Childcare centre where parents can see child all the time?

Hi !!

I know in other countries some childcare centres offer :
Parents to access a website where they can see their children playing in the childcare centre. Of course the website is secured and access is only given to parents who have a child enrolled.

I guess this will give me a little peace of mind, knowing that I can see my child at any time I want, also re-assurance that staff will do the right thing all the time as they can be watch by any parent at any time.


Do you know any childcare centre in Sydney that offers this service?

thanks for your help!!

Not that I'm aware of- I think there would be huge privacy issues and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would want to work in an environment like that.

I can drop into my CC anytime and see Pip, I think watching him on webcam would be slightly freaky and too Big-Brother-ish for me as a parent!

I'm pretty sure there aren't any at the moment. It was something centres looked into a few years ago, but as ren says, privacy is an big issue, since you wouldn't only be looking at your child, as they are with all of the other children.

All centres offer you access to your child at any time in person. They can't deny you any time to see your child.

Thank you so much ladies for your response!

I think its a good idea, in theory, but just thinking about the childcare centre that my 3 are at.......they are all in separate classes, plus theire is large "middle room", plus 2 lots of toilets, plus 2 outside play areas....and the kids move between all the rooms all day.......even in the nursery where Lexie is, she could be outisde, in the lunch room, having a nap in the cot room......it'd be a nightmare trying to find them on a web cam, LOL!

Hi,
yesterday I was watching abc news and I was in shock when they said:

"Child Wise has collated research showing one in four girls and one in seven boys experience some form of sexual abuse." that's just crazy!!!! sniff sniff :(

read the news below...
Australia grappling with child abuse 'epidemic' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Are you worried about that happening in child care? Those stats would not be from within child care services- most abuse occurs to children from within their family or close family friends. Child care is on the whole full of people who would never abuse children and who are in the industry through a deep respect for children. They are also constantly under peer supervision so the 'opportunity' would not arise.

I know that they have this in the US, an online firend had her chils at a centre where she could view the room/centre online all the time. I would have thought that if it worked in such a litigious (sp?)country as the USA that it would work here too?

I did read of one centre in Perth who trialed it but were told they could not continue with it for a variety of reason, not the least of which was that the website to view your children from could potentially be hacked into by undesirable people.

I have heard of a new centre in Vic where you can watch a video of what your child did during the day. Frankly I would much rather have a staff member looking after my child and interacting with them than videoing them.

I could see that webcams would be a problem here. I would often be told at my old childcare centre that they had taken photos of DD, but I never got to see them. I understood that I could not have copies as there were other children in the shots, but to not see them really irked me. Should have brought it up with the director, as I just took what the carer told me and she was one I never got on with. So if photos are an issue in centres, then webcams would be as well.

I would hate for my child to be able to be viewed by anyone else who could access the site. I think if you feel that you have to spy on your child's carers then you don't trust them and shouldn't leave your child there.Yes it would be nice to see what your child did during the day but not at the cost of loss of privacy for others.

:

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...I would often be told at my old childcare centre that they had taken photos of DD, but I never got to see them. I understood that I could not have copies as there were other children in the shots, but to not see them really irked me. ..l.

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Really?? At DS centre, we have to sign a docuemnt at the start of each year with things like whether we agree to allow them to put nappy cream, sunscreen etc on our children, and there is a section about photographs, there are about 5 options that you have to say yes or no to, regarding taking photos of the children and displaying them in the centre, in the print media and on the internet etc.
There are lots of photos of the children (whos parents have agreed) on display throughout the centre.

I signed paperwork like that at occasional care and for DD's current centre but oddly not at that one. I did notice it at the time, but silly me did not query it.

As a childcare worker i would find it very hard to work in that environment. Does it have sound? If it didn't have sound and I had to frown at a child who was being naughty/dangerous and the parent thought i was frowning at their child.... Arrrrggghh! No, the more I think about the more it's not right. And would they show children on the toilet?

Regards sexual abuse: it's 90% likely that the child is abused by someone in the immediate or extended family/friends network.

