Kate Emery: Parents’ worst nightmare a terrifying reminder kids are never completely safe

It was the only news story that parents of young kids wanted to talk about this week.

Did you hear what-? Have you seen the-? Isn’t it awful that-?

It was also the one news story that parents of young children could not bear to hear about — especially not if they were on their way to child care drop-off.

The facts, shared via texts, WhatsApp groups and at the school gates all around Australia, were these: childcare worker and alleged paedophile Joshua Dale Brown, 26, has been charged with 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims.

Another 1200 children face testing for sexually transmitted infections, including syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea, because one of the allegations is that Mr Brown contaminated centre food with bodily fluids. It is tempting to say there are no words but here is one: monster. And another: allegedly.

The scale and depravity of Mr Brown’s alleged sexual crimes against children in his care shocked the country.

It would also have chilled the blood of any parent with a child in day care.

But for those parents it is also the latest in a long line of things of which to be scared. Because while the scale of these alleged crimes was particularly horrific, there was nothing new about the fear it engendered in the parents of young children.

There are many worse-case scenarios that can happen to a small child.

And every single one of them has occurred to mum or dad at daycare drop-off.

We have heard all the stories.

We know about the kids who get left on the buses.

Most recently in April, an investigation was launched after a six-year-old was left on a bus outside an Ellenbrook childcare centre on a scorching hot day. It may not feel that way to him or his parents but he was one of the lucky ones: he’s still here.

We know about the kids who get left behind in centres.

Just last month a toddler was left alone in a Mirrabooka childcare centre for more than 20 minutes after staff went home early.

We know about the kids who escape centres without staff spotting a thing.

In January, a three-year-old boy with autism escaped from an Alkimos centre after climbing a 2m high concrete wall, only to be picked up some time later by a stranger who, thankfully, was a good Samaritan.

We certainly know about the kids who get sexually abused.

Before there were allegations against Mr Brown, in March a former Perth childcare worker was sentenced to 15 months in jail for sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl at a centre.

We also know about the kids who are abused in other ways.

Last year, another former Perth childcare worker was handed a suspended sentence after scratching five children in her care at a Banksia Grove centre — including an 18-month-old.

We know about kids who get attacked by other kids.

Last year, a High Wycombe centre was fined after a two-year-old was bitten and scratched by other children after being left unsupervised.

We also know that some people think that the mere act of sending your child to child care, as opposed to carrying them in a papoose 24/7 and breastfeeding until they hit puberty, is an act of emotional cruelty. At least these people, mostly strangers on the internet, can be safely ignored, which is more than you can say for the rest of it.

My point is this: while the case against Mr Brown is horrific, and though the allegations are yet to be proven, it is also one more thing for childcare parents to be afraid of.

There is no true antidote to parental anxiety: mums and dads are always going to worry about their kids when they are not around.

But what can help is to give anxious parents every reason to put their trust in the people paid to look after their children.

That comes from better regulation, whether that means banning mobile phones at childcare centres, CCTV or a standardised national approach to working with children checks. There should also be a more consistent national approach to reporting and collating serious incidents at childcare services.

The snap review of WA’s childcare regulations is a good start: not only must everything be done to minimise the chance of abuse or neglect, everything must be seen to be done or parents will lose faith and the whole system falls apart.

The allegations against Mr Brown are about as bad as it gets and will have shaken the faith of some in the safeguards around childcare workers.

More fundamentally they have reminded parents of what we already know: that none of us can ever keep their child completely safe. And that is terrifying.