A father of three has recalled the harrowing moment he unknowingly handed his daughter over to an alleged sex offender working at a local childcare centre.
Satbir, who asked to be identified only by his first name, visited the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook, in Melbourne’s southwest, on Wednesday after recognising the alleged offender on the news.
The troubled father said he was seeking information about Joshua Dale Brown’s supervision of his children in 2023.
He also wanted advice on whether two of his children needed to be tested after more than 1000 families were told to screen infants for potential diseases.
“I dropped off my child into his hands a couple of times,” Satbir told AAP.
“I’m a bit worried, I (need) to find out everything. I’ve seen him in the classroom where I dropped my children.”
The charges against Brown, 26, include sexual penetration of a child under 12, attempted sexual penetration of a child under 12 and producing child abuse material.
They relate to eight victims aged between five months and two years who were enrolled at the childcare centre between April 2022 and January 2023.
He worked at about 20 facilities since 2017 and health authorities have urged the parents of 1200 children to get them tested for unspecified infectious diseases as a precaution.
Families with children at the centres have reported long wait times to access support and health information from a government hotline.
Another parent who visited the Point Cook centre on Wednesday, who declined to give their name, received a generic response from authorities and later found the same information in the news.
His daughter attended the centre from 2021 to 2023.
“There’s a lot of stress, it’s very distressing so I needed to come and get some details,” he said.
Brown was not known to Victoria Police until the start of the investigation, and there were no formal complaints against him. He had a valid working with children check.
The Victorian government has ordered an urgent child safety review, a register of all early childhood educators and moved forward a mobile phone ban in facilities to late September with $50,000 fines for breaches.
But the “band-aid measures” didn’t tackle the root causes of issues in a sector where half of all educators had been working for less than three years, early education advocate Lisa Bryant said.
Parents demanded answers on Wednesday, questioning why clear “red flags” such as Brown’s extensive work history had not been identified by authorities.
Victoria will consider introducing mandatory CCTV in centres, while there are also calls for a national overhaul of background checks.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
