Little Escapees - CareforKids.com.au®

Little Escapees

It is a parent's worst nightmare: Children who escape the safety of their home or child care and go wandering off along extremely busy roads, but it happened the other week when two wily toddlers went AWOL from their Sydney child care centre.

The two cunning escapologists were missing for around 40 minutes before a vigilant bus driver spotted them near a busy road and took them to a police station.

You may have your own home hot-wired, alarmed, kiddy-proofed and gated, but if you've got a toddler that's insistent on doing a runner, how do you know they're not going to escape from child care? You don't.

Toddlers are cunning. Toddlers are curious and toddlers have absolutely no sense of danger or consequences. A very dangerous mix when you have small children who are bent on adventure.

So how can you be sure that your toddlers are going to be safe in child care?

Most child care centres and preschools are very secure, have gates and singular entry and exit points. Family Day Care centres can be slightly trickier as they are situated in homes that haven't been specifically designed to keep children contained, but most will have been adapted to conform to child care industry or government requirements.

However, you should always do your own check before sending your children into child care and it you already have kids in care, it's worth doing a spot check and test if you have any concerns about children with a tendency to wander.

Firstly, when you check out a child care centre, make sure you look at the gate system, entry and exit points:

How many entry and exit points are there?
Are gates alarmed, entry-coded and child safe?
Is there an intercom system so that adults can't just wander in and out at will?
Are there cameras on the gates?
Are the gates properly weighted to snap shut and are they working properly?
What are the systems in place for accounting for all children? How often do they headcount? Do they have to log their headcount checks? Are there enough carers to kids? Ratio is now 1:4 for under 2s (click here for new regulations).
If you feel there is a safety or security issue at your child's care service, you must bring it up (and in writing) straight away.

For more tips on what to ask and look for in your child care service see our

Child Care Centre Checklist and Family Day Care Centre Checklist.

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