I work in a centre where parents are free to drop in with no notice, new parents to the centre can come in for induction and orientation when they choose rather than making an appointment, we to have permission forms for parents about things auch as photos or video but most parents are fine if the photos are used only at the centre or for our programing purposes.
I try to include a regular photo of the children in my care in their communication books (it's usually only a small one printed on a colour printer)along with samples of their work and anecdotes of what their day has entailed.
As for working with web cams in my room I don't have anything to hide but I would feel personally exposed at the thought of people watching my everymove let alone how I'd feel if parents of the children I care for had access to watching all of my children, not only theirs,if it's being watched in an office or other more public areas you are exposing the children to unknown sources, it doesn't feel right. I currently have 90 children permanent and part time on my books in my room alone and I have their rights to consider

I really can't see it working... I have nothing at all about my work as a CCW I feel I need to hide but I think knowing you're under that sort of surveillance can be fairly intimidating for anyone and it could stop natural interactions as people wonder how something normal looks on camera.

Also, if you tune in and see your child being bitten, or biting someone else, or crying, or any number of even mundane things like sitting by themselves... a parent might then be stressed and worried and feel more out of control as they can't reach their child or understand the context of the situation.

In all centres parents can drop in when ever and most parents learn how to sneak in so they can hide and watch for a while which is great to see the staff and children going about their thing.

This will probably offend, but what you are asking for is inviting the Orwellian future which we are all doomed to, unless we fight.
Do you want to live in 1984?!!! (do you even know what i am talking about?)
If you want to watch your little one 24/7 dont put your little one in child care.

I'm an early childhood teacher as well and I cringe at the thought of people watching me all day. I hae nothing to hide, but to think I was under scrutiny all day at work would be too much pressure. I owuld feel really self concious (sp?) as well.
Also, there are some people who think they're children are angels and could in no way do anything wrong and seeing me reprimand their child for things would be too much. I just think it would be creating conflict between families and carers at times.

As a few people have said, if you want to be watching your child that much - don't put them in childcare. I am a mother who totally trusts the childcare centre and workers I have my DD in, but as Blizz says, I would not trust the other 30 parents who could watch my child (as well as theirs on a webcam) let alone the people that they may let have access to the webcam. It is a privacy issue for both carers and other children.

Web-camming kids makes it easier for paedophiles who use the internet to find them but it is simultaneously foolish to think the real risks are from strange internet pervs. If your child is at risk it is probably from someone they know very well.

I agree that if (like me) you're not happy with not knowing exactly what your kid did all day, then childcare is not for you. It is unreasonable to ask child care workers to work under constant scrutiny, they are already responsible for the children and accountable for their mistakes, why add to the pressure by making them under surveillance too? As for the safety of the kids...well what if little Jimmy's dad beat the heck out of his mum and him so they ran away and hid and now Jimmy's daddy's friend, who coincidentally has a kid in the same childcare centre, has found him on the website? And to have it legal they'd have to have an opt-out clause. This would mean at least 2 rooms for every class, one camerad and one not, and double the staff to cover the rooms. I can see the costs exploding. SOunds a bad idea to be honest.

Bx

Good points Hoobley. And imagine if you were a well known high profile person/ celebrity. Oh what fun the media would have with this free bit of public information. Just because you would need a password to view the rooms/children doesn't stop people misusing it. Are the media ever that polite?

Hi ladies!

Very interesting answers!! I guess we have a different point of view; this might be due to diverse cultural backgrounds.

I don't really follow the (concern) privacy issues of other parents watching my child as this can happen ANYWHERE, other people can watch my child at parks, beaches, outside my house etc.... At childcare centres, kids are (dressed) playing, singing, etc.. I don't think there is anything wrong to be able to see my child whenever I want; in saying that I don't mean 24/7

If childcare staff are not doing anything wrong then I guess there wouldn't be an issue of having a camera on....
In all shopping centres, airports, train stations etc... there are cameras recording all the time; people work there without having any problems because of this.

In regards to your answers about other people hacking the website:
if someone takes the trouble of hacking the childcare website means he/she has the possibility to hack any other sites (any other website with more children on it) or now that I'm thinking there might not be the need to hack anything as anyone can watch a lot of videos of children at youtube or see pictures of children in flickr ...

I believe in Sydney there are some parents that think like me and see nothing wrong to be able to watch their kid whenever....anyway I was just asking if this type of childcare was available in Sydney.

Thank you for your answers!!





My post here was to find out