Despite repeated warnings from experts and a formal recommendation from the NSW coroner more than three years ago, safe sleep training isn’t mandatory for childcare workers.
In December 2021, the NSW coroner, following an inquest into the death of a seven-month-old baby at a family daycare service, recommended that the NSW government, in consultation with governments of other jurisdictions, amend the law to require all family day care educators to undertake mandatory safe sleep training.
Red Nose Australia, the country’s leading authority on infant sleep safety, is urging governments to urgently adopt the coroner’s recommendation — and go further by extending mandatory, accredited safe sleep training to all early childhood educators, not just those in family day care. The training, it says, must be updated regularly.
Loading…
‘We are still seeing avoidable risks’
“Just like CPR and first aid training are mandatory and require regular updates to maintain currency and safety, safe sleep training should be evidence-based, compulsory and updated annually for all ongoing Early Childhood Educators caring for babies and toddlers,” Red Nose boss Amy Cooper said.
Since the coroner’s recommendations, Red Nose said at least three infants had died during sleep or rest time or suspected to be during sleep and rest time, noting that the causes of death were still under investigation.
“There is no shortage of evidence or urgency, yet we are still seeing avoidable risks in early childhood settings,” Cooper said. “Safe sleep and rest practices must not be left to chance. Every educator, in every service, must be trained to the same evidence-based standard — because little lives depend on it.”
Under current national regulations, services must have a safe sleep policy and conduct regular risk assessments but there is no requirement for educators to undergo accredited training, nor any obligation for refresher courses like those required for CPR or First Aid.
The calls for action come amid growing scrutiny of systemic failures in the $20 billion childcare sector following a series of investigations by the ABC that uncovered shocking cases of child abuse, neglect and injury, highlighting gaps in childcare safety and accountability.
The sector is under pressure over fast-tracked educator qualifications, for-profit operators cutting corners, and widespread failures in Working With Children Checks.
That focus intensified after the arrest of a 26-year-old male educator charged with more than 70 counts of child sexual abuse at a Melbourne childcare centre.
The Victorian man facing charges, Joshua Dale Brown, worked at an estimated 23 childcare centres over eight years, all of them owned by private operators, including private equity-owned Affinity Education, listed ASX giant G8 Education and United States-owned Only About Children.
Loading…
Documents reveal failure in safe sleep practices
A cache of NSW regulatory documents obtained by the ABC reveals dozens of childcare centres where educators were unaware of safe sleep policies or failed to follow them. Inspectors recorded cases of babies placed face down, wrapped unsafely, covered with pillows or blankets, and one incident where a child was put to sleep with a dummy chain that became wrapped around their neck.
At a family day care centre in Western Sydney in 2022, an educator was caught placing an infant in a bouncer with a bottle and the child fell asleep. “I placed the child into the cot while the child was still wearing a hooded jacket. The hood of the jacket sat around the back of her head and neck. Authorised officers discussed the dangers of the hooded jacket and asked her to remove it from the child…” It said the bouncer had mould on the material lining.
There were cases of a child found asleep with a soft toy with a blanket attached and it was covering the side and back of the child’s head. In another part of the centre, children were found lying on their beds drinking bottles of milk.
In one centre, a regulator observed a baby asleep, lying on their stomach underneath a blanket on a stretcher bed. “The authorised officer did not observe any staff member conduct a safe sleep check, or sit near the child to check their breathing or skin colour for 20 minutes.”
Red Nose recommends continuous supervision or, if that is not possible, physical checks at least every 10 minutes.
Lynette Rieck, an early childhood trainer and assessor of 35 years, said every child had the right to a safe sleep environment that was guaranteed by the provision of annual, standardised and mandatory training for all educators working in the sector.
She said the certificate III in child care covered safe sleep practices in several units, but it was only covered indirectly and inconsistently.
She is calling for it to be embedded across all mandatory training — certificate III, first aid, annual CPR refresher courses — and enshrined in national law and quality standards.
