On Wednesday (18th November 2015), a five-month-old boy died at a Moorooka family day care home in what police said were non-suspicious circumstances.
Police said four children were found locked in rooms at the house on Wednesday, while they also had difficulty to contact parents of other children as there were no records of their next of kin.
A statement from the Department of Education said Moorooka Family Day Care was responsible for assessing the ability of the centre’s operators to provide in-home care. Both the Wallace Street centre and Moorooka Family Day Care were being investigated.
According to neighbours, the Moorooka family day care home where the boy died was kept in undesirable conditions, littered with rubbish and broken toys in the backyard.
Family Day Care Association of Queensland executive manager Peta McNellie said she didn’t know the educators at the centre in question but her thoughts were with the baby’s family.
“That family day care is regulated the same as all childcare in australia and it’s required to meet the same regulatory framework and quality standards,” she said. She estimated there were more than 100 family day care providers across Queensland, with each supervising between five and 100 services – essentially homes operated by the educators.
She said family day care was an excellent environment for children.
“There’s a wonderful educator to child ratio. It’s in a home-like environment. It’s in local communities,” she said.
“It’s with an educator that parents build a strong and trusting relationship with.”
At-home child care rules stipulate that there must be one childcare worker to every seven children and no more than four can be below school age.
(News Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/moorooka-family-day-care-shut-down-after-baby-death-20151119-gl3em6.html#ixzz3s0Op74d0)
At ‘My Place’ Family Day Care, we require our Educators to strictly adhere to the National Quality Standard for Early Childhood Education and Care, National Regulations/ National Law and ‘My Place’ Service Policies and Procedures.
All ‘My Place’ Educators are regularly visited by qualified, experienced Coordinators (Mentors). During visits, Educator’s environment is assessed based on “Home Safety Assessment” check-list that covers all areas including kitchen, toilet and/or nappy-changing areas, bedroom, pool and water sources, and outdoor environment.
As our Mission Statement states:
Meeting the childcare needs of our community and guiding children to actively experience play based learnings which builds success for life, in a caring and safe home based environment for children.
Family day care offers excellent flexible education and care for children in the private homes of registered carers. With proper support and management by an approved scheme such as ‘My Place’, we strongly believe that children can thrive under family day care.
For any question or further information, please e-mail FDCadmin@ich.org.au or call 3372 1711. ‘My Place’ Family Day Care always welcomes new Educator or Families’ enrolment.