Child left in stifling day-care center van

Dallas Morning News ^ | May 31, 2003 | By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

[MeekOneGOP]

Child left in stifling day-care center van

05/31/2003

By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

LANCASTER - A toddler was rushed to a hospital after he was found unconscious in a hot van at a day-care center here Friday afternoon

Officials estimated the 2-year-old had been left unattended in the vehicle for about 2 1/2 hours after he had returned with nine other children from a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, authorities said.

After the group arrived at the Little Dudes and Daisies Daycare and Learning Center on North Dallas Avenue about 1 p.m., he was left in the vehicle until an employee realized that he was missing. Lancaster police and fire rescue were called about 3:25 p.m.

The child was taken to Medical Center at Lancaster and was transferred to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. His condition wasn’t released, but his temperature was reportedly 108 degrees when he was taken to the hospital.

Representatives for the day-care center could not be reached for comment.

High temperatures in Dallas hit the 100-degree mark about 3 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.

A child in a closed car can succumb to heat within five minutes, according to a representative of Kids ’n Cars, a safety advocacy group. Four Dallas-Fort Worth area children died in closed cars in the summer of 2001.

Damian McDonald picked his daughter up at the day-care center about 6 p.m. and learned from bystanders and reporters what had happened.

“This is a good day care. I know the owner,” he said. “My daughter is 3 years old; I’ve taken her here for about two years. I’m shocked to hear that something like this happened here because they’re usually so careful.”

He said he wasn’t sure whether he would drop her off at the center Monday, and he added that no one from the center told him about the incident when he had gone inside to get his daughter.

About 5:50 p.m., five or six women, presumably employees, streamed outside of the daycare and wordlessly locked the front door. Some of them were accompanied by small children that left with them.

A steady stream of traffic drove past the center as radio and television stations broadcast the report.

Teresa Taylor, whose 2-year-old grandson was to start going to the day care Monday, drove up shortly after the doors were locked.

“My grandson was enrolled here; he was going to start Monday,” she said. “He is not coming here now - no way. If you can’t notice a kid missing, they might not have found my kid.”

Staff writer Rae DeShong contributed to this report.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/053103dnmetfirst100.6e2a3f82.html

[MeekOneGOP]

It just totally baffles me how someone (even a daycare employee) can leave a kid in a vehicle here in this stifling heat.

[netmilsmom]

I have worked Daycare. They probably did a headcount and counted another child twice.
And no one understands why my children would NEVER go to daycare!! There was a woman on another thread that stated that she would rather have a child in daycare than wait and be financially sound enough to stay at home with that child. Well this is why.

In our state it's a 6:1 ratio for 2 & 3 year olds. Augghhh!

[MeekOneGOP]

In our state it's a 6:1 ratio for 2 & 3 year olds. Augghhh!

Wow. That's a LOT of 'pitter-patter of little feet.'

[texaslil]

head Count? Even a mother cat is smarter. she can't count, but when she moves her kittens, she goes back until there are none left in the old place. There is no excuse for this unless those employees are dumber than a cat. Wouldn't be a bit surprised. Maybe the key word here is not cat, but "mother."

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Everytime I hear a story about a tragedy in a daycare, I look at my toddler, and my humble home with few extras, and thank God that I decided to stay at home. Yes, I could earn a living, and we could have more stuff... but it cannot compare to the wellbeing of my child.

[LTCJ]

In our state it's a 6:1 ratio for 2 & 3 year olds. Augghhh!

My wife taught preschoolers this age and the ratio was 7.5-1. Despite her love of the kids, and the pleas of the school and the parents alike, she is not going back next year for exactly that reason.

She can't pick up her last check until she completes an exit interview. No need to guess at topic #1. And yes, it's "for the children."

[HamiltonJay]

Riddle me this working moms of the world!!!! What warped feminist nonsense must you be swallowing that you believe your child is better cared for by a minimum wage teenager than by you?!?!

I know some women have no choice but to work, but there are far far too many who work by CHOICE, and frankly its sickening IMHO.

[MeekOneGOP]

Toddler dies after being left in hot van -
'criminal charges to be filed' against Daycare Center

[maxwellp]

"....and we could have more stuff". You are so right! We have lost so much because of "stuff". What is "stuff"? A great house, a fancy car, a swimming pool, etc., etc. Barbra Streisand has much "stuff" and I recently read where her son has AIDS or is a drug addict - can't remember which.
We never had much of "stuff", but we have enough to keep us clean, eat well and from time to time some luxuries. And we have something the "stuff" people don't have - values and principles - and I'd like to think we have more than the "stuff" folks.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Did you hear George Carlin talk about "stuff"?

I think it was him... but the story goes something like this... really paraphrasing here!

First you leave home, and all of your stuff fits in the trunk of your car, you go off into the world to get your first real job.
You get your first apartment, and boy, does it look sparse. So, you start to fill it with a lamp, a bed, a couch, a television, a table, etc.
Well, time goes by, and you are making an okay living, and you decide you like plants, and tropical fish, or whatever else, and you really start to fill up your apartment.
Lo and behold, you are running out of room! So, you need a new place to live. Having made great advances in your employment, you can afford to move.
You buy a house. It looks a little sparse, so you have to fill up the extra guest room, and the dining room, which you never had before, and you fill it up with stuff.
Time goes by, and it starts to look a little crowded...

Moral of the story... do we have the house to keep our stuff? Or do we have the stuff, so that we need a bigger house? DO WE OWN THE STUFF OR DOES THE STUFF OWN US?

[Xenalyte]

I would sooner be shot than leave a child of mine at a place called "Little Dudes and Daisies."

[MeekOneGOP]