Former educator Lynette Rieck is calling for safe sleep practices to be embedded across all mandatory training. (ABC News)
Early childhood consultant and advocate Lisa Bryant said the delays around mandatory safe sleep training were hard to justify, particularly when lives were at stake. “When we know better in regards to children’s safety, we should always do better,” she said.
Bryant said educators shouldn’t be expected to know everything but when properly trained, they generally followed best practice. “We know that once they have received high-quality training on something, they are usually good at adhering to it. Why wouldn’t we give them this basic training then? Children’s lives may well depend upon it.”
Loading…
A family tragedy
Jozef Maragol lost his 16-month-old daughter, Arianna, on August 24, 2018, shortly after she was found unresponsive at a Sydney childcare centre and taken to hospital.
He said he was shocked when he discovered safe sleep training was not mandatory, nor was physical checking.
CCTV footage showed Arianna had been left alone for an extended period, with sleep checks carried out via a CCTV screen and an audio monitor rather than in person.
He later learned that the centre’s sleep practices had been flagged in 2014 by a regulatory inspector visiting the centre, who noted an educator was doing sleep checks via a screen.
Despite expert advice that physical checks are more reliable, allowing educators to observe critical signs like skin colour or breathing, they are not mandatory in childcare centres.
States, territories and the federal government were asked if they were considering introducing mandatory accredited safe sleep training.
Jess Walsh, minister for early childhood education, didn’t answer the question but said in a statement that every child deserved to be safe in early learning, and every parent deserved to know their children were safe. She said all early learning services were required to have sleep and settling policies and procedures in place, “and we expect them to be delivered”.
“We are also working shoulder to shoulder with the states and territories. Child safety will be the top priority at the special education ministers’ meeting next month, including child safety training.”
NSW acting education minister Courtney Houssos said families were right to expect childcare workers to be properly trained and accredited. (AAP: Brendon Thorne)
The NSW acting education minister, Courtney Houssos, said some progress had been made to improve sleep safety but conceded the introduction of a mandatory safe sleep course had been too slow and NSW would move independently if a national agreement wasn’t reached soon.
“Though all educators receive initial educator training in safe sleep practices, as with a number of other changes to the national law, the introduction of a mandatory safe sleep course has been too slow and provides another example where NSW will forge ahead independently to make changes in the wake of the Wheeler Review should a national consensus not be reached imminently,” she said.
Northern Territory minister Jo Hersey said in a statement that if there were any changes to the national law and regulations, particularly relating to the supervision and safety of children, they would be implemented accordingly.
The ABC asked states, territories and the federal government were if they were considering introducing mandatory accredited safe sleep training. (AAP: Bianca De Marchi)
A spokesperson for the ACT government said centres were required to have policies and procedures in place that include induction, training and knowledge of staff in relation to best practice for children’s sleep and rest. “These policies and procedures must be consistent with current health guidelines on best practices from recognised authorities (such as Red Nose Australia),” the spokesperson said, noting that the upcoming education ministers’ meeting in August would consider further measures to strengthen quality and safety in our early education and care sector.
South Australian Minister for Education Blair Boyer said family day care educators in SA were “required” to have completed safe sleep training in the past two years to be registered and operate with the Department of Education. It said it offered safe sleep training to 200 educators in 2025.
“We would welcome a nationally consistent approach to sleep safe training, but will not accept changes that lower the standard we have already set here in South Australia,” he said.
‘This is what we know’
“She was healthy. She passed away,” Maragol says. “Six months later, Jack Loh passed away. How many more will it take before authorities stop sitting behind their towers? Is anyone accountable in this whole sector?”
Maragol and his family have spent the past seven years searching for answers. An inquest has been scheduled for October this year.
“I couldn’t save my own child but I hope I can help others,” he said.
“They are voiceless, they are vulnerable, this is what we know.”
Loading
————————————————
