Day care centre shut down after boy slapped by carer's husband
A NSW family day care centre has been shut down after a four-year-old boy was slapped in the face when he began fighting with other children.
The council decision to close the centre, run by a 41-year-old Vietnamese woman, was upheld after an unsuccessful appeal to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
She has been banned from working with children indefinitely.
The incident involves the woman’s Vietnamese husband who allegedly struck the boy on his cheek at the centre in July 2016 after the he was “pulling pieces of a floor puzzle and hitting other children with them”.
The man’s wife questioned her husband asking: “Why did you do that? He is only a child”.
He responded saying he did not know why he was unable to control himself and was sorry for the incident.
Initially, there was no mark left on the boy’s face but after a nap, a red mark later appeared on his face, which she then treated with an ice pack.
When his mother arrived, the woman explained to her what had happened to her son saying: “I didn’t take care of him good”.
At the time of the incident, the woman did not contact the council regarding the matter, later saying she did not know why she didn’t call anyone.
The following day, the boy’s aunt contacted the Council Family Daycare Centre (FDC) office over the incident while also supplying them with four images of bruising to the boy’s face.
Council staff visited the day care centre the same day to question the woman, who then sent an email to the Council after their visit to clarify the events of the previous day.
“My talking language is not clear and can make you confused about the details of how and why the incident happened,” she wrote.
Ten days later, the boy’s mum also made a statement to local council through a Vietnamese translator.
She said her son told her that “Uncle hit me … Uncle whacked me.”
The owner and her husband later visited the boy’s family to remonstrate with them over the incident.
“I guess I am stressed too because I have no job and my back is sore,” the husband said, pleading for the family not to call police.
The tribunal upheld the council’s original decision to close the centre following “a number of breaches of Council policy and procedures, the Education and Care Services National Regulations, and Education and Care Services law.”
The tribunal said she had failed to provide adequate supervision by allowing an unauthorised person to supervise the children while she failed to give the required first aid treatment to the boy.
They also arrived at their decision after she failed to report the incident to Council FDC Unit in accordance with the Council Family Day Care Educators Agreement.
