OUT IN THE COLD
Families and staff left in the lurch as Whittington daycare centre shuts without warning, leaving 100 kids with nowhere to go.
THE sudden closure of a Geelong childcare centre has left about 100 children and their families and staff members out in the cold.
Families were left to make other arrangements after Whittington’s First Steps Childcare closed without warning this week.
An email from the centre to parents said that it was forced to closed on Monday due to unpaid rent.
Families told the Geelong Advertiser they feared they would lose hundreds of dollars as fees had been paid to the centre two weeks in advance.
Newcomb father Sreejith Rajan said he had to find alternative arrangements for the care of his daughter, Nihana, 3, after the shock closure.
“Both my wife and I work, so it puts us in a really difficult position,” he said.
“I’m not sure what we are going to do next week because the centre has closed and there’s no vacancies at other centres.”
Emails obtained by the Addy, which were sent from the centre director to families, also reveal that staff were also not told of the closure until early on Monday morning.
“It is with deep sadness that we advise families that First Steps will be closed for business this week,” centre director Megan Hipkiss said in the email. “This morning, we arrived to work and were told by the owner of the building that the centre will not be able to operate for the time being due to late payment of rent.”
She said staff were devastated by this news. “We were totally unaware of any issue.”
Landlord Marek Alan Morgan said there had been ongoing issues with the tenant, who leased the site to operation the childcare centre.
“This has been going on for 12 months. We have been trying to put it off as long as we could because we understood the ramifications — but push comes to shove and we have been left with no option,” he said. “The intention was never to cause harm to families.”
In a follow-up email, Ms Hipkiss said the centre would soon be bought by another service provider.
But she did not know if fees would be refunded.
“We haven’t been given any indication about whether these funds will be refunded, but I am doing my absolute best to fight for our families,” she wrote.
Adam, a father who did not want his surname revealed, said parents were locked out of the centre early on Monday morning with no information.
“There were people who went to drop their kids off and they couldn’t do it,” he said.
“The place was like a ghost town.”
The Addy attempted to contact the owner of First Steps Childcare, who is reportedly based in Queensland, but received no response.
The Department of Education also did not respond to requests for comment.
Families will be granted access to the centre on Saturday to retrieve personal belongings.