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Accidents up at child care [AU]

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Author: 
Whinnett, Ellen
Format: 
Article
Publication Date: 
6 Sep 2009
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Hundreds of Victoria, Australia children have been lost, injured, or given wrong medication while under the supervision of child care centres.

Alarming new figures show 1353 children were involved in accidents at child care centres in 2007 and 2008 - and the number of accidents is growing.

Fifty-eight children were also lost from child care centres during the two-year period. Another 59 were given incorrect medication.

A further 155 were inappropriately or illegally punished. This included staff snatching items from children, giving them "time out", speaking to them inappropriately and excluding them from activities.

The Sunday Herald Sun cannot tell you which centres were involved because the Department of Childhood and Early Education has refused to release that information.

...

The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information, show eight centres were cautioned for allowing children to wander off or for failing to fix hazards.

In 2006, another two were prosecuted for failing to notice when children escaped from the centre. One - Sweetland Rd child care in Box Hill - failed to notice a 14-month-old had disappeared until he was found crawling in a car park.

Another centre - ABC at Hoppers Crossing - allowed a toddler to wander off in late 2006. He crossed a busy road and was found in the Werribee Plaza car park.

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- reprinted from the Herald Sun