WA OSHC provider fined after child is found walking on busy road, taken to police station

A West Australian outside school hours care (OSHC) provider has been fined  $12,000 and $2,000 in costs in relation to a December 2021 incident that saw a four year old exit the service and begin walking home before being found by members of the public and taken to the Kwinana Police Station where his parents were contacted.

Following an investigation into the incident, the Department of Communities’ Education and Care Regulation Unit (ECRU), which serves as WA’s regulatory authority, referred the matter to the State Administrative Tribunal.

On 6 September 2022, the SAT found that the approved provider, based on the grounds of a private school, had breached the Education and Care Service National Law (WA) Act for an offence involving inadequate supervision.

An investigation by ECRU established that, in December 2021, a male child aged four years left the service and began walking home along Wellard Road. There was no dedicated system in place to ensure that the door to the service was either locked or monitored by an educator to see that no child was left unsupervised.

The child had indicated he wanted to go home after an incident at the service, after which staff tried to reassure him, however he still left.

The service was alerted to the child being missing by another child in its care. The service contacted the WA Police Force and shortly after this, the service was advised the child had been taken to the local Police Station.

The child was unsupervised by the service for approximately 23 minutes.

“This is the fifth occasion this year where the Department has sought disciplinary action in the SAT against an approved service provider, where children have left a service unsupervised, and inadequate supervision has been found to be a factor in all of them,” said Phil Payne, Acting Executive Director Regulation and Quality at the Department of Communities.

“Services need to provide appropriate levels of supervision and conduct and record regular and accurate headcounts. Educators should not ignore early warning signs from children (such as saying they want to leave.)”