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

A mum has recalled the horror of seeing her baby boy beaten and bruised after he was attacked by an older child while he was left unattended at a Brisbane daycare centre.

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

It was only the second time he had visited this establishment.

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

But nothing could prepare Ms Swindells for the shocking extent of her injuries when she picked up Jack and his older sister from daycare later that afternoon.

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

Ms Swindell says staff tried to assure her that an educator was in the room at the time of the incident, which lasted “only a few seconds”.

“I was furious. He had black eyes, he had been hit with a wooden puzzle piece that left an indentation in the back of his head, he had bite marks on his arms and scratches all over his face,” he said. Mrs. Swindells. ABC at 7:30 a.m..

“When I took my son to the doctor, they told me that his injuries would not happen in seconds, but would have lasted for several minutes.”

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

An email from the nursery said: “The educator who was monitoring the time is writing a critical reflection and very sorry that this happened when she went to change a child’s diaper; although we have adequate staff for the number of children, we need to be more careful when performing other tasks.

The family is now taking legal action against the daycare.

The Swindells are represented by Shine Lawyers, who have seen a growing number of injury cases sustained in day care centers across Australia.

A concerning case involves a child who broke his back after falling from a tree.

“Overall, we typically see incidents where children fall from heights,” attorney Sharntiesha Hogan said.

“So these are falling off tables or chairs, incidents where children fall off play equipment and injure themselves, and where children are physically attacked by other children.

“And the common factor in all of these incidents is really 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 after suffering a blow to the head at an Adelaide daycare centre.

In a separate incident, another child care center was fined a record $90,000 this week after an unsupervised child was found unconscious with a jump rope around his neck.

According to the latest data, an astonishing 27,551 violations occurred nationwide at licensed early childhood education centers in 2021-2022.

The most common violations involved failure to protect children from harm and danger and inadequate supervision.

Experts say safety standards have been compromised in childcare services due to severe staff shortages across Australia.

“It is beyond a crisis. And if nothing 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 daycare violations have increased 10 percent over the past five years.

“We know there are more children in care. We know there are more early childhood education and care providers, which may well help that,” Ms Aly said at 7.30am.