How black market childcare reaches migrant communities, the unvaccinated and the desperate

Black market childcare operators are using social media and messaging services – and even offering financial kickbacks for referrals – to recruit new families as experts warn of a rise in unregulated daycare services.

This masthead has uncovered on Facebook a swath of carers touting “private” care for unvaccinated families, with photos set up of dedicated play areas. One service is offering eight hours of care at $10 an hour. Most say they take only four children at a time. This is within the rules but without a regulator doing spot checks.

The cottage industry poses serious threats to children but entices families with low-cost, no-paperwork childcare. It also appeals to some multicultural communities, who want carers who speak their language, and unvaccinated families, who can’t enrol their children without an exemption at regulated centres.

Trust in large childcare operators has been rocked since police revealed in July that childcare worker Joshua Brown had been charged with sexually abusing children in his care between April 2022 and January 2023.

Last week, this masthead revealed that two illegal childcare centres were prosecuted last year. In one case, the carer tied children to furniture “to control them” or “to prevent children from biting other children”. The woman, Xuan Luu, of Kings Park in Melbourne’s north-west, had advertised through word of mouth and a newspaper.

Illegal childcare operators also use social media groups or messaging apps, such as WhatsApp or WeChat, which parents can easily join, to spread the word about their services.

In Sydney last year, Anna Marie Gewargis was found to have been running a childcare centre without approval which allegedly left families out of pocket, according to a Nine News report.

Gewargis is also facing four charges of common assault and one charge of intentionally sexually touching a child under 10 years, at the Campbelltown Court on December 15.

Last month, another Sydney woman claimed in a Facebook post she had approval to run a family daycare centre and claimed to be an early education and primary school educator. She said her own children were unvaccinated and she decided to run a childcare centre “privately” to help similar parents who needed affordable childcare but couldn’t access the childcare subsidy.

Early learning centres have “no jab, no play” rules, restricting access to daycare unless children are vaccinated.

“I have decided to run the service privately to support other families in similar situations with babysitting/private care,” she wrote in the post. “I also want to be very flexible on my charges as I know how hard it is without [childcare subsidy] benefits and the rising cost of living.”

She said she had a working with children’s check, CPR and first aid training, a police check and had worked in childcare previously. There were 31 people who responded to her Facebook post asking for information.

This masthead was unable to verify the woman’s working with children check or other claims as she posted using an anonymous profile. She was unable to be contacted for comment.

Responding to a query from one Facebook user, the woman said she accepted up to four children a day – the maximum someone can have without approval – and charged $80 for eight hours.

Anyone looking after more than four children under the age of 13 in Victoria must be a registered and regulated daycare service.

Other parents on Facebook had advice for families looking for off-the-books childcare services. There were “heaps of options, you just need to ask and build connections” one said, while another parent called it “the long game”.

“Ask questions, follow up, meet people and do it strategically and smartly and you will start to get to know your people and you will pool your resources and work together,” one parent said.

Astor Legal principal lawyer Avinash Singh, who has worked on many childcare-related abuse cases, said illegal providers used message groups or social media forums to get referrals.

“Often the unapproved centres will provide a commission for these referrals,” Singh said. “That’s really the only purpose of them promoting the unapproved childcare services in the groups, is that they’re getting some sort of kickback.”

He said providers charged a consistent percentage or a flat fee and took cash. They usually operated out of their homes, with no approval and very little oversight, he said.

“It is fairly widespread, and families probably don’t really consider the implications of having an unregulated childcare operator, especially if it’s through word of mouth or someone refers them. They might kind of hold a bit of blind trust in the organisation, and it’s only when things go horribly wrong that they actually realise what’s happened,” Singh said.

He said a lot unregulated options offered cheaper rates than approved centres because they didn’t have to keep up with regulations or have properly trained staff.

Singh said reforms to the sector – such as a national working with children’s check and an independent regulator – could result in additional compliance requirements and costs, further driving families to unapproved operators.

“It’s only going to make that gap even wider in terms of the rates that these unapproved operators can offer, and that will result in more people going to them,” Singh said.

Phil Doorgachurn, director of safeguarding at the Australian Childhood Foundation, said his organisation had heard from concerned families and communities who were moving away from big childcare centres. He said he was concerned about unregulated childcare services being offered on social media and messaging groups.

“While we don’t monitor those spaces directly, what matters is this: children are not commodities. This is not like selling a product on Marketplace, we are talking about the wellbeing of children,” Doorgachurn said.

He said families needed to be vigilant wherever they chose care for their child.

“We know that child sexual abuse is more likely from someone who is known to the child and/or family and therefore parents and carers need to be careful when looking at nanny sharing and nannying – which is on the rise in the wake of these abuse cases – as they are not regulated.

“And we know through our work that those who wish to harm children will find environments where there is weaker governance and child safety culture and leadership.”

Doorgachurn said child safeguarding training should be provided to workers in the sector, as well as dedicated child safeguarding roles.

Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said illegal centres highlighted the need for urgent reform, including an “independent regulator with teeth”.

“Relying on the private profit-driven market for childcare has failed. It’s time we had a public, universal childcare system, like our public school system, so that cowboy operators, whether legal or illegal, can’t keep profiting off of our children.”

Jess Walsh, federal minister for early childhood education, said the government had announced a $189 million National Child Safety Package and passed laws to ensure providers put child safety first.

She said changes to the child care subsidy had cut out-of-pocket costs by about $7500 for the average family, and in January, the three-day guarantee would come into effect, allowing 72 hours a fortnight of subsidised early learning.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the regulatory authority would take action and shut unlicensed services down and “dodgy operators will face further enforcement action”.

Parents can check which services are approved and their ratings through the National Register.

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