Bold headline: Even the best childcare programs can miss crucial safety steps, endangering vulnerable kids. But here’s where the story gets controversial: how can well-known providers drift so far from proper supervision, and what does that mean for parents and regulators?
Two Western Australian (WA) after-school and care providers have faced penalties after incidents where high-needs children wandered away from supervision. The events highlight gaps in monitoring, reporting, and record-keeping that left some children at risk and sparked questions about industry accountability.
OSHClub: a major player in before- and after-school care, was fined after a five-year-old neurodivergent child slipped from supervision and ended up sitting alone on the opposite side of a school oval. The educators supervising that day had taken the children to Samson Primary School’s oval, but the boy disengaged from the group and remained with other children who were not from the service. He sat there for about 10 minutes until a parent intervened and brought him to the school office, where his parents were contacted.
WA regulators also sanctioned OSHClub for delays in reporting the serious incident to the regulatory authority and for lacking a compliant staff record for an agency educator. Although the incident occurred on a Thursday, the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) found that OSHClub did not inform the regulator within the 24-hour timeframe required by rules. The provider was ordered to pay a total of $35,000 in fines and costs.
OSHClub’s WA general manager, Natasha Browne, acknowledged that the organization’s policies and procedures “regrettably fell short” in this instance and stated that OSHClub accepts full responsibility and sincerely apologizes. She added that the child was neither harmed nor left alone on school grounds during the incident.
Escaping through a gate, unnoticed
In a separate case, another WA after-school service faced scrutiny after a vulnerable child requiring one-on-one supervision left the facility without being noticed. In January 2025, at St Joe’s The Village out-of-school-hours care in Albany, the agency received an $8,000 penalty. A nine-year-old boy, referred to as T for legal reasons, walked to a pool-style gate, unlatch it, and exit the premises. The child, who has a medical condition necessitating direct supervision, was not detected until a roll call more than 15 minutes later revealed his absence. He was later found near the adjacent St Joseph’s College playground but moved away from staff as they looked for him. He returned to the centre about 30 minutes after leaving.
Angelo Barbaro, executive director of WA’s Department of Communities, commented that the outcome was dangerously fortunate that the child was found unharmed. He stressed that services must prevent similar incidents by ensuring adequate supervision of all children in care and highlighted the public trust placed in providers to comply with the law and safeguard children.
Poor staffing and supervision
The SAT concluded that T’s departure resulted from insufficient staffing and supervision at the Albany site run by Harpreet Dhaliwal. With 36 children on site, only three staff members and one additional worker in the kitchen were supervising, and there was no adequate medical or risk management plan for T, despite knowledge of his serious medical condition requiring one-on-one supervision. The tribunal found that minimum child-to-staff ratios were not met and that lax record-keeping indicated a failure to ensure staff followed policies and procedures.
Dhaliwal’s defense pointed to operational changes since the incident, including three new self-closing gates, mandatory sign-in/sign-out by parents, and more frequent head counts. A medical risk register was created to help educators recognize children with specific attendance plans. The tribunal still imposed penalties: Dhaliwal received an $8,600 fine for multiple breaches of the Education and Care Services Act, plus $2,000 toward the department’s legal costs. She later explained to the ABC that while the day’s operational pressures created a complex environment, it does not excuse the lapse in supervision.
What happened next
In the OSHClub case, the provider stated that it had retrained staff, strengthened supervision practices, and revised its staffing policy to require site induction for all educators before starting a shift.
Controversial take and question for readers
- Some observers argue that even large providers can struggle with supervision in busy after-school settings, pointing to the need for stricter processes and accountability across the sector.
- Others might question whether penalties are sufficient to drive meaningful change or if more systemic reforms are required, such as independent audits, standardized minimum staffing levels across all services, and mandatory real-time incident reporting.
Thought-provoking closing: Do you think the penalties in these cases are enough to deter future lapses, or should regulators impose stricter sanctions and universal staffing standards to protect every child?
