An update to our past families

We have sent a bulk email today in an attempt to reach all of our past families, using details that we had on file, but leave the same message here…….

It is with great sadness that we write to you today.

As you may know, one of our former employees has been charged with a large number of child abuse offences.

Whilst he was arrested last year and remanded in custody, a non-publication order was put in place by the AFP to undertake a victim identification process and contact impacted families.  The order prevented us from reaching out to past families and thereby identifying the man or his place of work, and we have tried to communicate discreetly as much as we could internally (without identifying the man) through our parent portal with current families, with the limited information that we have had.

The order was only discontinued in court late yesterday, meaning that we can now contact families and identify the alleged offender as Hamish Tait, who worked with us for many years and also conducted an outside business in nature play and vacation care, and consulted to other Child Care Centres.

We are shocked, saddened, disgusted, and sorry for the pain that has been caused to our extended community.

The AFP allege that offending occurred at Fit Kidz Box Hill, Putney, Rouse Hill and Warrawee, and importantly, that “impacted families have already been contacted by the AFP”.   The community announcement is here: https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/community-information/operation-moonbi

We don’t have any other information that is not in the public domain, except for the employment dates below from our records:

Fit Kidz Glenwood South from 9 April 2009 to 23 Dec 2009 (Casual)

Fit Kidz Turramurra from 24 Dec 2009 to 3 Mar 2010 (Casual)

Fit Kidz Dural South from 4 Mar 2010 (Casual) to 23 Jun 2010 then FT to 3 Aug 2011

Fit Kidz Dural North from 9 Jan 2012 (Full Time) to 1 Jan 2014 then casual to 19 Nov 2014

* Fit Kidz Putney from 26 Mar 2014 to 21 May 2014(Casual) then 2 Feb 2015 to 11 Jun 2019 (Full Time)

Fit Kidz Dural North from 28 Aug 2019 to 18 Dec 2019 (Casual)

* Fit Kidz Warrawee from 28 Nov 2019 (Casual) to 19 Dec 2019, then from 3 Feb 2020 (Part Time Preschool room) to 18 Dec 2020 (resigned)

* Fit Kidz Rouse Hill from 1 June 2021 (Casual) then 30 July 2021 (Part Time) to 15 Feb 2024 preschool rooms (moved to Box Hill)

Fit Kidz Vineyard 13th Jan 2023 (Incursion) and 1st Nov 2023 (Casual)

Fit Kidz Dural North 16-18th October 2023 and 22nd and 23rd January 2024 (covering annual leave for permanent staff)

Fit Kidz Vineyard 4th Dec 2024 (Incursion)

* Fit Kidz Box Hill from 19 Feb 2024 (Part Time) to 19 June 2025.

* Indicates location where offences are alleged to have occurred.

(Please note the offender never worked formal shifts at Glenwood Nth according to our records)

Nothing is more important to us, or more fundamental to the trust you place in us, than keeping children safe while they are in our care. The actions of this former employee represent a profound betrayal of that trust and have left us, and our entire team, heartbroken.

We understand that many of you are seeing information reported across news outlets and social media, and we are deeply sorry if this causes any further distress or reopens the hurt that our community have already endured.  Our hearts remain with every child, family, educator and member of our community who has been impacted by this unimaginable betrayal.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you need to, and please also make note of the support and information on the AFP page should you wish to access that.  We also have a couple of posts on our website which might provide some further context or information for families.

We are committed to supporting our community with transparency, compassion and care as we continue to navigate this together.