Call Me Stupid But... Fuck

Parents dropped their children at childcare and went to work.

An ordinary morning. A goodbye kiss. A little bag packed with spare clothes. They were entitled to expect their children would be safe but... 

Call me stupid, but I don't think I could trust any male looking after kids. That probably stems from the fact that I was abused as a kid; and my father was the Chief of Police!

Ashley Paul Griffith betrayed the trust given to him on a scale that is almost impossible to comprehend. He is already serving life imprisonment, with a 27-year non-parole period, for offences against 69 girls. He has now been transferred to NSW to face another 202 charges. Those new allegations remain to be determined in court.

Sixty-nine children in the case already dealt with. Every one of them a person. Every one belonging to a family whose ordinary life was torn apart.

And this fucking predator worked in childcare.

There is something particularly sickening about someone exploiting a job built around protection to gain access to children. Parents entrusted him with the people they loved most. He used that trust against them.

I keep thinking about those parents. The conversations they must replay. The mornings they remember. The questions they ask themselves, even though the responsibility belongs entirely to the man who committed the abuse. In reality, I never had any of that. I kept silent until my Dad died, mainly so he couldn't go around there and kill him.

Griffith’s existing sentence does not make the NSW proceedings an unnecessary extra. Each allegation deserves proper examination. Families deserve answers about their own children. 

And while the headlines follow his prison transfer, I hope the children and families receive something considerably more useful than another burst of public outrage.

Properly funded support. Consistent communication. Privacy. 

Help that remains available after the cameras leave.

We can all call him a monster. His proven crimes warrant every ounce of disgust. But disgust is easy. The harder obligation is making children safer - and staying beside those he harmed for as long as they need us.