I think the lesson to be learned, first, is to pick up your child on time or call if you will be late.  There are things you have to trust about your daycare...but there are other things that are in your control.

Here's how I know this isn't likely to happen at my child's day care.  Each classroom has a little spiral notebook in the control of the main teacher at all times.  In the notbook the teacher writes the names of all the children the classoom is responsible for at that moment...so if a child comes in the room, her name is immediately written down, if she leaves, her name is scratched off.  If they go outside, the notebook comes with.  The number of names in the notebook should always correspond to the number of kids in the room.  As long as there is at least one name in the book, the classroom must have at least one teacher in it.  If there was an emergency, the notebook would be useful to responders in identifying kids and verifying all have been helped.  

It's good to ask potential day care providers if they have this system or a similar one.  A system is also needed if the center provides transportation, to ensure no children are left behind on the bus.  

This is just sad.  

Correction (I think): the article said "a mom" was going to continue to use the daycare, not "the mom". I think the reporter was interviewing another parent, and not the parent of the baby in question.

MDD

And yet if they'd known the kid was there past closing, they'd probably have charged Mom/Dad $5 a minute for lateness and called the police after 15. I can't decide if I hate daycares, phone companies, or banks worse.

Follow-up: I went to the original reporter's website (Dallas Morning News website) and got a more complete report. And yes, the "it's the only option I have" comment was from another parent.

The article is currently the top article on the website. Here's the URL (but no guarantee that it will make it to this blog comment section unscathed):

www.dallasnews.com/.../101107dnmetdaycare.2daea8f.html

It sounds like simple error that was statistically going to happen *somewhere* *sometime*. I'm concerned that it happened at *this* care facility, given its past. Although that may be why this is a news story: had it happened at another facility without the tragic history, this might not have been a "story".

MDD

This is why I will always choose a home daycare over a center. My boy has been with out DCP since week three and she truly loves him like her own and would never forget him. And that kind of love you cannot get at a center with so many people.

MailDeadDrop:  thanks for submitting the story to flesh things out a bit.  I looked around a bit last night but only found what I linked to plus some less informative articles.

Yes, statistically, this could happen anywhere, anytime, though of course it's the exception rather than the norm.  it's ALWAYS good to ensure proper communication between parent and center, but at the same time there should be some safeguards within the daycare itself to prevent such a thing.  I imagine that smaller daycare facilities around the country are likely looking a little harder at this issue now, which will be a good thing.  If this had ended in tragedy it would be a different, though, and likely would affect more parents and the choices that they make.

I'm sorry, but I don't think this could happen anywhere or anytime.  It is unforgivable and the caregivers responsible should be arrested.

How incredibly frightening. I can't even imagine how upset I would be if this happened to me. I'm happy the child was okay.

I just read the article about the incident (from the link posted by MailDeadDrop). I was surprised at how understanding some of the other parents (whose children go there) were. They were told it was a misunderstanding. Wow. That is one HUGE misunderstanding. The day care center owners must be some great spin doctors because what happened is truly irresponsible and there is absolutely no excuse for it. I don't see how another parent could be so understanding. I realize that they may have no other choice but to continue to use that day care, but to be that understanding is beyond me.

"I'm OK with it," "They're some nice people."

"These are good people, and that was an honest mistake."

She was sitting in a high chair! How can you miss that? Ridiculous and sad.

You folks who are aghast at how such a thing could be possible forget you live in a world where such things are possible.  Babies die in hot cars.  Toddlers drown in buckets.  People get distracted, you included.  You act as if the Day Care service did this maliciously and "should be arrested".  Sure, their process needs to be checked, but it's paranoia like this that leads to irrational knee-jerk reactions that only lead to more suffering.

It's wishful thinking that nothing bad should ever happen, ever.  It's paranoid thinking like this that has gotten my Early Childhood Education Center Director friend in trouble when a black widow spider was discovered by the kids.  She bottled it tightly and used it to educate the kids, who now recognize spiders, eschew them and report them proactively.  Lesson learned.  Bravo.

But certain parents freaked out about potentially exposing their kids to the dangerous spider and got her in trouble with the board.  (should a kid break into the office, knock the jar off the desk and break it, and, unnoticed and unshaken, wade through the glass shards to chase the fleeing spider down and scoop it up, AND get bitten)

Now I ask you, who's more likely to avoid being bitten by a spider; the kids who got to learn about staying away from spiders displayed in glass jugs, or the kids of paranoid parents who will be learning about spider bites first hand by picking them up because they've never seen one before?

Paranoia serves only to spread fear, not educate.  The staff's policy that broke down and the parent who's ultimately responsible are lessons to waiting to be learned, and going on a witchhunt and sending people to jail is an immature reaction that helps no one.

That about sums up the week here at the SD. You know you've had the best. week. ever. when you take on all those ridiculous, stupid parents who dress their kids like door-to-door baby sluts and then, to top it all off, you find the most delicious

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