Ally Sweeney no longer has childcare for her daughter after the centre she attended was abruptly shut down by the regulator.
But for four-year-old Blake, Edge Early Learning Higgins already felt unsafe, the Canberra mum and tow truck driver tells The Canberra Times.
Ms Sweeney - who does not have the option to work from home - said she had already stopped sending Blake to the centre when it closed this week, after losing faith in its ability to look after her properly.
In one incident, Blake's hair was "cut off by another child with adult scissors".
"My poor daughter came home with a hacked fringe," Ms Sweeney said.
"It's still growing out ... I hadn't even cut her hair yet."
On another occasion, Blake tumbled from play equipment and smashed both her front teeth, which were so damaged they were both lost - one removed by a dentist and the other falling out.
For Ms Sweeney, this was "the final straw" after becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the management of the centre - formerly called Little Penguins and previously attended by her older son Nixon - since it was taken over by Edge, a national chain with more than 50 centres.
While previously it was a "beautiful" childcare centre, she said, it had become "a s---show".
"The minute Edge bought it, it's like the whole face of the daycare completely changed," she said.
It's understood that Edge, which was shut down by the regulator over its handling of an unrelated, serious health incident with another child, was given a chance to improve by the regulator before it was ultimately forced to close.
Children's Education and Care Assurance (CECA), the ACT government's childcare regulator, suspended Edge Early Learning Higgins from operating on Thursday.
"The decision was made based on evidence of immediate risk to the safety and health of children," a CECA spokesperson said.
"The service's compliance history, including recurring incidents and breaches of the national law, was a consideration in the decision to suspend the service."
Edge has sacked one educator and suspended a number of others pending its continuing investigation over the incident.
The chain's managing director, Chris Chambers, said the child had recovered from the medical incident.
"The safety of the children in our care is paramount," Mr Chambers said.
"We took strong action in relation to team members involved and brought in additional senior leadership to support the centre."
He said the operator was disappointed that the centre's closure meant that families would be left without care and was "sorry for the immediate disruption this creates".
Ms Sweeney said her stresses were augmented by the loss of her childcare subsidy after exceeding the maximum allowable number of yearly absences, having felt too worried to send Blake but not wanting to withdraw her from care.
"All I was trying to do was push her through to the end of the year, despite all the issues we'd had," she said.
"I didn't want her to have to leave all her little friends and group that she's been with the whole time.
"I was trying to work it out with them to keep her there, so that she was in a familiar environment ... only to have it all ripped out from underneath you after you've tried that hard is just so annoying."
Ms Sweeney has now told Blake that she would not be going to her graduation at the centre, where she was in the preschool room.
The Canberra Times understands that Edge provided some fee relief to Blake while negotiating with the family.
Decisions about childcare subsidy eligibility are made by Services Australia.
The play equipment that Blake injured herself on is believed to have been purchased from an approved provider, but Edge removed it after the accident.
