Kinder safety concerns

CHILDRENS’ safety is being put at risk at a Narre Warren kindergarten due to the actions of Casey Council, a concerned mother says.
Jennifer Casey said she was shocked when she arrived at the Littlecroft Family Resource Centre last week and discovered a safety fence had been removed from outside the front of the building.
Ms Casey said the fence acted as an extra barrier to stop young children wandering into the busy car park.
“I’m really angry,” she said.
“I just think that this is an outrage. To not even consult the parents or the kinder community before removing them is wrong.
“What is going to happen when a child gets run over and seriously injured or killed,” Ms Casey said.
The mother-of-three said it was ironic that the City of Casey had recently been recognised as a Child Friendly Community by a national organisation.
“I wanted to ring up the people that awarded them with that to tell them that they are not child-friendly at all.
“When you’re a parent and you’re trying to wrangle up a couple of kids at once it can be quite stressful.
“I have a three-year-old that loves to do a runner and that gate would stop them from going straight into the car park which gets so busy with cars.”
City of Casey manager of building services Ron Walker said the gate was removed rather than being fixed.
“Littlecroft Kindergarten had its gate removed last week in consultation with the Department of Human Services,” he said.
“It is council’s practice that gates requiring repair be permanently removed where the exit-entry door is compliant with the Building Code of Australia.
“The exit doors do comply and there is no further requirement for additional gates to separate the building from the car park,” Mr Walker said. – Callan Date