Florida mother arrives late to daycare to find daughter locked inside alone in the dark

[Demovictory9]

[LisaM]

1. That's terrible.

I have worked at a daycare. Parents coming late (as this mother did) is a huge frustration, but of course I always stuck around with the kid until the late parent arrived and, most importantly, didn't let the child see the frustration I was feeling. I have a feeling that they mistakenly didn't realize the child was still there, but that's no excuse. Checking them out on a tablet seems as if it could lead to a mistake, too, if they got accidentally checked out. The worker probably depended on the tablet, not her own eyes.

[Sherman A1]

2. When I worked retail grocery and was the one locking up the store

We had to physically walk the store and check behind every interior door along with every storage space. There was no leaving anything to chance.

[PatrickforB]

3. While this is a terrible thing to happen, our childcare industry is beset with bad policy.

Companies don't really want to subsidize childcare for their employees because they are afraid of legal liability.

Republicans in government fight tooth and nail against increasing childcare subsidies to help young families.

The result is a business model that passes as much of the cost of childcare as possible to those most ill equipped to pay. This inability to charge more makes it impossible for childcare centers to pay much more than minimum wage, which is not a living wage. And, of course, no benefits.

Consider: childcare for an infant can cost upwards of $1,000 per month. Or more, depending on the market. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of infant care in Colorado is $15,325, or $1,277 per month — the eighth-highest in the U.S. among the fifty states and Washington, D.C., where the Institute is based.

In lower wage earning families, this cost essentially makes it impossible for both partners to work.

In the face of this, we must ask the policy question of whether shareholder profits are more important than the fundamental need of workers in any industry for a living wage. Our failure to use tax monies to subsidize childcare also essentially creates a scarcer labor market, which adversely affects our competitiveness in a global market where we already lose 300,000 jobs a year to offshore outsourcing.

[Demovictory9]

11. Agreed.childcare is super pricey plus a low paid female career

[alphafemale]

4. Some parents just will abandon the child in day care every day hours late

If they can get away with it.

Some places have to resort to calling CPS if a parent is late past the time the centers closing time.

I don't know how long an underpaid child care worker is supposed to wait watching a child while not being paid at all when they want to be home.

CPS should have been called. This should not have happened.

And what do you do if the parent shows up hours late and visibly under the influence?

[Demsrule86]

7. It was 15 minutes and I read that they closed early due to lack of staff in an earlier post...either

way you can't lock a kid in daycare and go home either you charge the mothers and fathers beaucoup bucks for being late or you call child services...you can not leave a child. And things do happen accidents, weather etc. This is ridiculously stupid behavior on the part of the Daycare.

[Ziggysmom]

5. If you are going to be late picking up your child, don't you care enough to call the daycare

facility before closing time? Bad actions on both sides. Poor kid.

[Demsrule86]

8. The parents actions are not even close to leaving a child unattended and leaving the building...

and as I said before, I read somewhere that the center closed early due to staff shortages.

[Demsrule86]

9. The parents actions are not even close to leaving a child unattended and leaving the building...

and as I said before, I read somewhere that the center closed early due to staff shortages.

[secondwind]

10. In my day (I'm 75), they would take the child home and

let the parent know.

Or…. someone volunteered to stay an extra half hour or so. This is UNBELIEVABLE!!!

[LisaM]

13. You can't just do that now. You need a car seat

And they'd probably ding you for kidnapping.

I still think they must have accidentally checked her out on their iPad, which is a stupid way to do it. It would be too easy for someone to just look at the tablet and not physically check the facilities to make sure no one was left.

I agree the mother should have called. In my experience, parents push the envelope picking up their kids because they know that (at least almost always) the workers are trapped there with the kid until the parent arrive. It's not like getting to the drycleaners or the post office too late.

[Hortensis]

12. So, okay, it was a completely unacceptable mistake. The little one was alone

Last edited Mon Feb 21, 2022, 04:09 PM - Edit history (1)

for just a few minutes, but of course that was a few minutes too long.

The mother's histrionics may be normal for her, but I got the strong feeling she was speaking for a lawsuit, or mostly likely just a quick buyoff, including her noise about being traumatized.

In her place, I would have broken a nearby window to get my child. I'm very sure of that, btw, as I have done it), informed the daycare about what happened, and taken my child home.

The next day I'd handle the daycare and decide what, if any, action I needed to take, which could have ranged from nothing to trying to hound them into prison depending on what I found out. (Who knows? Maybe investigation would turn up the bodies of Hillary's victims.)

Seriously, I just wonder how often these minor incidents happen and are handled competently and responsibly as they should be within the community or circles who should know about them. The vast majority, but what kind of numbers are we talking about? The child who falls asleep in the toy closet and isn't missed until the next head count after lunch? How many millions a year?

[Beaverhausen]

14. Alone for at least an hour, not a few minutes.