A Sunshine Coast outside school hours care provider has been fined $8,000 after a five year-old child left the premises unnoticed and was missing for at least five minutes.
Approved provider of Kidspace Caloundra, Lynnette Olwym Boulton, was handed the fine in the Caloundra Magistrates Court yesterday over the incident from 2024.
The child left the service through the front entrance, went through the car park and down a busy road before they were found by members of the public.
As a result of the incident, the Department of Education, as the Early Childhood Regulatory Authority, took legal action against the service’s approved provider for failing to adequately supervise children at all times, failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect children from harm and hazards, failing to ensure a child did not leave the premises without authorisation, and failing to take reasonable steps to ensure staff members followed service policies and procedures.
The department was awarded $1605.35 in costs.
A spokesperson said the $8,000 fine reflects the seriousness of these offences, and the fundamental responsibility of approved providers to ensure children are not able to leave service premises unsupervised.
In deciding the defendant’s guilt and sentence, Magistrate Catherine Benson found that the service had policies and procedures in place, but Ms Boulton did not ensure that staff were aware of them and followed them.
Magistrate Benson also acknowledged that Ms Boulton had taken steps since the incident to ensure something similar did not happen again.
No conviction was recorded.
The Regulatory Authority will continue to work with the early childhood sector to ensure approved providers and services understand their critical responsibilities.
If steps taken by an approved provider to ensure children’s health and safety are inadequate, the Regulatory Authority will not hesitate to take appropriate action.
