Journey Early Learning Gumdale

Sent this service the following email on 17/1/2025 and never received any correspondence or acknowledgement regarding this complaint. Edit 18/2 - no one has contacted me, despite the reply below. I have also contacted “Journey HQ” who have also neglected to respond to my complaint. To Whom it May Concern, It was [child’s] final day at your service today. When I picked her up this afternoon, the first thing I noticed was that she smelt like she had soiled her nappy. I went to change her nappy in the bathroom of the kindergarten rooms that don’t have change tables (so children still in nappies have to bend over toilets and sinks to be changed and cleaned?) and I noticed that she was still wearing the nappy I put her in this morning. This means she was wearing the same nappy for approximately six hours. I brought this up with [educator] and [educator] advised that [child] was being stubborn and uncooperative and wouldn’t let anyone change her. [Educator] also said that she (educator) had to have lunch. So I guess this contributes to why my daughter wasn’t changed for six hours? Is this a staffing issue? Telling me that “she didn’t want me to change her” isn’t a good enough excuse. “I had to have lunch” is also not an excuse. Her nappy not being changed for six hours is neglect. Who knows how long she had been wearing a soiled nappy? Potentially from 11:30am, as the nappy chart suggests she had not been changed/checked/toileted from that time. She is now at risk of contracting a UTI. It is not normal for children to feel comfortable with unfamiliar people changing their nappies. It is the staff’s responsibility to find someone who that child does feel comfortable and/or safe with to change them, and to work on building that rapport and relationship so they do feel safe during a vulnerable moment like a nappy change. My child should not have been neglected for being “stubborn” when every educator in that new room is a stranger to her except [one educator]. If this is truely why she was not changed for the entire day, not feeling comfortable with new people changing her nappy is not stubbornness, it is a boundary. [Child] has attended child care since she was 10 months old and has not once refused a nappy change that I have been made aware of, and it has never been an issue in the past. I’ve observed at least two other events in the last three months that were also appalling - I witnessed [child]’s vulva not being wiped clean during a nappy change by [educator] in December 2024, placing [child] at increased risk of moisture associated skin damage. She returns home to me with a reddened vulva almost weekly and complains of pain. I found faecal skid marks in her completely dry nappy after pick up also in December 2024. She had dried faeces stuck to her vulva and around the opening of her vagina because she had clearly not been cleaned properly. All of these things fall under neglect, which is ultimately why I have removed her from your service. I have attempted to be unproblematic through these events, but as you would understand, my child is my number one priority and she’s been neglected in your care on three seperate occasions that I have witnessed. It makes me wonder what is happening when I am not there and it is very unsettling. I have received phone calls in the past when she has bitten another child, but not when she allegedly refuses to let anyone change her nappy for six hours? I thought nappy changes/checks occurred at least every two hours so you would think after the fourth hour of “being told no”, I would have been notified or called to help rectify the situation. Or at least have an educator initiate a conversation with me about it on pick up? Not have to find out myself and then be told my child was being “stubborn” when I flag it as an issue. It is very easy to blame the child in this situation. In my opinion, there is no excuse for this that makes it acceptable.