After nearly two years of planning and extensive renovations, the Society’s Darling Harbour Child Care Centre in Ultimo formally commenced operation in February 1990. In accordance with government requirements, it provided Occasional Care service for 25 children aged from birth to five years.
However, Occasional Care meant that the Centre did not have a stable source of enrolments. For several months after opening, enrolments remained unsatisfactory, the utilisation rate was very low, and the Centre operated at a financial loss. The Society’s Board of Directors repeatedly raised the situation with the government department responsible for children’s services, hoping to convert the Occasional Care service to Long Day Care, which would provide more stable enrolments. However, the requests were consistently rejected.
By the second half of 1992, faced with ongoing operational difficulties, the Board decided to close the Centre. The Federal Government and the Powerhouse Museum were given one month’s notice. When notifying the relevant government department, the Society once again made a request: “If the Occasional Care service can be converted to Long Day Care, the Society would be prepared to reopen and continue operating the Centre.”
Shortly before the Centre was due to close, an incident occurred. A parent lodged a complaint with the relevant State department, alleging that the Teaching Director at the time had used an inappropriate method to discipline a child: when the child was disobedient, she had sealed the child’s mouth with adhesive tape. Given the seriousness of this incident of child abuse, the Society quickly closed the Centre and dismissed the Teaching Director in the process. All the other staff members also lost their jobs.
Several years later, an incident of child abuse at another child care centre prompted an investigation by the State Government department. The person under investigation was the former Teaching Director dismissed by the Society. It was discovered that she had again mistreated a child at another centre. That centre said that it chose to employ her because it was in receipt of a reference letter from CASS recommending the person.
Subsequent investigation revealed that when the dismissed Teaching Director requested a reference letter for a new job, one of the Vice-Chairpersons, as a representative of the employer, felt sorry that the Centre’s closure had caused the staff members to lose their jobs. Therefore, the Vice-Chairperson wrote a highly favourable letter of recommendation for her, however, the Vice-Chairpersons was unaware of the full circumstances about the performance of this staff member.
The State Government department strongly criticised the Society for irresponsibly issuing the reference letter. The Society learnt an important lesson from the incident. From then on, Henry admonished the directors and key management personnel that reference letters of recommendation should never be issued casually.
On 15 February 1993, after the Government agreed to convert the service to Long Day Care, Darling Harbour Child Care Centre reopened. The new Teaching Director improved its management and services. Enrolments gradually increased, and positive word of mouth among parents continued to grow. The Centre finally settled into stable operation.
Unfortunately, in April 2007, a serious traffic accident occurred outside the Centre. One of its walls was knocked down, causing structural damage to the building. After conducting an assessment, the Powerhouse Museum, which owned the premises, concluded that the building was situated at a busy intersection with a high risk of traffic accidents and was therefore unsuitable for use as a child care centre. It decided to terminate the lease.
The Society tried to relocate the Centre to another site in Chinatown, but its efforts were unsuccessful. On 30 April 2007, after more than 17 years of operation, Darling Harbour Child Care Centre ceased providing services and bid farewell to Chinatown.
🤔What other community services did the Society develop? There is more to share in the next article!