A toddler who died in a childcare minibus had been waved off by his devastated family that morning, as insiders reveal the catalogue of failings at the centre of the tragedy.
The three-year-old boy was found dead after being abandoned in a Goodstart Early Learning daycare bus parked outside a primary school in northern Queensland on Tuesday.
Mystery surrounds why the tragedy took place, after the daycare company insisted they had strict safety procedures.
But sources close to the centre told Daily Mail Australia staff were ‘ever-changing’ and that the ‘run down’ centre had ‘no consistency’.
It is also understood that protocol, which dictates a child must be signed in and out of the bus, may not have been followed – leaving the toddler to swelter for up to six hours.
Among a catalogue of potentially fatal errors, insiders said:
- Children are supposed to be strictly checked in and out of the minibus
- The minibus is understaffed with just one carer, who is also the driver
- If the child does not arrive at daycare, family should be immediately contacted
- Head checks are supposed to be done every 30 minutes, as well as eating records
- Yard checks must also be undertaken to ensure every youngster is accounted for
The toddler was found in the daycare minibus (pictured) outside a primary school in Edmonton, Queensland, on Tuesday
The boy was found in a bus outside Hambledon State School, just 1.7km from his daycare, Goodstart Early Learning, in Edmonton (pictured)
Head checks are supposed to be done every 30 minutes, with records taken of what youngsters eat and drink, which would have alerted staff that the toddler was missing.
It is not known if these procedures were not followed, but the young boy was eventually found by the ‘distraught’ driver at 3.15pm – having been picked up from his home at 9.15am.
This means the defenceless toddler could have been trapped in the bus for up to six hours, as temperatures in the area reached 34C.
Such blistering heat can quickly turn a stationary vehicle into a death trap.
His family are believed to be Aboriginal, and are being supported by Indigenous family liaison officers.
The driver was said to be in such a ‘distraught’ state that he was taken to hospital suffering from shock, and has not yet been able to speak to police.
It it understood tragedy struck when the little boy was left alone in the bus outside Hambledon State School in Edmonton after older children were dropped off.
But police insisted on Tuesday afternoon that the investigation was in its early stages, and that they didn’t know if the boy had been in the bus all day.
A source explained the toddler was often picked up by the bus in the mornings, alongside other daycare children and young school students, and should have been monitored.
‘The little boy was supposed to be at care all day,’ the source said.
‘He uses the bus service. The childcare also does before and after school care, hence it was at the school.
‘It appears after morning pick up and school run he was forgotten until the afternoon run.’
The centre was closed on Wednesday following the tragedy, with an ominous sign in its car park reading ‘do not leave babies and children in parked cars’.
The Goodstart Early Learning centre in Edmonton (pictured) was closed on Wednesday following the tragedy
A sign outside Goodstart Early Learning (pictured) in Edmonton advises staff and visitors to not leave children in parked cars
An insider explained that, as per procedure, the toddler should have been signed into the bus and then signed off again when he was safely at daycare.
If he was then not seen at daycare, it would be correct protocol for carers to contact his family and check his whereabouts.
‘A lot of procedure seems to not be followed,’ they explained.
‘It’s there for a reason. And if just one of those policies and procedures above had been followed, would it be different?
‘The centre is closed today, and that one already has a bad name. How would anyone want to leave their baby there now little own let them get on a bus?’
The five-room centre, which usually has around 12 members of staff, can cater for 70 children.
But it is understood that the centre wasn’t full at the time of the tragedy.
It comes as Julia Davison, the CEO of Goodstart Early Learning, admitted on Sunrise her team ‘don’t know what happened’.
Detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the child’s death (pictured) outside a primary school in Queensland
‘All of our 15,000 educators are devastated and shocked,’ she said.
‘It is every family’s worst nightmare that something might happen to their child and it is every educator’s worst nightmare something might happen to a child in their care.’
The source added that ongoing staffing changes at the centre made it less safe.
‘When the new Childs World Centres opened, it was a lot of competition and they lost a lot of families and staff, as you do,’ they said.
‘The staff that stayed were ever changing, new educators in the room all the time and no consistency.
Julia Davison, CEO of Goodstart Early Learning, called the incident ‘every parent’s worst nightmare’ (pictured) on Sunrise
‘And as you know, that’s never good for little kids being left.
‘It’s also a bit run down. When there’s a new educator all the time, it’s not nice to leave your babies there.’
The centre’s CEO, Ms Davison, said that it would now stop both its morning pickup and afternoon drop-off services,
‘We don’t know what happened, all we know is that something went badly wrong yesterday,’ she said.
‘We have decided that with effect from today, we will cease our pickup and drop-off service. That has been a very difficult decision for us to make.
Emergency services were called to the scene on Tuesday afternoon (pictured) after the boy’s body was found
‘We are going to see cease temporarily and we know that without our pickup and drop-off service, many children are not able to access high-quality early learning.
‘But we feel that we need to just pause for a few days whilst we think about whether there are other things we can do to improve the safety of our transfers.
‘We usually had lots of procedures and processes in and training in place anyway, but we want to look at what we can do to strengthen that. And we will no doubt have learnings from the investigation, but at this stage we don’t know what happened yesterday.’
She insisted the centre ‘always have an adequate number of staff on the bus’, and that there was a procedure for checking children off the list.
The incident is being investigated by police.
Children are seen arriving at Hambledon State School (pictured) on Wednesday, hours after the toddler was found dead nearby
‘It’s early days and a number of factors could be at play here and we’ll investigate all possibilities,’ Detective Inspector Jason Smith told Nine.
‘The death of any child is an awful thing which is why it’s so important for us to get to the bottom of this.’
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Davison said: ‘Goodstart Early Learning sends its deepest condolences to the family of a small boy who died in our care in Cairns yesterday.
Hambledon State School wrote on social media that it was postponing a scheduled parents’ meeting following the tragedy (pictured) outside its gates
‘It is a great responsibility to care for a child and each day tens of thousands of families entrust their precious children to us. It is not a responsibility we take lightly.
‘While we don’t yet understand the circumstances of yesterday’s tragedy, we will of course do everything in our power to assist the authorities with their investigation.
‘On behalf of every Goodstart centre across Australia and our 15,000 team members I want to extend our deepest condolences to the family who have suffered such a tragic loss.
‘We will of course offer them all possible assistance.’
The company is providing counselling for staff and families.
The boy was found in a minibus parked outside Hambledon State School (pictured) on Tuesday afternoon