‘It is one of the worst nightmares’: Hundreds of children abused in childcare – by other kids

Almost 250 allegations of child-on-child physical or sexual abuse have been made in childcare centres or outside school hours care in the past three years in Victoria.

The allegations, recorded in the National Quality Agenda Information Technology System (NQAITS), and obtained through a freedom of information request were made between January 1, 2023, and September 2, 2025, but it is unclear how many were investigated or substantiated.

During the same period, 53 allegations of abuse were made in the state’s preschools or kindergartens, while there were 673 allegations of adult-on-child abuse, most of which were in long day care. According to the Commission for Children and Young People, in 2024-2025, there were 2149 allegations of adult-on-child abuse in education settings, made under the reportable conduct scheme. Of those, 704 were for alleged sexual misconduct and 166 were for sexual offences.

In early childhood education, there were 967 reportable allegations made of adult-on-child abuse, 78 for sexual misconduct and 27 for sexual offences.

There were 37 allegations of child-on-child abuse in long daycare in 2025, 52 in 2024 and 46 in 2023.

When Rose* arrived to pick up her six-year-old daughter from after-school care, she was confronted with gut-wrenching news.

Her daughter had been allegedly sexually assaulted by another student, out of sight from carers.

“It’s like it is one of the worst nightmares any parent could think of aside from losing a kid, or having a sick kid,” she said.

Rose – who asked not to be identified – said the original verbal report was later downgraded to a “poke and a prod” in a written report.

“She has been let down by the adults everywhere in school and after-school care,” she said.

“You hand your children over to schools hoping that they’re going to be looked after … This boy has definitely taken my daughter’s innocence,” she said.

University of Melbourne senior research fellow in social work Gemma McKibbin said children’s sexual behaviour was typically understood on a continuum from normal to problematic through to harmful.

“Problematic” can include children exposing their genitals, while “harmful” can involve forcing other children into penetrative acts such as oral sex or coercing others into sexual “play”.

“Adults may dismiss the behaviour as kids’ normal exploration or experimentation,” McKibbin said. “But child-on-child sexual abuse is not normal. The impacts on victim-survivors are profoundly negative and lifelong, comparable to adult-perpetrated sexual abuse.”

Since alleged paedophile and childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with dozens of child sex crimes in the middle of last year, major changes have been introduced to try to improve safety in the early learning sector.

This has included a rapid review in Victoria, a parliamentary review, a tightening of market-entry requirements, the ability to suspend or cancel childcare subsidy payments for serious breaches, as well as the implementation of a national Working With Children Check.

The National Office for Child Safety, including Australian, state and territory governments, is also working to develop a nationally co-ordinated policy approach to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in all settings, including children and young people with harmful sexual behaviours.

But experts say more research and training into the complex area of child-on-child abuse is needed, and parents say some schools are struggling to manage the complexities.

Early Childhood Australia chief executive Samantha Page said child-on-child sexual abuse had been an area of concern for years and while there had been some improvement in training educators on how to recognise and respond appropriately, more needed to be done.

She suggested a child safeguarding expert at every service, providing guidance on harmful behaviour, and cultivating a culture of reporting.

In the past four years, Page said, there’d also been a rising number of reports of harmful physical behaviour from children, both towards educators and other children.

“We are seeing more complex behaviour in young children, so we need to staff in a way that responds to that,” she said.

Outside School Hours Care Australia, which often operates at primary schools for ages 5-12, said all providers were required to operate under strict child safety and regulatory frameworks, including staff training, supervision requirements and mandatory reporting obligations.

“Where concerns are raised by either the children or the parents, there are clear processes in place to escalate and report matters to the relevant authorities.”

Victorian Principals Association president Andrew Dalgleish said some OSHC programs were run by third parties under a licence agreement, sometimes by the school itself.

He said if an incident occurred at the OSHC program, the principal would expect to be informed and be part of safety planning to ensure they could understand if similar behaviours were occurring in school.

“We understand that there may be increasing evidence of child-on-child or similar age. Whilst it may cause an uncomfortable feeling in addressing this, we must act because it’s about protecting all children,” he said.

But Rose said she felt the school and after-school care did the “absolute bare minimum”.

She said the processes, in her case, didn’t work.

“Because the children are under the age of 10, it changes how they do things at schools and it certainly reduces what the schools are required to do,” she said.

“I requested, due to the severity of what this boy had done, that he be expelled, suspended or relocated to another classroom.”

The school didn’t remove the child from after-school care, and he wasn’t relocated to another classroom. Instead, her daughter was put on a safety plan, with teachers trying to keep them separate.

“I feel like it’s weak and full of holes ... and it has already been breached.”

“They’re not protecting children. They’re not protecting my daughter.”

McKibbin, speaking generally, said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that a victim who felt uncomfortable, triggered or traumatised was forced to remain in the same class as a perpetrator.

“Education settings need to be more creative in what they’re doing. It’s not necessarily excluding the kid who has harmed from the school, but it might be,” she said.

“I think that the needs of the victim need to be absolutely prioritised ... in a balanced way with the needs of the other young person.”

MacKillop Family Services chief executive Robyn Miller said child-to-child harm was very complex because there were so many people and rights involved.

“If children have been sexually abused themselves or been exposed to inappropriate adult material, in the early years, those children with appropriate help – they can stop that behaviour,” she said.

“Most adolescent offenders do not go on to become adult offenders,” she said.

‘If a child discloses sexual abuse by another child, do not dismiss it.’

Gemma McKibbin, University of Melbourne senior research fellow in social work

But McKibbin said, “children’s worlds have become completely pornified”, coming across sexually explicit material at younger and younger ages.

“When you talk to practitioners in Victoria, they are saying that they’re seeing younger and younger children with really quite concerning or harmful behaviours against other kinds of kids.”

She also said there were still issues with supervision.

“Probably a lot of this stuff in childcare happens in the toilets when the children are not supervised, but you do see some kids who really are quite planned in their wanting to sexually harm another child, and they’ll actually be waiting at the toilets for the opportunity to arise.”

A Victorian Department of Education spokesperson said they treated all allegations of abuse seriously and addressed all incidents with appropriate and proportionate consequences – including supporting families to make reports to police where appropriate. A “refreshed” Protect framework, which provides guidance to educators on child protection issues, was released on Tuesday.

McKibbin said children could be taught body safety before they can talk, and it was important to prevent access to sexually explicit material and platforms that facilitate sexual abuse, as well as having holistic approaches in education settings to child protection.

“If a child discloses sexual abuse by another child, do not dismiss it. Believe them and act to make it stop.”

If you or someone you know needs support, you can contact national sexual assault counselling service 1800 Respect, CASA sexual assault crisis line 1800 806 292 or the Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.

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