DALLAS - A woman arrived at her child's daycare center to find the building closed with her 14-month-old daughter locked inside alone, authorities said.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and Dallas police are investigating how the girl was left alone for nearly two hours Tuesday night. She was asleep in a high chair and was not injured, according to state officials.
"I was so upset," said the girl's mother, Ashley Hunter. "I was never going to put my child in day care. She had only been there three weeks."
Hunter said she couldn't get past the gate blocking the driveway at L&S Early Childhood Learning Academy and called police. Rescue workers broke the door to get the girl, according to a police report.
Spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said Family and Protective Services, which licenses child-care centers, has not determined whether it will take action against the center.
Depending on the agency's findings, sanctions might include temporarily closing the center, revoking its permit or excluding the responsible caregivers from working with children there, she said.
Shirley Ray, the center's owner, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The police report said the owners told police the last person left the facility at 6 p.m. and did not realize the child was still there.
Dallas police Sgt. Brenda Nichols said Wednesday that police hadn't decided whether to file criminal charges.
"It appears that it was just a communication breakdown in that nobody realized that that child was still there," Nichols said.
At a different daycare business that operated in the same building, an 8-month-old boy died in 2003 from heat exposure after being left in a vehicle. The state closed that center. Gonzales said the center has new owners and operates under a different name.
L&S has been cited for six violations since February 2006, including record-keeping violations, using prohibited bumper pads and comforters in infants' cribs, and employing a caregiver without CPR or first-aid training.
One parent said the center's owners gave a good explanation for Tuesday night's mishap.
"That was just a big misunderstanding," said Joe Thomas, whose 3-year-old daughter attends the center. "These are good people, and that was an honest mistake."
How can this happen? How can they not see a child still being inside the facility? Don't they check all rooms and tide up before turning off the lights? And is there no system in place f.e. parents have to sign out their kids before taking them home???? Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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That's just horrible! Also though, if it closed at 6pm, why did the mother show up so much later? At the daycare that I used if a parent was not there by the time the daycare closed, social services was called if it was a second offense.
Posts: 1808 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:One parent said the center's owners gave a good explanation for Tuesday night's mishap.
"That was just a big misunderstanding," said Joe Thomas, whose 3-year-old daughter attends the center. "These are good people, and that was an honest mistake."
I GUARANTEE you if that was the owners child and the situation was reversed he/she wouldn't be saying that so easily.
The outright nerve of some people.
Shut it down, shut it down now!
-------------------- 'Abdullah bin 'Umar said, "Allah's Apostle (صلى الله عليه و سلم) took hold of my shoulder and said, "Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveller." Posts: 2342 | From: Its not where I'm from but where Im going | Registered: Jul 2007
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How can they not see a child still being inside the facility? Don't they check all rooms and tide up before turning off the lights? And is there no system in place f.e. parents have to sign out their kids before taking them home???? ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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