Adele Ferguson

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Adele Ferguson |Chris Gillett

The former operator of a Sydney childcare centre where children were force-fed until they vomited, strapped in highchairs for hours and had their heads shoved into garbage bins, has been permanently banned from working in the disability support sector. Thomas Fanous, who was the sole director and person in control of Jumpstart childcare centres, was exposed in March in a Four Corners investigation which revealed he had moved into the NDIS.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Adele Ferguson |Chris Gillett

Some of the country's largest childcare operators are named in a damning cache of regulatory documents the NSW government and regulator tried to keep hidden from the public. The documents detail hundreds of disturbing cases of babies and toddlers being forcibly dragged, pulled, kicked, force-fed, used as a human mop and in some instances, inappropriate sexual behaviour. Some incidents resulted in serious injuries including dislocated elbows, fractures, burns, a fractured skull, and a haematoma.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Adele Ferguson

At some point, the major political parties will have to confront the failures in Australia’s early childhood education and care system head on. It should be the perfect election issue as the problems have resonated with many families. So far, it hasn’t taken centre stage — but with weeks to go, that could change. The for-profit childcare sector is propped up by billions in government subsidies, weak regulation, and families desperate for care.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Adele Ferguson |Chris Gillett

G8 Education, Australia's billion-dollar listed childcare empire, has become embroiled in a damning document dump revealing dozens of its centres in NSW have exposed children to serious safety risks including toxic chemicals, inappropriate discipline, yelling, children going missing and disturbing cases of alleged sexual assaults. The incidents were detailed in hundreds of pages of documents released by the NSW Department of Education in response to a parliamentary order.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Adele Ferguson

The boom is on and childcare has become one of the most profitable plays in Australian real estate — and families are feeling the cost. As investors rush into the sector, childcare fees are rising sharply. Some parents now pay up to $220 a day, or more than $1,000 a week, to access a system worth more than $20 billion a year and increasingly marked by systemic failures, secrecy, and a rising number of serious incidents inside some for-profit childcare centres.