Melbourne childcare centre stayed open for months despite safety concerns

3 months ago 19

A Melbourne childcare centre suspended from operating due to serious child safety concerns remained open for more than a month – which authorities knew about, but were unable to stop.

The extraordinary breach follows years of warnings that state authorities are failing to protect children from harm by missing glaring red flags, neglecting to investigate compliance failures or follow up on complaints.

Smart Children Early Learning was permanently shut after illegally operating under the nose of the government for months.

Smart Children Early Learning in Springvale was ordered to shut in August 2024 after its owner, Vi Tran, had her working with children clearance revoked.

But Tran, who was sacked from teaching in 2019 for “alarming” and threatening behaviour, defied the order – continuing to run the childcare centre caring for more than a dozen kids until it was finally shut by a court order in October.

The details of the case were revealed in several court proceedings as Tran fought to keep the centre running.

The childcare watchdog, known as the Quality and Assessment and Regulation Division (QARD), knew Smart Children was illegally operating but was unable to stop Tran, who stood in front of the door and refused to let in officers during a visit in September.

QARD attempted to shut the centre by slapping it with a three-month suspension in September, which Tran also ignored.

Tran has always maintained she did nothing wrong.

“We know for a fact that the prohibition notice wasn’t based on the issues that they raised and so that’s why we didn’t um close the centre – we decided not to close the centre even though we had the suspension,” she told a court last year.

The government unit that oversaw the case is now under investigation by Victorian Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath, the independent public sector watchdog.

Tran’s “flagrant disregard” of national law and QARD’s apparent inability to enforce that law is just one example that has disturbed child abuse experts since the early learning sector was plunged into crisis by the unrelated case of accused paedophile Joshua Brown.

An investigation by this masthead revealed a complaint fearing for the safety of children at the Point Cook childcare centre was made at the same time police allege educator Brown was sexually abusing toddlers and babies. That complaint, sent to QARD, was never followed up.

Detectives allege Brown abused children at Creative Garden Early Learning Centre on six key days. Four of those, on which there were allegations of rape and contaminating food with bodily fluids, were after the complaint was made.

Premier Jacinta Allan vowed to act after the extent of Brown’s alleged offending was revealed, launching a rapid review into the childcare sector. But the review omitted the childcare regulator from scrutiny, a decision branded by critics as irresponsible.

“You cannot stand up here and hand on heart say you are making a difference if you are not going to investigate some of the issues around regulation and safeguarding frameworks. It is just an abomination,” National MP Melina Bath said.

Premier Jacinta Allan launched a rapid review into the childcare sector.

The Tran case revealed QARD was slow to act on complaints and earlier findings made against the Springvale childcare centre owner.

Tran was sacked from teaching in 2019 by the Victorian Institute of Teaching, and two years later, the teaching body refused to register her as an early learning teacher because of the risk she posed to kids.

The panel overseeing the application said the 42-year-old had shown “alarming” aspects to her character, and it was “highly concerned” about what would happen if Tran returned to teaching children.

An excerpt of the Victorian Institute of Teaching’s reasons for refusing Tran’s application in 2021

“You have been found to have displayed serious underperformance or serious incompetence in your ability to teach and to have engaged in aggressive and threatening physical conduct and uncontrolled, angry, aggressive, threatening and/or insulting language or verbal conduct towards students and colleagues.

“The uncontrolled and aggressive language and conduct resulted in multiple students being emotionally affected, including suffering from anxiety, confusion, anger, exacerbated social anxiety and/or fear of you. Your colleagues made multiple complaints about your uncontrolled, threatening and yelling behaviour at both themselves and the students, including that you routinely alleged that many of your colleagues were racist and bullies, and your threatening behaviour was documented as having left several teachers shaken and fearful.”

“She has justified calling students bitches because that is the only way to get her point across and telling a student with an intellectual disability that he is lazy because in her view, sometimes teenagers need to face the truth and grow up,” the government submitted to a court when Tran appealed.

Despite the concerns, Tran maintained both her working with children check and approval to operate the Springvale childcare centre.

It took QARD a year to investigate a series of breaches it had recorded during a visit to the centre in March 2023. Officers documented serious non-compliance issues, including illegal staff-to-baby ratios, an asthmatic child not having a puffer, and staff not having any anaphylaxis training.

It was soon after this investigation, launched in March 2024, that Tran’s working with children check was revoked, with the government determining in July that she posed an unacceptable risk of harm.

Red tape now surrounds Smart Children Early Learning Centre in Springvale.

But it would take months before the risk was eliminated. In September, government officers visiting the centre, while it was supposed to be closed, found a toddler left unsupervised, running dangerously close to a hot barbecue.

Tran has never been charged or convicted of any criminal offence.

The government declined to respond to detailed questions sent by this masthead, including how an individual barred from teaching was granted approval to operate a childcare centre. “Victorian families must be able to trust that their children are safe in childcare, and we will do everything in our power to make sure they can,” a spokesperson said.

Despite several appeals launched by Tran and her husband, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has upheld all decisions to bar her from teaching or working with children.

Tran’s husband, Nhat Ta, responded on behalf of Tran to questions sent by this masthead. He said the centre had stayed open because they believed the suspension notice was illegal.

“We know that Vi’s prohibition from working at the childcare and cancellation of the childcare’s service and provider approval from the Education Department was a decision aiming at harming our company for the benefit of the corruption party in the Education Department,” he said.

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