Adele Ferguson

2 weeks 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.

3 weeks 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.

4 weeks 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.

4 weeks 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.

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

A powerful parliamentary inquiry has been called into the troubled childcare sector in the wake of a landmark ABC investigation that exposed regulatory failures and serious safety breaches, particularly within large for-profit providers. After Four Corners aired, hundreds of insiders and whistleblowers have come forward, with grave concerns about the state of childcare in Australia and how it's failing families.