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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/30/victoria-child-protection-system-carer-ntwnfb>
"The baby arrived at Sofie’s house at 7pm on a Friday night, along with a few
bags of clothes, toys, nappies and food. No one had fed her since that morning.
The case worker sat on Sofie’s couch, commenting on the decor.
Sofie*, an early childhood educator, did not know the baby well. The Melbourne
childcare centre where she worked had agreed to enrol the then months’ old baby
after a request from child protection, who hoped daycare would provide some
stability while they worked with the baby’s mother. The baby had only attended
a handful of days. Sofie had occasionally given her a cuddle in passing.
But the baby’s name reminded Sofie of her own adult daughter. Perhaps that was
partly why, less than four hours earlier, a phone call to the childcare centre
had made her so upset.
The voice on the line was a child protection worker. Would someone there be
able to look after baby Lily* for the weekend?
“I said, ‘no, we are not working here Saturday and Sunday’,” Sofie says. “And
she said, ‘no, no – one of you. We are at the court and the judge is asking us
to look for somebody.’”
Sofie is an effervescent 49-year-old born in South America. She is confident
and thorough, but English is her second language, and she thought something
must have been lost in translation. Surely they were not asking what it sounded
like they were asking? But when the centre’s owner and manager returned soon
afterwards and spoke to the child protection worker, she confirmed the request.
The court had decided the baby was too much at risk and had just that morning
been removed from her mother. They needed to find a foster or kinship carer.
There was no one else, they said – and it would just be for a couple of days,
to give them some time to sort things out.
“My heart was breaking,” Sofie says. “I started crying. I called my husband and
I was emotional … he said, ‘It’s a big responsibility, but if she has nowhere
to go’…”
Nina*, the owner and director of the childcare centre, says: “At that moment,
we just wanted to help the situation. We were saying: how about we do this
together?”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
