Disturbing incident at Brisbane daycare: Baby boy suffers scratches and black eyes

A mother recalls the horror of seeing her infant son, abused and bruised after he was attacked by an older child while left unattended at a Brisbane nursery.

Seven-month-old Jack Swindells was lying under a play mat, waiting for a diaper change, when he was punched, scratched and bitten by a four-year-old.

It was only the second time he had visited the institution.

Staff contacted Jack’s mother, Angela, to let her know that her son had been scratched on the head.

But nothing could prepare Mrs. Swindells for the shocking extent of his injuries when she went to pick up Jack and his older sister from daycare later that afternoon.

She was shocked to find Jack with two black eyes and covered in scratches.

Ms Swindell claims staff tried to reassure her that a teacher was in the room at the time of the incident, which lasted ‘only seconds’.

‘I was furious. He had black eyes, he had been hit by a wooden puzzle piece that left an imprint on the back of his head, he had bite marks on his arms and scratches all over his face,” Ms Swindells said. ABCs 7:30 am.

“When I took my son to the doctor, they told me his injuries wouldn’t happen in seconds, they would take several minutes.”

But when Ms Swindells investigated further and filed a complaint, the center admitted that Jack was temporarily left alone in the room with older children, unsupervised.

An email from the children’s center states: ‘The supervising educator at the time writes a critical reflection and deeply regrets that this happened when she went to change a child’s diaper; Although we have enough staff for the number of children, we have to pay more attention when we have to perform other tasks.’

The family is now taking legal action against the children’s center.

The Swindells are represented by Shine Lawyers, who has suffered a growing number of injuries in nurseries across Australia.

A worrying case concerns a child who broke his back after falling from a tree.

“Across the board, we typically see incidents of children falling from heights,” said attorney Sharntiesha Hogan.

‘So falling from tables or chairs, incidents where children fall from playground equipment and injure themselves, and where children are physically attacked by other children.

‘And the common factor in all those incidents is actually the lack of supervision.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Shine Lawyers for further comment.

It comes a month after a toddler was rushed to hospital following a head blow at a children’s center in Adelaide.

In a separate incident, another daycare was hit with a record $90,000 in fines this week after an unattended child was found unconscious with a jump rope around his neck.

According to the latest data, a staggering 27,551 breaches occurred in approved early childhood education centers nationwide during the 2021-2022 period.

The most common breaches related to failure to protect children from harm and danger and insufficient supervision.

In the period 2021-2022, approximately 27,551 violations have occurred nationwide in approved early childhood education centers. The photo features Anne Aly, the federal minister of child care

Experts claim childcare safety standards have been compromised due to a critical shortage of staff across Australia.

“It’s a crisis over. And unless something is done, we will no longer have an early childhood education system in Australia,” said Professor Susie Garvis of Griffith University’s Institute for Educational Research.

Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly has asked the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority to review childcare safety standards.

She added that the government does not know why childcare breaches have increased by 10 percent over the past five years.

‘We know that there are more children in the shelter. We know that there are more providers of early childhood education and care, which may contribute to this,” Ms Aly said at 7.30pm.