Two WA childcare providers face fines after high-needs children wander off from care
Two major childcare providers in Western Australia have been fined for failing to properly supervise and protect vulnerable children. The first incident involved a five-year-old neurodivergent child who managed to escape supervision and sit alone on a school oval for 10 minutes before being found. The second incident occurred at another after-school care service, where a nine-year-old child with a medical condition requiring one-on-one supervision walked out of the facility unnoticed and was only found 15 minutes later.
In the first case, OSHClub was fined $35,000 for failing to report a serious incident within the required 24-hour timeframe and for inadequate staff record-keeping. The incident occurred when educators took children to the school oval, and the boy walked away from the group. Despite the child's vulnerability, he remained unattended for 10 minutes before being found by a parent. The WA authorities also penalised OSHClub for not promptly notifying the regulatory authority of the incident.
In the second incident, the St Joe's The Village out-of-school hours care service was fined $8,000. The nine-year-old boy, known as T for legal reasons, walked out of the facility through an unlocked gate and was only found 15 minutes later. The Department of Communities executive director, Angelo Barbaro, emphasized the importance of adequate supervision, stating that it is a matter of luck that the situation did not end worse.
Both incidents highlight the critical need for proper staffing and supervision in childcare settings. The State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) found that the services failed to meet the legally required child-to-staff ratios and did not have adequate medical and risk management plans in place. The providers have since implemented changes, such as installing self-closing gates, conducting regular head counts, and improving staff training, to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
