Parents still in the dark over allegations of abuse at Wellington daycare

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Some parents whose children were allegedly abused at a Hutt Valley daycare three years ago say they still don’t know what happened because they are not considered “relevant parties” in the investigation.

A police investigation into the allegations of mistreatment at the Hutt Hospital child care center is now complete, with police confirming there was no criminal culpability.

But another investigation, funded by the Ministry of Education, revealed several witnesses claiming that children had been force-fed and that teachers had smoked on the spot. This led the Pedagogical Council to ask its Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC) – an independent body that conducts investigations – to review the allegations.

However, some parents who sent their children to the center said they were not allowed to see the report with the CCA’s findings.

“There is no justice for children,” said one mother, who asked not to be identified. She spoke earlier to the police and the independent investigator appointed by the Department of Education.

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“There is no explanation for what happened,” she said. “I am so frustrated.”

Another parent – who was concerned about his son’s experience at the center but was not a direct complainant – only found out that the CAC investigation was over when he was approached by Stuff.

“Once we were informed that the center was closed permanently and that the initial investigation had been carried out, we were led to believe that this was essentially the end of the story, and we were not told anything about more, ”she said.

KEVIN STENT / Stuff

The child care center at Hutt Hospital has remained closed since complaints about abused children arose in 2018.

The center – on hospital grounds but not managed by the hospital – was closed after complaints were reported in 2018. It has not reopened.

The Ministry of Education released, under the Official Information Act, a summary of the independent investigator’s report into the allegations, which were denied by accused staff.

“Throughout the investigation, an image was presented of an unhealthy culture that prioritizes adults over children,” the summary said.

MONIQUE FORD / Stuff

Weeds grew in the front yard of the daycare after it closed.

He said there were numerous allegations with several supporting statements: bullying, teachers smoking on the premises, dangerous teacher-to-child ratios, forgery of documents and force-feeding. Other allegations – a director cursing a child and a child left screaming to sleep after misbehaving – had no witnesses.

The summary indicated that the investigator had found evidence of violations of the Professional Responsibility Code of the Pedagogical Council, as well as of a child protection policy.

Education ministry director Rob Sye said the ministry recommended that police and Oranga Tamariki investigate further. But he said the ministry was told the allegations “did not reach the threshold of formal investigation and therefore could not take any further action.”

Police Senior Detective Sergeant Nick Pritchard said police investigated a complaint about “alleged assaults and abuse of children at the center by staff.” No criminal culpability was established, so the case was referred to the Teaching Council, he said.

The Teaching Council asked the ACC to investigate, with the findings released late last year. However, Teaching Council spokesperson Rosie Rattray said the outcome could only be disclosed to “the parties concerned” – the initiator of the complaint or a teacher’s current employer.

The files of the Pedagogical Council show that the four teachers – whose registration was marked with “voluntarily agreed not to teach” – had now seen this notation deleted from their files. However, all of their teaching licenses had since expired.

Oranga Tamariki supported the Education Ministry’s decision, said deputy director general Glynis Sandland.

“The allegations have not reached the threshold of a care and protection issue, so we have decided not to take further action,” Sandland said.

The former director of the daycare could not be reached for comment. She previously claimed that the allegations to the police and the Board of Education had not been confirmed, but did not respond to requests for evidence in this regard.

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