Toddler Left In Park By Daycare Workers

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The owner of an Ohio daycare center admits that her workers left a 3-year-old boy in a park during a field trip and the toddler’s mother is now speaking out.

The boy was left in Swan Creek Metro Park off of Airport highway on Friday.”I went outside and I just fell. I couldn’t breathe,” said the mother Christien Simpson.

The mother says that she was an emotional wreck after daycare workers at Kidz Are Us on couldn’t find her 3-year-old son Antonio Dennis. She checked her son’s sign out list but saw nobody signed him out.

“A worker asked one of the kids. Did you go somewhere today? The little girl said we went to the park. When I looked up the administrator was pulling out the parking lot. I kept calling the owner and she wasn’t answering the phone. So I grabbed the daycare phone and I was calling her on both phones and she wouldn’t answer,” said Simpson.

The toddler’s Mom says the daycare left her son at Swan Creek Metro Park while on a field trip and according to a police report a woman stayed with the boy for two hours before calling 9-1-1.

A park ranger and Toledo police were discussing calling children services when the daycare workers Marcrehia Haiper and Jamie Cleveland arrived looking for the toddler.

They claimed that they took a head count prior to leaving the park, however, it was confusing due to the kids getting on and off of the bus. Staff told authorities after returning to the daycare center they took a head count and came up short one child so they returned to the park looking for the missing boy.

The boy’s mother says that they had no clue they left the 3-year-old in the park until she came to pick him up. The Mother said the toddler had no means of identification on him – no name tag, no school shirt.

Kidz Are Us Daycare Center said in a written statement:

“On behalf of Kidz Are Us, it is our highest concern that safety and high-quality childcare is our number one priority. unfortunately, we acknowledge and regret this heartbreaking event has taken place. as we assure you, the management team is reviewing company policies and procedures related to field trip protocol to prevent this kind of situation in the future. Equally important, a performance improvement plan are (sic) implemented and requires all staff to complete a (sic) Supervision, Guidance, and Management training related to transportation. We will continue to value and maintain parental trust in the care of their children moving forward.”

The mother intends to file charges against the daycare workers and wants the place shut down.

“You didn’t count heads at the park. So you didn’t look at the child to match it to the names on the list. If you had a list of who you took. You didn’t check when you got back. I just don’t understand how can you not even know. They were about to leave. If I would have come five minutes later the two workers that were there didn’t even know they went to the park,” said Simpson.

Simpson says the incident has been reported to the state to investigate.