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.

🙄

Why was he on his own with the children, he was still a trainee, a lack of staff perhaps.

Is your username a self-aware joke about "not my Nigel" trope? If not, you should probably look it up.

Nice that you've also included the "but wimminz do it to!" and "not all men all the time!" tropes. You really are a walking stereotype.

There is nothing offensive whatsoever in acknowledging which demographics are (vastly) more likely to commit certain crimes. No male should be trusted until proven innocent.

You're opinion, and threads like this, are absolutely toxic.

"The key is to find a suitable solution that protects the children."

Banning all men from working in nurseries is not one of them.

YANBU. Totally agree. Sad to say.

Why? They're only 5% of staff, they won't be missed and cause a disproportionate amount of problems.

Do I think that men should be banned from nurseries? No, I don't. Do I think that women have good cause for "rampant misandry". Yes, I do. Millennia of oppression, rape, violence, abuse, control and otherwise general shit has informed them thus.

Don’t be ridiculous. My dc went to a nursery that had not one, but two male staff members over the time they were there. One was only a student on a placement so I didn’t know him well, but the other was there for years and was fantastic.

I had absolutely no concerns about the care they provided. In that time though, do you know where not one but two paedophiles actually popped up having close unsupervised contact with my children? My own family and in my own house.

The great thing about early years settings is that there is a huge amount of safeguarding and oversight. Where that isn’t in place is exactly where children are most likely to be abused, which is in the home by people they trust. Unless we start banning grandfathers and uncles and older male cousins from contact with children in the family?

Why stop at nursery workers? Why not teachers too??

Most school kids would speak up if they were being sexually abused, they are not vulnerable like babies and toddlers. They are also toilet trained so no nappy changes etc.

Do you feel the same way about male carers? I have worked in a childcare capacity with some amazing men - albeit in an after school care where the children were independent and actually if there were any accidents needing them to be changed generally a woman would do it. Children respond well to male role models and the majority are amazing, dedicated professionals. I don't think they should be banned - I do think where vulnerable people require to have intimate care there should always be 2 people present. I would support this for hospitals, home care & nursing homes. I know staffing doesn't allow it but I feel it would make things a lot safer.

Clearly there isn’t a great amount of safeguarding in nurseries as can be seen in this case and many others.

No, women have abused children at nurseries too.
I am staggered though that this could have happened. At my children’s nursery there was no area hidden away enough that this could have happened. I don’t know the details of this case but I just can’t fathom how he could have even had the opportunity. There’s been a huge failure of safeguarding and it’s tragic.

Actually statistics show that the majority of children do not speak up in childhood.

YABU. you cannot vilify a lot of caring men who would be great a the job by the actions of one man.
How do you feel about other male teachers. What about male babysitters (uncles, brothers?) even dad?

You are an extremely nasty piece of work OP. It is types like you that lead to workplace bullying of men in nursery and primary teaching roles

I think it was just while taking children to the toilet.

It is a fact that men, as a group, pose a statistically massively greater risk to children than do women.

Other parents might be comfortable with taking that increased risk of allowing unrelated adult men to do personal care for their babies. Personally, I was not, and actively chose childcare settings with no men.

Where has anyone said that they should have access with no safeguarding in place?!
Nurseries should have safeguarding in place for all staff regardless of whether you're male or female.

I'm sorry, but who cares? Not giving unrelated men permission access to changing your child's nappy is not bullying.

I think it's an issue to be solved with safety processes, not a ban. Our children's nursery doesn't allow anyone, male or female, to change nappies or do toilet visits without another staff member present, and there are other safeguards as well (cameras pointing to bathroom doors and in all rooms, codes for unlocking doors, etc.)

I don't think it's good to reinforce the idea that childcare is women's work and there are really good male nursery workers who have a really positive impact on children, but I completely understand why some people would support a ban if they had experience of this. Hopefully better safety measures can offer the relevant reassurance and prevent any future harm.

Those poor children - how brave they have been.

It’s still definitely easier to abuse a non-verbal baby or a toddler in a nursery setting. C’mon, let’s not pretend it’s the same.

Oh dear. I hope you don't really believe that most school children would speak up about sexual abuse. I can't believe you would even think, let alone put in print, that school children are not vulnerable. This flies in the face of every piece of expertise and evidence in existence. Almost all child sex abuse cases are brought about when the victim is an adult, not still a child.

What about Vanessa George?

Should we ban women as well?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-49343172