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 could not agree more (although I lean towards thinking her innocent). I really don't think a case relying on technical medical evidence should be decided by a jury of lay people tbh.

It's certainly not the gotcha people want for proving women present just as much danger to children as men.

Women abuse children just as much as men do. Arguably more. So yes YABU, a ban would be based on a fiction.

What a great idea. The education and care sectors are overflowing with new recruits right now, so banning half the population from entry shouldn't have any catastrophic effects at all.

Circumstantial evidence is what puts MOST killers away yet all of a sudden in this case that's a problem? Someone who works in healthcare is obviously going to have their DNA all around the crime scene because it's where they work. And they have plenty of time alone with their victims and a plausible explanation if they're caught doing/not doing something (ie when baby E's mums walked in on her) there was no CCTV in the unit so yes circumstantial evidence was all they had and was enough to convict her. Nothing wrong with that.

That one woman attacked and killed multiple babies all on her own, destroyed countless lives and she posed far more risk than any man in the vicinity of that hospital. I think she's very relevant to the discussion. And some posters are even proving they'd rather leave their child with the likes of her because she's a woman than a man. Madness.

I do not believe you are correct in that but I would be happy to see your own evidence for that.

Most killers are put away on actual evidence, not just circumstance. Many murderers have walked free on the basis that our justice system is "beyond reasonable doubt". There is just no way her conviction is beyond reasonable doubt, I honestly think she had a defence team who believed that they couldn't win and didn't try.

Oh and by the way @Firefly1987 even if she's guilty men are still harming children at at a massive massively greater percentage than women.

Have you sources or stats for that statement?

Honestly though I had that same question as a teenager when a few of my friends wanted to go into childcare. I didn't understand how that could be a burning passion for anyone, and we were all women. It's almost as if people are different!

Seems crazy now that Friends is seen as outdated and problematic for Ross thinking a man couldn't be a nanny but here we are...

Yes we know. But because of that someone like Letby was able to take advantage of the fact people thought she was harmless and she wasn't stopped for over a year. Even now with all her convictions people still refuse to believe it.

Her conviction is unsafe and her case whether that is true or not is entirely irrelevant to this thread, which is about percentage of men and women who abuse children, not total number of children abused by men or women.

And how many women actually get away with abuse because people just assume women are safe? It makes me wonder what the real figure is for abuse by women.

And it’s about CSA particularly where there’s no doubt that the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are men. It might well be far more even with other forms of abuse (emotional/physical) but I think that’s only because there are far more women than men who are the primary caregivers. So I suspect that per capita men are still more likely to be the perpetrators with other forms of abuse as well.

Another male child sexual abuser. Vincent Chan.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/dec/03/paedophile-vincent-chan-admits-sexually-assaulting-toddlers-at-london-nursery

Ugh. I wouldn’t send my nursery-age child to a setting with male nursery staff who are ever alone with the children, or even in general tbh as it looks like this chap was brazen enough to carry out his disgusting acts regardless.

Not all men, but it’s almost always men (and when on the odd occasion it’s not men it’s women being coerced/encouraged by men).

Just revolting. Those poor little children and their parents.

Horrible. I was shocked the one in Surrey only got 10 years. He raped 3 year olds for goodness sake!

This was in my 'you commented' list. I said YES then, and I say it again today, with yet more horrific evidence. The statistical risk is off the scale. Statistically men should be banned from all work with non-verbal vulnerable children and adults. This is not equality or inclusion it is a safeguarding horror show.

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious: Not all men, but almost always men. Tiny proportion in fact, but massive in terms of safeguarding and risk.

The absolute horror of it. I’m not sure how we can argue the benefits of having men working in nurseries, outweigh the risks of this happening, to one single more child. It’s just devastating that anyone’s child has to experience this if it could be prevented.

Yes, it’s horrific. I absolutely agree that there should be a ban on male nursery workers.

I agree. This just cannot ever be allowed to happen again.

And the next time a child is abused by a woman?

people are so fixated on sexual abuse here that all other abuse seems to have been overlooked.

maybe it’s time to go back to the expectation that if people want children one of the parents is going to give up work and look after them. And ban childcare settings altogether. And schools. In fact children need to be raised in complete isolation.

Is this very different to the female nursery worker who abused children in Plymouth?

Sorry, you mean the one female nursery worker almost two decades ago? Compared to the 5 male nursery workers (men being 3% of the workforce) in the last two years?

Not really comparable 🤔