A Bayside childcare provider has been fined $14,500 after a three-year-old child left its Morningside centre unnoticed and was unsupervised for almost 30 minutes.
Only About Children Pty Ltd was sentenced in Brisbane Magistrates Court today over the 23 June 2023 incident at Only About Children Morningside.
The court heard the child left the premises and was outside for about 10 minutes before a member of the public alerted the service after spotting a young child alone.
Staff conducted a head count and confirmed a child was missing.
Around 20 minutes later, the service was notified that the child had been located.
By that stage, the three-year-old had been outside the premises and unsupervised for just under 30 minutes.
Following the incident, the Department of Education, acting as the Early Childhood Regulatory Authority, prosecuted the service’s approved provider for failing to adequately supervise children at all times, protect children from harm and hazards, and ensure a child did not leave the premises.
In addition to the $14,500 fine, the department was awarded $2,500 in costs.
The court was told the fine reflected the seriousness of the offences, which carried the risk of serious injury or death.
In sentencing, Magistrate Lewis Shillito noted the provider had no prior convictions and had accepted responsibility.
However, he identified a number of concerning features, including the significant risk of harm the child faced, particularly in potentially crossing nearby roads, and the length of time the child was unsupervised.
Magistrate Shillito remarked it was “good luck, not good management” that the child was not injured.
The Regulatory Authority said it would continue working with the early childhood sector to ensure services understood their critical responsibilities to maintain adequate supervision and provide safe environments for children.
It warned that where steps taken by an approved provider to ensure children’s health and safety were inadequate, it would not hesitate to take appropriate action.
