impairment”.
That would not cover things like superficial scratching or biting, but could include, for example, a broken ankle due to faulty play equipment, if it resulted in surgery and ongoing and serious issues, such as a limp.
What responsibilities do carers have?
Childcare providers have mandatory staffing ratios and obligations too — they are subjected to unannounced visits, procedures and protocols.
If regulators find a facility is not up to standard, they can impose fines or emergency action notices.
“If the childcare facility doesn’t have enough staff for the ratio of children there, they may make them comply with what’s required,” Ms van Heugten said.
“They may suspend or even cancel the provider’s ability to run their business.”
Dr Leigh Disney, an Early Years lecturer at Monash University, pointed out that childcare providers were mandated by law to look after children’s health, safety and wellbeing.
If a child is hurt in care, they are responsible for recording and reporting the incident to the parents as soon as practicable, but no more than 24 hours after any incident, injury, trauma or illness.
“Services will have mechanisms in place to report injuries and document what happened, what staff did to support, who witnessed the incident, and to whom they reported the incident,” he said.
What other steps can parents take to prevent injuries?
There are some simple steps parents can take to prevent injuries from occurring at childcare, such as ensuring nails are trimmed and asking providers to ensure play equipment and food are safe.
If they have a child with special needs or allergies, they must inform the childcare educators.
Dr Disney said there were other practical strategies, “such as ensuring your children are wearing suitable clothing that fits well and allows for the great degree of movement children do in educational settings”.
He pointed to the Raising Children website for safety advice about children at different ages.
But his primary advice was to communicate openly with your children’s teachers.
“They will best support your understanding of what happened and how your child was injured. This will help understand your child’s needs and help the service identify safety concerns in their setting,” he said.
Ms van Heugten also said parents could talk to their child about playing safely so they don’t injure themselves or other children while learning, playing and exploring.
Dr Disney added that children under five “are going through a rapid period of growth in all domains of development, and at times, they can be prone to accidents and incidents”.
“Providing safe and nurturing settings where children grow, learn and test their burgeoning skills allows them to reach their potential in the home or educational context,” he said.
He said early childhood workers “are some of the most dedicated and caring people in our community”.
“They have a great deal of responsibility in their roles in educating children, and wages should reflect this level of responsibility.”
But, he added, “just because wages are not ideal, it does not mean teachers are not providing adequate supervision”.
Additional reporting by Jason Fang