Embattled childcare chain shuts another Canberra centre

Embattled childcare company Edge Early Learning has permanently closed another Canberra centre, declaring its continued operation "unviable" after receiving a three-month suspension from authorities.The closure of Edge Early Learning in Charnwood in Canberra's north comes two months after the company's Higgins service was closed suddenly due to an "immediate risk to the safety and health of children".At the time, the ACT's childcare regulator, the Children's Education and Care Assurance (CECA), said an overnight one-month suspension for the Higgins centre was issued over a failure to respond to a serious medical incident involving a child.Edge later confirmed it would close the Higgins service entirely rather than reopen after the suspension.In issuing a three-month suspension of service to the Charnwood centre, CECA said it had also ordered Edge to increase its staffing to above the minimum ratio outlined in legislation.But in an email to parents last week, Edge said that centre in Canberra's north would also remain closed and would not reopen after the suspension period.Edge Early Learning Centre in Higgins also closed suddenly, leaving families in the lurch. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)Edge Early Learning, which runs centres in the ACT, Queensland and South Australia, went into voluntary administration last week, the same day it announced the closure of its Charnwood centre.It said in public statements that it was endeavouring to keep centres open across the country.'High risk' for supervision failingsCECA's Sean Moysey said Edge Charnwood's "significant" staff turnover and level of inexperienced staff were "major risk factors for supervision and safety of children"."The clear sort of pattern is not knowing where children are in the service ... children going missing, staff unable to find children, that's the most common issue that we've found," he told the ABC."I think the average turnaround for a nominated supervisor, who heads the service, was 23 weeks."Mr Moysey said the regulator had hoped issuing a suspension would help the centre work on retaining staff and building an experienced team."Edge took over a service that was well staffed and, as evidenced by the Assessment and Rating report, worked well together, knew the children and established supervision as a foundation to quality interactions with children," he said."In 2022, Edge Charnwood had a cohort of quality staff who worked cohesively."Mr Moysey said parties were required by law to maintain exceeding services when purchasing them, and this was where the centre fell short.Parents were informed last week that the Edge Early Learning centre in Charnwood would not reopen after the suspension period. (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)In an email sent to families last week, Edge said it had focused on addressing the regulator's concerns over the past 12 months — including changing leadership, increasing training and senior support. "This is not an outcome Edge sought and, given the significant steps taken at Charnwood and the progress the centre has made, we do not believe this is a proportionate regulatory response," it said.It said it would be too difficult to reopen once the suspension lifted, due to families needing to find other care in the meantime."When we considered what that would mean in practice, we determined that closing Charnwood for three months and then trying to re-establish the centre was not a viable option," Edge said.National childcare provider Edge Early Learning went into voluntary administration last week. (Supplied)Staff and parents 'distraught'Jacob, a parent at the centre who did not want to use his last name, said the past 11 months at the service had been "nothing but great".He said he became worried when he first heard Edge was going into voluntary administration — but the situation quickly worsened."Obviously you're still a bit stressed when you hear that, but we were like 'Okay, they've said it's going to keep running, so we're fine'," Jacob said.He said his family then found out about the three-month suspension through social media.He said when he went into the centre the next day, "it was crazy"."All the educators, the director, they're all in tears, they're distraught," he said.He said staff seemed equally shocked by the announcement and had been scrambling to help parents.Jacob said he had been "very lucky" to secure alternative care for his child."They have been nothing but accommodating; they've been calling other centres and trying to get everyone care — not just for the parents, but the educators as well, trying to get them jobs and helping them," he said."It's very difficult, obviously, [a] very stressful situation to try and find care, especially when we only got a week's notice."Veronica Elliot is the executive officer of ACT Parents. (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)Peak body ACT Parents' executive officer Veronica Elliot acknowledged how difficult changing services could be for both families and parents.She recommended the Starting Blocks government website, which parents can use to check ratings, compliance history and vacancies.She also said services were obligated to provide information on compliance to families, and encouraged families to ask directly."What is most important for parents is finding a service that gets to know your child and gets to know your family, and [compliance history] is a really good indicator of a higher quality service," Ms Elliot told 666 ABC Canberra."Just so parents know, there are really good high-quality services in the ACT".Administrators issued a national expression of interest on September 1 for potential buyers of Edge's services or company.Edge Early Learning continues to operate a centre in Ngunnawal in Canberra's north.