Chris Gillett

2 weeks 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.

1 month 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.

1 month 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.

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.

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

Insiders say parents are being lied to about the quality of food served at childcare centres, with some spending as little as 33 cents per meal on children. Families and staff said the standard of food at some for-profit childcare centres was "substandard" and "heartbreaking". Jenny Shih said the Genius childcare centre at Reservoir in Melbourne deteriorated before her eyes after she enrolled her child in 2023. Ms Shih was paying $140 a day, or $700 a week per child, at the Genius centre.