7 days ago
Administrative delays allowed male childcare educator in Victoria to work with children for nearly a year despite inappropriate conduct allegations
A male childcare educator, who was sacked from a northern suburbs childcare centre in Victoria due to alleged inappropriate conduct towards young girls, was able to freely work at four centres for nearly a year due to administrative delays in revoking his right to work with children.
Kunal Patel was first reported to the Commission for Children and Young People while working at Kool Kidz Early Learning Centre in Merrifield in mid-2022.
At the centre, Mr Patel's co-workers reportedly 'observed him singling out particular children and engaging in concerning conduct, including sitting with the child on his lap in 'an inappropriate way'..."
It comes as the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal upheld a decision to revoke Mr Patel's Working with Children Check after he previously filed an appeal against it.
An internal investigation into the matter revealed Mr Patel's "favourite girls" were characterised by distinct features such as blonde hair and blue eyes.
He was fired almost immediately after being slapped with a letter that read: "We determined that your conduct was overly personal or intimate, even though we did not conclude that your misconduct involved your actual sexual arousal or gratification."
However, he was allowed to freely work for nearly a year following the sacking due to the Secretary of the Department of Government Services taking almost seven months to start the process of revoking Mr Patel's working with children clearance, the Herald Sun reported.
He reportedly worked at two more childcare centres including Where We Grow in Craigieburn, where he was handed a final warning for inappropriately disciplining a group of children after finding crayon marks on a wall.
The tribunal further heard that Mr Patel had been discovered taking pictures using the centre's iPad without permission, and that he took photographs of children's faces and sent them to himself.
He then allegedly threatened Where We Grow with the potential to distribute the photos of the children
He was also sacked from the Craigieburn centre.
'If something goes wrong from today onwards, you can't chase me. So if I post those photos, and something goes wrong now, you can't blame me, because I am terminated," Mr Patel allegedly threatened the centre management.
Eight months after he was first sacked from Kool Kidz in Merrifield, a concerned mother at Where We Grow raised suspicions that her daughter may have been sexually abused at the hands of Mr Patel.
The little girl was reportedly exhibiting extreme behaviour changes and allegedly made disclosures to her parents.
Mr Patel has always denied the claims made against him and has never been charged with a criminal offence.
Sky News does not suggest the allegations against Mr Patel are true.
The allegations were investigated by numerous bodies, but VCAT did not make findings validating the claims.
VCAT deputy president Ian Proctor said Mr Patel was 'a qualified but inexperienced early childhood educator (who) either did not know or did not understand the boundaries in which he was to work, and breached those boundaries'.
Mr Proctor further said his "principal concern" was Mr Patel taking pictures of the young children.
'In my view, Mr Patel does pose a future threat to young children if provided with a WWC clearance with the possibility that he could return to some form of child related work.'
'The reasonable person … would not allow their child to have direct contact with Mr Patel while he was engaged in any type of child-related work."
