Parents break silence over alleged daycare ‘shaking’ by worker

EXCLUSIVE

The parents of a nine-month-old girl who was “excessively shaken” and placed in a storage cupboard by a worker at childcare have broken their silence, furious with the way the authorities have handled the incident.

Fathers Karl and William Farenden sent their daughter to the Kidz Prints daycare in Sydney’s upper north shore in St Ives before they received a call from the centre in July.

They were informed the centre’s director had caught one of the workers Sukhee Choi – also known as Miss Sue – putting their nine-month-old in a storage room to stop her from crying.

The fathers say in the CCTV video – which they have viewed – Ms Choi “excessively” shook the cot with their daughter inside before taking her out and shaking her.

The centre referred the matter to the NSW Department of Education and the NSW Police.

Ms Choi has since lost her job and her working with children’s checks, however, police have not laid charges over the incident as the child was not injured. No other individuals at the daycare were investigated.

In a statement obtained by news.com.au, the fathers say they are outraged that nothing further will be done over the incident and fear there are not enough protections in place to ensure children are safe at daycare.

“We are in complete shock that nothing more can be done,” they said.

“How shocking that the police and the department of education have come to this conclusion and let down our baby girl.”

The incident came to light after Ms Choi launched a dismissal claim against the centre’s owners HAA Education Pty Ltd – arguing that the way she was fired was unfair.

Last week, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) heard a letter from the NSW Department of Education, which stated the child was “excessively shaken and moved in a cot and isolated in a storage room in an attempt to get her to sleep”.

In a statement to news.com.au, the NSW Department of Education said inspectors visited the centre, interviewed Ms Choi, reviewed the CCTV footage and “thoroughly investigated the allegations” before delivering the findings.

The FWC heard the company’s director Boyang Han discovered the alleged incident while reviewing CCTV at the centre.

Commissioner Damien Sloan pointed out that Ms Choi did not deny the claims, instead arguing that her firing was “unfair” and that her conduct did not to a dismissal.

“HAA submitted that it would be difficult to imagine a more fundamental breach of the duties of an educator in a childcare centre,” Commissioner Sloan said.

“HAA conceded that Ms Choi was not afforded procedural fairness in the dismissal process.

“However, it contended that the Commission would not find that the dismissal was unfair as a result. Rather, the seriousness of the misconduct outweighed any procedural faults.”

The fathers said they were also only told of the incident six days after it happened.

“Anything could have happened in that time frame to our baby,” they said.

“Thankfully nothing serious happened to our daughter, the next child might not be so lucky,” they said.

A spokeswoman for NSW Police said the matter was investigated by detectives at the State Crime Command Child Abuse Squad, however, the conduct did not “reach the criminal proofs for assault”.

“At this time there is no further action being taken,” she said.

The childcare centre has since been rebranded to the Love Heart Centre since the incident.

Kidz Prints still has centres in Epping and Narrabeen. The Love Heart Centre has centres in Turramurra and Hurstville.

Ms Choi was granted an extension to file her unfair dismissal claim by the FWC.

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