Ban male nursery workers?

[BluntPlumHam]

I came across this article which has left me quite sick.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cze665j2y51o.amp

Said 18 year old was newly qualified nursery worker who’d SA’d and raped 3 year olds.

Nurseries are desperate for workers and I have noticed through friends and families that there is now an increasing number of men entering the profession.

Men traditionally haven’t performed this role and I often find it difficult to envisage what attracts a male to this profession to begin with when we have so many instances of men who run away from childcare responsibilities.

Although men entering the profession can be a positive outcome the other very concerning outcome and on the potential rise is this.

Sex offenders will target this profession no doubt as it gives them easy access to children.

men are significantly more likely than women to sexually assault children.
Official statistics consistently show that the vast majority of individuals convicted of, or reported for, child sexual abuse (CSA) are male. For example:

• In the year ending March 2019, the Crime Survey for England and Wales found that 92% of adults who reported experiencing CSA said the perpetrator was male only.
• In 2022/23, almost 99% of individuals convicted of child sexual abuse offences in the UK were men.
• Reports to the Australian Royal Commission by victims and survivors of institutional abuse revealed that 93.9% of the abuse was perpetrated by an adult man.

So just a blanket ban on them all together ?

It isn’t my personal opinion but I do think we ought to have measures in place to make nurseries more secure and safer. This thread is to invite discussion.

Also, kudos to those brave little 3 year olds who had the courage to tell their parents because they’ve saved a lot of potential victims in the future. My thoughts and wishes for a life time of healing for them and theirs.

I notice you didn’t activate the AIBU poll.

So YABU

YABU

No, it isn't only men who abuse children.

If prefer all childcare settings, schools, children's clubs to have impeccable safeguarding procedures and set ups to ensure that no one, whatever rear sex, has the opportunity to sexually abuse children in their care.

Not a popular opinion and I understand they can’t be banned but I would prefer it. I know women have been known to abuse but it isn’t as common as men.

Absolutely not. I know two young men who are currently looking at careers in early years provision. They are kind, patient, awesome role models for young boys who may not have aale presence at home. By all means increase safeguarding processes but absolutely no to a blanket ban.

Unfortunately women abuse children in nurseries as well. Better to focus on strict vetting and safeguarding policies and teaching children about consent and inappropriate behaviour as early as possible.

Agreed.

I have a really good male friend who is a nursery worker, he does an amazing job.

However, would I want my child at nursery with an unknown male nursery worker.. I'm not so sure

Men can be great teachers and carers. Yabu.

I think the first step needs to be nurseries paying their workers a decent wage and not working them into the ground. Nursery workers are treated like shite. Predators will seek out roles where they have access to children but banning all men from access to children is an extreme overreaction.

We need men in caring roles as we as a society need to normalise men caring for children.

But abuse is disgusting and I would welcome an environment where a nursery worker - male or female - is never completely alone with one child. It would mean properly staffing nurseries though.

But it is mostly men. We mitigate risk by working out who is more likely to be dangerous in any situation.

A disgusting proposition, perhaps we should ban women from all jobs except for those that involve cooking and cleaning.

YABU. We need men in caring professions.

I’ve often pondered this.

Yabu, there should be more. It’s healthy for kids to grow up with tile models of both genders, all races etc.

YABU

So the fact that women are apparently less likely to abuse means that that’s ok?

The thing is what vetting can nurseries do to make it safer many abusers don’t have criminal records as they haven’t been caught. All they can do is have safe guarding procedures in place - a child shouldn’t haven’t been left alone long enough with one member of staff to be SA or raped. People saying men should be able to work there blah blah blah yes they should but there are lots of things women should be able to do like walk home at night alone without being attacked- unfortunately in a lot of areas we can’t: removing men from the setting reduces the risk

Surely it would make more sense to have proper checks and balances, rather than a blanket ban? A blanket ban on male nursery workers is absurd, and it would leave people like Vanessa George free to abuse.

No, this is one sick disgusting individual. There have been female nursery sex offenders historically and no one thought to ban them. There might be a statistical higher risk based on sex but that shouldn't result in a ban. If for argument's sake the female abusers were all aged under 30 you could reduce probability of abuse by banning anyone under 30 but this would be discriminatory and unfair.

I haven't read full facts (don't really want to) but there are a number of safeguarding issues. I work in a nursery with this age group and cannot see how the opportunity would arise to be alone for a long period in a private place.

@AnyoneWhoHasAHeart of course it’s not ok but we can’t remove all risk we can only reduce it where we can. I know we can’t ban male nursery workers but I would prefer it

No, it really doesn't work like that. You mitigate risks by making sure no one person is alone with a child. Just saying 'no men' would be a) Illegal and b) ineffective.

I like your idea about never leaving one worker alone with a child. I went back to the article and it seems it occurred in the toilet.

Understaffing and underpaid is most definitely a contributing factor I’d say.

I do wonder if perhaps we need a higher level of qualified required for entry into the profession? At the moment it seems anyone can get it in and surely if the process to get the job is harder then you’d vet potential sex offenders out like that?

That would require a comparison study with other professions I guess to see if that were the case. It’s the easy access which bothers me because a background check isn’t enough if you’ve yet to be caught.

I was thinking back to young children in my friends and family circle that were in verbal at that age and it just made my blood run cold.

YABU.
waiting for you to say we should ban white nursery workers….