Parents of potential victims of alleged sex offender Joshua Dale Brown have spoken of children about the “heartbreaking” and pathogenic moments they discovered that their very young children might have been sexually molested during childcare.
On Monday, Mr. Brown, 26, was allegedly accused of more than 70 violations with eight children in the Creative Garden Early Learning Center in Point Cook, in the western suburbs of Melbourne, between April 2022 and January 2023.
The police said that the alleged victims were between five months and two years old.
About 1,200 children are recommended to be tested for sexually transmitted infections, namely chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Some parents of children who could have been affected received this SMS message. ((Delivered))
A mother arrived in one of the centers where Mr. Brown had previously worked while the police left and said that the educator of her child was in tears before she discovered from Mr. Brown.
“They told me that there had been a person accused of sexual abuse and things related to children and that person had also worked in the center at some point,” said the woman we cannot identify and call Julie, at 7.30 am.
“I was just shocked and it took me a while to process what was going on … Also, what does this mean for me?
“You immediately go to” Has my child been involved in this? “
Julie said that the thought of what could have happened, felt her “sick”, just like the uncertainty.
She never met Joshua Brown, but her husband did it.
Joshua Dale Brown, 26, of Point Cook is accused of more than 70 violations with regard to eight children in a childcare center in Melbourne. ((Facebook))
She told 7.30 am that Mr. Brown had accompanied her child during lunch breaks.
“He was not in my child’s room. Although he took care of my child during lunch breaks, what I know,”
Said Julie.
‘My husband saw him and said he seemed pretty friendly [and that] He really seemed to take care of the children. “
They are ‘innocent children’
Another mother, whom we cannot identify and call Chloe, said her children went to one of the centers that Mr. Brown worked last year.
She said that when she received the e -mail who brought her to the alleged crimes, her “heart just fell through my stomach”.
Although Mr. Brown taught only one day in that center, she also told 7.30 am of the nauseous feeling to find out that her children may have been exposed to an alleged sex offender and potential STDs.
The police claim that the offensive comprises that eight victims are linked to the Creative Garden Early Learning Center in Point Cook. ((ABC News: Samantha Jonscher))
“[It’s] heartbreaking, “Chloe told 7.30.
“It’s just these pure little innocent children.
“My children were registered in one of the patient centers that was hit. Fortunately it was just one day he was in that center.”
Guilty guilt and long wait
Both mothers told 7.30 that they struggled with their own fault about exposing their children to an alleged pedophile.
“I feel sick and very guilty that I exposed my child to this situation,”
Said Julie.
Chloe said she felt guilty that she “trusted” strangers to take care of her children.
She said she had tried to inform her children about what was inappropriate.
But when she asked her children if they had ever touched inappropriate, they said they hadn’t done that.
There are fears that many children could have been exposed to the alleged sex offender. ((Monkey: Bianca de Marchi))
Both mothers are now also confronted with a painful waiting for the STD tests of their children.
Julie’s child has been tested, but for Chloe the wait is longer. She can’t have her children tested until Monday.
Despite the call for testing, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Christian McGrath would not reveal on Monday whether Mr. Brown had tested positively on STDs.
“This is a very complex and painful matter, and our highest priority is the health and well -being of the children and families,” said Dr. Mcgrath.
“We do believe that it is a low risk, but we want to offer this to offer parents certainty about the health and well -being of their children.”
Can research change change?
Before the police investigated, Mr. Brown was not known to the authorities and had a valid effect with Children Check, which has since been canceled.
He worked in 20 childcare centers in Melbourne between January 2017 and May 2025: in some places he worked for a few days, in other places, for months.
But the case has led the state government to take action on a sector that is already in a crisis.
The government of Jacinta Allan has now ordered the regulator for the early childhood to investigate the behavior of the childcare operators for whom Mr. Brown worked.
Jacinta Allan has announced important reforms in the childcare sector in Victoria in an attempt to improve children’s safety. ((ABC News))
Affinity Education Group operates 250 early education centers and G8 education runs more than 400 centers throughout Australia.
Affinity Education Group said it was “deeply sad because of the nature of the charges imposed”.
G8 Education said that the “safety and well -being of every child in our care is our highest priority”.
Previous ABC studies have demonstrated important problems with care providers in Australia, in particular in affinity centers.
One of the e -mails sent by a childcare center to parents. ((Delivered))
Early Education and Care Advisor Lisa Bryant said that the statements issued felt like commonplaces and said that those companies had to be kept to account.
“I can’t imagine anything worse than to test 1200 babies on STDs that they might have caught in places that should take care of them,” she told 7.30.
“That’s as bad as it gets.
“Every time one of these companies comes into the media, they made a statement that the safety of children is our highest priority.”
She said that caretaker-to-child ratios in the system should be investigated.
Currently, the ratio for educators and babies is 1-on-4. She said that was unreasonable.
“I have read accounts from educators where they have been with four babies for a day,” she said.
“As every mother would know, having a baby can bring you distraction. With four I don’t know how someone can manage it.”
Chloe wants stricter recruitment controls.
“I think there should be something in place where background controls are certainly viewed more.“
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