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Claims daycare worker was reported three times before sexual touching of young child

A group of parents say they were left in the dark by a Sydney early education centre, which allegedly knew about the sexual touching of a young child for eight days before it stood down the worker involved.

Multiple parents say they still haven’t been reassured that their children were not involved in abuse by casual early childhood educator Quoc Phu Tong, known as Alex, at Only About Children (OAC) centre in Seaforth, on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Tong has pleaded guilty to sexually touching a child under the age of 10 at the centre in September last year.

According to court documents a colleague reported Tong after witnessing him tickling a child’s groin and rubbing his bottom.

Mum Sally* said centre management have dodged her attempts to contact them about the crime.

“We were told that a child had been sexually assaulted,” Sally said.

“That doesn’t eliminate the question as to whether our child was also involved.

“They didn’t say anything. Couldn’t call them, couldn’t get on to them.

“Still to this day we don’t know if our child was impacted by this man.”

OAC communicated that parents of the child victim had been informed of the crime, but Sally said she didn’t receive any further information about Tong’s conduct with other children.

Court documents also reveal Tong has been reported to childcare management three times.

In July last year a colleague complained after witnessing him kissing children on the head, placing them on his lap and hugging them.

A short time later two more workers made similar reports.

Tong has been working across multiple Only About Children centres since 2022.

In a witness statement Tong’s colleague described his behaviour towards mainly male children as concerning saying he often kissed them and changed their nappies when he had been instructed not to.

Police also allege the centre knew about the abuse for eight days before Tong was stood down and police were alerted.

It is a criminal offence not to report child sex abuse allegations to police, Child Abuse Squad detective superintendent Linda Howlett explained.

“Mandatory reporting is an obligation by people who work with children either professionally employed or as a volunteer to report suspicious activity to the police in regards to possibly criminal offences against a child,” Howlett said.

” I would advise people not to report to the childcare centre and contact police directly, it is an offence because they are mandatory reporters.”

Sally claims it took the centre three to four weeks to provide her with a roster showing when her children had been in the same room as Tong.

“It was awful,” Sally said.

“I lost so much sleep over it because you feel like you have failed as a parent and that’s the worst thing.”

Tong was arrested one month after the offence.

In a statement, OAC apologised to parents and said it was working with authorities to respond to the matter.

“We acknowledge and apologise fully for the distress that this matter has caused the families at this Centre, and we are determined to learn the lessons from this situation and continue to improve our processes and systems,” a spokesperson said.

*Name has been changed

FULL ONLY ABOUT CHILDREN STATEMENT

We acknowledge and apologise fully for the distress that this matter has caused the families at this Centre, and we are determined to learn the lessons from this situation and continue to improve our processes and systems.

The health, safety and wellbeing of every child in our care remains our highest priority.

We are continuing to work with the authorities to respond to this matter, as it remains an open legal and regulatory process.

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