Childcare manager struck-off for sending 6-year-old on bus alone

A childcare manager has been struck-off after sending a six-year-old home alone because of not being on the register for that day’s after-school club.

Sarah Stewart, of Angus, Tayside, has now been removed from the register by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) which said she “failed to act with common sense”.

The youngster sat on a bus in the dark before getting off a mile later onto a main road and walking up a track to an empty home.

The six-year-old alerted an adult to the situation and was not hurt, but the SSSC warned that there was a risk the child could have been.

The SSSC found Stewart’s actions “breached the trust and confidence” of the child’s parents and placed their child “at risk of harm”.

“Her behaviour constituted carelessness and a failure in her duty of care,” according to the report into Stewart’s conduct.

“There was a risk of serious physical harm to the child in travelling alone on the school bus and being home alone.

“There was a risk of distress and emotional harm to both the child and the child’s parents.

“Given the date of the incident, it would have been dark when the child went home alone on the bus to an empty house after school.

“We understand that the child lived approximately one mile from the club in a rural property that would have involved the school bus dropping the child at the main road and the child walking up a track to get home.”

Stewart was found to have shown a “serious disregard” for the Code of Practice for Social Service Workers.

The SSSC report did add that Stewart was of previous good behaviour and had shown “regret” over the incident.

Councillor Margaret Thomson, who sits on both the children and learning committee and the social work and health committee at Angus Council, said: “It seems to defy common sense. If this is the case she deserves to be struck off. A six-year-old is too young to be travelling on their own on a bus without any sort of supervision or care.”