Should men be allowed to be childcare workers?

oscash

oscash

Senior Member
Location
Sydney - Australia
On the 1st of August 2023 a former childcare worker has been charged with 1,623 child abuse offences against 91 children in Brisbane-Sydney and overseas between the years 2007 - 2022. The GoldCoast man, 45 has been charged with 136 counts of rape and 110 counts of sexual intercourse with children under 10.

I don't know how this man escaped detection, but he should be given the full force of the law and have on his papers stamped "Never to be Released" from prison. Surely the parents must have suspected something wrong if the children showed signs of distress and not wanting to go to school.?

I remember some years back I was doing a "Grief and Bereavement" course at the local hospital. One part of the course was we had to turn to the person sitting next to us and tell them something private about ourselves. I said something to the tune of not trusting most people. He turned to me and said he used to live with his aunt who treated him like a son.?? I thought this odd and never questioned him.

Years later I was watching the evening news and there he was, handcuffed and being led out of the courtroom. He had been charged with sexually molesting one of his students for many years until the boy left school. These Paedophiles usually pick on someone who is very shy and gain their trust, the parents were also manipulated to trusting him.

What I'm getting at is, it's not normal for men wanting to look after little children. It is open slather, and they can pick and choose who they want. Parents on this Forum must instill it to their children, be very careful who you trust to look after your precious little ones.
 

oscash said:
Should men be allowed to be childcare workers?
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Of course.
oscash said:
On the 1st of August 2023 a former childcare worker has been charged with 1,623 child abuse offences against 91 children in Brisbane-Sydney and overseas between the years 2007 - 2022. The GoldCoast man, 45 has been charged with 136 counts of rape and 110 counts of ****** intercourse with children under 10.
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And all childcare should be supervised to avoid things like this. Hard to imagine how he got away with it unless he was given lots of unsupervised alone time with the kids...

Hope this guy spends the rest of his days in an uncomfortable jail cell somewhere...
 
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I think men should be allowed to be childcare workers if they are well vetted. I say the same thing for women. Anyone who will be caring for children should be checked out thoroughly. I have seen many stories about women who have been responsible for harming and even the deaths of toddlers in their daycare centers. Some of their assaults were so obvious, you have to wonder WTH were they thinking. I hope the perpetrator is punished to the fullest extent of the law, then gets the jailhouse justice meated out by inmates, the way they do here in the U.S. when a pedophile is put in their midst.

It's become clear that it is hard to know who can be trusted with children. Look at the instances of Catholic priests who did unthinkable acts with boys in their parishes. Sadly, they got transferred to another parish, not punished. I was shocked to find out it was happening in a church in our neighborhood! Both male and female teachers have had inappropriate relations with students. Then there are doctors, nurses, policemen, etc. and even relatives. It's a sad state of affairs that so many who would seek to harm children are walking this earth!
 

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When I was a social worker I supervised visits between foster children and their parents. We were alone with them at times because we transported them and took them to the bathroom if needed during visits.

The agency never hired men for this job for 2 reasons. First men are more likely to sexually abuse children than women and many of these kids were under the age of five. The second reason is that even an unfounded accusation would ruin a person’s career.
 
I've been working in nursing homes since 1996. In all that time, I recall only one man getting fired for doing something wrong with a resident. Whereas, there have been a large number, and I mean large number, of women that were let go. Taking care of children, taking care of the elderly, both need help at times. Men seem to know that healthcare for the elderly, is something that they may not be good at. While women seem to think they can deal with it. But after working with the elderly for awhile, some women seem have a different attitude. They lose patience with the elderly and become rude to them, or worse. Then they are fired.

The belief that men are more likely to abuse children than women, is laughable. How many times have I heard of women abusing children? Plenty. Every time I hear about a child being left unattended in a sealed up hot car, it's always been a woman responsible. Usually an older woman.
 
Yes, and the kids like having male teachers as well as female. Had a fun conversation with grandson's male teacher just the other day; 35 years ago my son had male teacher, which surprised me at the time as it was elementary school.

Yes, of course.
 
I don't think it is the norm, I worked in a large daycare for about 10 years and we never had a male hired there but that was back in 80's and 90's.
Should they be hired ,well there are male teachers so why not.
 
Pepper said:
Yes, and the kids like having male teachers as well as female.
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I agree, I believe a mix would be ideal.

My first 6 years of school were in an elementary where there we no male teachers or administrators. Only one man, the PE Instructor, Coach. The janitors were male. The teachers were mostly good and I know of no abuse, but I think we'd have been better served with a more diverse group.
 
Alligatorob said:
Of course.

And all childcare should be supervised to avoid things like this. Hard to imagine how he got away with it unless he was given lots of unsupervised alone time with the kids...

