A two-year-old girl gets locked inside a childcare center, which shocked her mom Stephanie Martinez, as she found her alone after the workers had left for the day when she went to pick her up.
Martinez arrived at KinderCare Learning Center north of Miami at 6:28 PM and saw the childcare center with no staff, locked and her child looking through a window at the front door, Inside Edition reported. The mom said she was late picking up her child for only 15 minutes.
Mom calls 911
A video that Martinez shared showed a dark room where her daughter was, and she could be heard telling the dispatcher that her daughter was crying.
The mom said that her daughter, Anastacia, managed to push a chair to the door to "stand on it, and call my name." According to Martinez, she could see her daughter, who is shorter than the door, as she had stood on the chair.
The 911 operator could not believe what she was hearing, as she asked if the child was inside all by herself, which Martinez confirmed, and added that her baby was crying. The operator also asked for the child's age and seemed surprised when the mom replied that she was only two years old.
Firefighters responded to the scene and were able to break down the door after about 20 minutes. The paramedics checked the girl and ruled her in good health. The mom said her child was "super traumatized."
KinderCare closes at 6 PM but usually stays open for parents who regularly pick their kids late. Police investigators said that the daycare worker responsible for checking out children left at around 6:20 PM and locked the doors.
The investigation is still ongoing, with the police noting that it is still unclear what led to the incident as daycare workers told them that they used a tablet to monitor all children.
Mom Mulls Filing a Suit
As of Friday, Martinez plans to file a lawsuit, as per her lawyer, Mark DiCowden. He said that the incident could have been avoided "if Kindercare did not abandon their responsibilities and the toddler." He added that nobody at Kindecare answered the phone in this emergency. The daycare also failed to apologize for their bad behavior and provide anything but a "bad excuse" for the unfortunate incident. According to Martinez, she did not receive a call from the daycare to pick her child up.
On the other hand, the daycare released a statement saying that while they are grateful that the child was immediately found, they also admitted that this incident should never have happened.
KinderCare said that they take all concerns about children's safety seriously and comply with following a specific protocol anytime an issue is raised. The childcare protocol involved notifying agency partners like state licensing and Child Protective Services, which the statement said they already did.
The daycare also admitted to putting the staff members involved on administrative leave while the KinderCare officials and agency partners like the Broward Sheriff's Office Child Protection Services and Plantation Police investigate the matter.
