MORE than 60 Victorian childcare centres are on a secret watch list over fears youngsters could be at risk - but parents are not allowed to know which ones.
A Herald Sun investigation has found two pre-schools, 40 long day care, 12 after-hours care, and 10 family day care services are subject to extra monitoring over quality concerns.
Officials are also probing at least 11 "high priority" incidents that occurred at childcare centres in recent months.
Education Department officials say the law stops them from naming centres under investigation or subject to extra monitoring.
The Herald Sun used Freedom of Information laws to extract some details of almost 3000 incidents reported at childcare centres in the past 12 months.
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Cases include a girl injured by a TV cabinet falling on her head and two toddlers roaming unsupervised beside a major road.
There were also reports of a child witnessing a sexual assault in a disabled toilet, two unsupervised children raiding a fridge and swallowing antibiotics, and an infant falling off a change table.
There were multiple instances of children being fed food or drink to which they were allergic.
Mistreatment by staff prompted inquiries. A student carer was said to have pinched one youngster; another staffer was reported for grabbing a child by the hair.
Children discovered two syringes in a sandpit, and a hot-water system short-circuit spewed toxic smoke into a playroom, also prompting investigations.
The department has not launched prosecutions over any of the 2952 incidents logged since last March.
Despite promises of a crackdown on rogue childcare operators under national laws taking effect in January last year, just four have been punished.
The system covers more than 3700 Victorian education and care services, attended by about 400,000 children.
Education Department spokesman Liam Carter said regulators were acting in the best interests of children.
"Where accidents or incidents occur, the vast majority of services take direct and immediate action to rectify the problem. This includes contacting parents straight away," he said.
"We have a robust regulatory regime with the capacity to swiftly investigate incidents and take action when necessary. Services are subject to regular assessment and rating visits to ensure ... standards are upheld."
When the national laws were introduced, parents were promised details of childcare quality ratings checks would be online.
The Herald Sun understands formal assessment results for early childhood services have been delayed until at least May, because laws have not been proclaimed in some jurisdictions.
Checks of the MyChild website found it made no mention of enforcement actions against several Victorian operators, leaving parents in the dark.
The controversial new national quality control standards require centres to hire more and better-qualified staff.
Parents have complained some centres have increased fees to cover costs of the reforms, and operators have warned many centres, especially in remote or regional areas, can't find enough staff to meet the standards.
Childcare Minister Kate Ellis said parents will learn which centres are failing once legislation is passed.
"Once state governments pass the legislation in the next few months, it will be public information," Ms Ellis told Channel 9 today.
"Each centre's ratings, their assessment, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are will be on display in each and every childcare across Australia."
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