Hope this guy spends the rest of his days in an uncomfortable jail cell somewhere...
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I have been on the committee of two community childcare centres. Most of the time all of the staff have been female. There have been times when a male student or staff member has been in the centre. However, the internal and external architecture was designed to allow observation of the children at all times, including the toilets and nappy change areas.

All staff and volunteers, including the committee members, were required to have working with children checks that were carried out by the police. Teachers, youth workers, including volunteers, all require current WWC certificates in Australia. I even had to have WWC checks to be a Sunday School teacher.

It is extremely important to ensure that children are safe from physical or emotional injury at all times. It is equally important to listen to any child who tries to tell adults that something is not right. Children do not make up stories about being molested.

The reason for all of this caution is because we had a Royal Commission about 15 years ago that looked into child sexual abuse in institutions - schools, churches, out of home care and organisations like scouts and swim schools. A lot of horrorific stories were uncovered, including what happened to the victims. Some had their lives blighted and some suicided. How this man got away with his crimes is beyond me. It should not happen if people are serious about protecting children from predators.
 
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I say yes. In fact when I was around 25 I thought of opening an evening child care center as a part time job. I loved kids and was good with them, and for some reason they seemed to like me.

What stopped me was knowing most people would never leave their child with a 220lb mass of muscle rugby player. All these years later I still think about that venture and wonder how it would have turned out.

I don't believe gender garuntees having a nurturing ability, I think many men can and do a wonderful job of childcare.
 
C50 said:
I say yes. In fact when I was around 25 I thought of opening an evening child care center as a part time job. I loved kids and was good with them, and for some reason they seemed to like me.

What stopped me was knowing most people would never leave their child with a 220lb mass of muscle rugby player. All these years later I still think about that venture and wonder how it would have turned out.

I don't believe gender garuntees having a nurturing ability, I think many men can and do a wonderful job of childcare.
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Children need male role models, especially boys. In my days as a youth leader I would watch the boys rough housing with the male youth leaders. The kids would hang off them and the men would teach them to limit their strength so as not to hurt each other. So many children have only part time fathers at best and IMO having benign masculine role models is good for them.

I agree with you that men can be very nurturing and make excellent nurses, teachers and child care workers. I will never forget my 5th and 6th grade teacher, Mr Macfee. He was the only male teacher I ever had, and I adored him. He opened our eyes and gave us confidence to speak our minds. No female teacher ever did that before or since. When I became a teacher, I tried to be like Mr Macfee.
 

Should men be allowed to be childcare workers?​


Of course!

I think the reasons that men did not take those jobs in past decades is that the jobs paid so poorly. Now that pay rates have increased they still aren't highly paid but at least it's enough to be considered.
 
Myrtle said:

Should men be allowed to be childcare workers?​


Of course!

I think the reasons that men did not take those jobs in past decades is that the jobs paid so poorly. Now that pay rates have increased they still aren't highly paid but at least it's enough to be considered.
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I agree that the pay scales have been a major turn off for a lot of men. They still are but they are coming up.
 

Should men be allowed to be childcare workers?​

You've got to be kidding!!!! Mary K Letourneau, Pamala Smart, Anne N. Nelson-Koch . So that means women should not be childcare givers.
 
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Why not? To judge by gender instead as individuals is just plain wrong.
See thread

A 74-year-old former teacher faces 600 hundred years in prison​

Asking about a particular situation would like me asking should all senior women that were teachers be suspects?
 
My late husband, except for his four years in the Army, spent his entire career working with children....as a teacher, a counselor, a child abuse investigator, a juvenile court liaison, a juvenile probation officer, etc.

He had a rare and almost uncanny ability to deal with any disturbed, unruly, disobedient child. He never raised his voice, he never threatened, but in a very short time they were eating out of his hand and eager to please him. It was like he had a psychic connection with the child.

His "child care" stint was running the summer day camp program at the day care center where my daughter attended. He was a teacher during the year and this was his summer job. More than half of the children did not have a father living in their houses and they were desperate for male attention. They worshipped him. I picked him and our daughter up at day camp one afternoon and he was walking around the playground with TEN children hanging onto him, each one holding on to him by grasping one of his fingers.

These kids needed positive male attention and they needed it NOW before it was too late. He had long talks with the kids about "doing the right thing". He also established a "mothers' discussion group" at our house for a couple of years. I'd take the kids to a nearby park and he and the mothers would chat about the kids once a month. We stayed in touch with some of the kids and mothers for years afterward.

He also was the only "official" Brownie Scout "mother" in the state and one of only seven in the country. When our daughter's troop mother had to resign, he was already involved in the troop so she asked him to get "certified" and take over. He did and the girls adored him. He was a "room mother" at school, too. Some parents were leery about it, but once they met him, most of them were reassured.

