Parents able to view children on internet

By REBECCA WALSH education reporter

Anxious parents keen to know what their children are up to at childcare could soon be able to catch a glimpse of them on the internet.

A New Zealand company has set up a website to enable parents to view photos of their children at play.

The idea has already attracted the interest of childcare centres in Whangarei and Auckland, but has been greeted with caution by early childhood representatives, who say it raises issues of privacy and question whether it would be open to abuse.

The managing director of CAM Web Technologies, Justin Riley, himself a parent, said cameras would be set up in daycare centres and the photos made available online. Photos would be updated regularly and stay on the system for 24 hours.

Parents would have to obtain a log-in and password from the daycare centre to gain entry to the website. "The aim quite simply is to allow lots of working parents access to their children. Most daycare centres have open-door policies and welcome parents ... but practically for most parents they are not able to do that. They can't get away from work."

Mr Riley said the website would alleviate any concerns parents might have about what their children were doing at childcare. He was talking with three childcare centres keen to investigate the idea and hoped to have 50 signed up in the next year.

Mr Riley would not comment on the initial setup cost, but said parents might be charged a log-in fee of $20 to $30 a month.

Lin Smith, manager of Smith City Childcare in Whangarei, said parents were being surveyed on the idea.

The centre already operated video cameras throughout the day "to give parents extra peace of mind" and had planned to have an internet site.

Mrs Smith said feedback so far suggested that parents liked the idea, but were happy with the video cameras. They also questioned the possible cost.

Jenny Varney, convener of the early childhood national caucus of the NZ Educational Institute, said the site would provide only a snapshot with no context. She hoped the idea would not take off.

"I think it does suggest children are not safe unless we have this outside surveillance. If people really think that, we should be looking at that issue ... building up their relationship with the centre."

Mrs Varney said it was a good idea for parents to visit their children's centre where they could see them interacting with staff and other youngsters.

"Talking to staff [and] being familiar with a place are better options than looking at a snapshot."

She was also concerned the site could be open to abuse by paedophiles.

Childcare Association chief executive Rose Cole said the idea raised issues of privacy and she warned that the informed consent of all parents and staff would be needed. Even if consent was granted, the question remained about how the information would be used.

Mrs Cole said she would not like to see centres spending money on cameras at the expense of employing another staff member. "The accountability of centres to parents is good; transparency is good. But there are a whole lot of other issues to take into consideration before we would term this as a positive thing."

Mr Riley had no concerns about privacy issues. Parents would have to agree or a centre could send out a notice saying it would offer the service and give parents the option of withdrawing their children.