I think God had a plan for that man, and that was to help children. He was never going to get rich doing that, but it was a job that was desperately needed and he did it.
 
I think the general public should be more interested in the complete lacking of so called background checks ............of both Male and Female teachers / child care workers. so many cases of abuse going on.

I have read so many reports of a teacher caught etc that had an issue in previous states or cities. Where is the breakdown on many background checks ..... another school who let someone just move away and swept issue under rug..... let some other child get abused .... if school administration or other teachers who did not speak up were charged with child endangerment if found they stayed quiet and just kicked the abuser to another school/ city etc ............ maybe this would be more in check.....

Yet somehow the past issues escaped the administration HR doing the hiring / background ( THEIR JOB) ........ but press locate complaints/ charges in hours after an arrest/ or charge..... I honestly think some want to pretend this is not as big of an issue
 
To assume that men are beasts and can not control base instincts is to miss out on the vast majority of decent men. Men and women can harm. Good vetting, good supervision, and immediate investigation with law enforcement are great tools to make sure you have great employees.
 
Jeni said:
I think the general public should be more interested in the complete lacking of so called background checks ............of both Male and Female teachers / child care workers. so many cases of abuse going on.

I have read so many reports of a teacher caught etc that had an issue in previous states or cities. Where is the breakdown on many background checks ..... another school who let someone just move away and swept issue under rug..... let some other child get abused .... if school administration or other teachers who did not speak up were charged with child endangerment if found they stayed quiet and just kicked the abuser to another school/ city etc ............ maybe this would be more in check.....

Yet somehow the past issues escaped the administration HR doing the hiring / background ( THEIR JOB) ........ but press locate complaints/ charges in hours after an arrest/ or charge..... I honestly think some want to pretend this is not as big of an issue
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Working with children checks in Australia started out as a state based system. They were pretty useless because child abusers would simply move to another state where their previous records were unavailable.

We have a national data base now that records any convictions of s****l assault, domestic violence or related problem behaviours. The institutions and businesses are required to make sure the employees have up to date certificates. This is not a perfect system but it is better than nothing at all. Secrecy and cover up should be made a criminal offence when it comes to protecting children.
 
Unfortunately men sexually abuse children at a much higher rate than women. However, a school or preschool can have procedures in place so an adult is never totally alone with a child. This isn’t possible for a visitation social worker hence the precautions taken.
 
Warrigal said:
Working with children checks in Australia started out as a state based system. They were pretty useless because child abusers would simply move to another state where their previous records were unavailable.

We have a national data base now that records any convictions of s****l assault, domestic violence or related problem behaviours. The institutions and businesses are required to make sure the employees have up to date certificates. This is not a perfect system but it is better than nothing at all. Secrecy and cover up should be made a criminal offence when it comes to protecting children.
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we have a state by state system supposed to be loaded into national database....... but the entry or lack of is poorly lacking IMO.
we have things like DNA rape kits and such backlogged not even ran and entered i can only imagine how many people would be caught for crimes sooner IF the data was there.
this applies for background checks on guns as well .........some states a year behind ........the claim of more and more money has not solved anything ........ so fire people hold them accountable you would see productivity SOAR.
I feel if systems with large backlogs are not fixed ........that the director or head of any system should be immediately fired ( top down approach) ... instead they cry of no data entry level employees and need bigger budgets etc... NOPE
it is time we held people accountable ........
I worked for places whom low end staff watched movies and barely did the work yet always told them they were overwhelmed etc 4 places as I prefer doing temp work .... i went in did as much in 2 days that took their permanent / regular people a week ... guess what some bosses caught on quick what was the real issue.
 

Should men be allowed to be childcare workers?​



C50 said:
I say yes. In fact when I was around 25 I thought of opening an evening child care center as a part time job. I loved kids and was good with them, and for some reason they seemed to like me.

What stopped me was knowing most people would never leave their child with a 220lb mass of muscle
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I'm pretty much there
Only I have more hair than muscle

Love the little ones
They DO flock to me (I really don't know why)
Maybe they see a form of refuge in this beast
Maybe it is

refuge.jpg

Can't do child care long term
Don't see how guys can

But open to hugs

When the boys were young I took them and their friends fishing
Tromped the woods and brush to get to my secret fishing hole
Fun time
We were almost run over by a herd of elk charging thru the thicket

Just a few years ago, one of the kids looked me up

Said it was the best time he ever had in his life
He was fatherless
Said it made him what he is today

Feel good about that

Always thought I'd make a good high school teacher

Maybe I would've......
 

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