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

The Dallas Morning News ^ | June 3, 2003 | By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News

[MeekOneGOP]

Toddler dies after being left in hot van

06/03/2003

By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News

A 2-year-old left inside a hot daycare van in Lancaster for more than two hours on Friday died early Tuesday.

The boy, whose name has not yet been released, had been in critical condition at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. He died about 12:15 a.m., hospital officials said.

Police said the boy and nine other children had returned from a field trip to a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant about 1 p.m. Workers realized that he was still strapped in a car seat inside the van about 3:25 p.m. and called 911. Temperatures topped 100 degrees Friday afternoon.

Representatives for the Little Dudes and Daisies Daycare and Learning Center on North Dallas Avenue could not be reached for comment.

Lancaster police have scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon to announce criminal charges to be filed in the case.

The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, the agency that regulates daycares, is also investigating.

“[Police] are evaluating the incident,” said Stacey Ladd, a department spokeswoman. “Mostly, we’re evaluating the safety of the children. Obviously, we’re working closely together.”

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/060303dnmettotdies.804ccad3.html

[glory]

Ditto on that too. I had thought I had done this one time and as I looked quickly through my purse and pocket for my keys(they had fallen on the ground) my mind was thinking about how I could bust the windows out. We used to live in Phoenix, so there was no time for locksmiths or what have you when your baby is in the car. Fortunately, the few times I have locked my keys in the car, my children were out already and we got a coke while we waited for the locksmith to arrive. Now, times aren't as crazy as then. WE have preschool and kinder age and they will unlock the doors if requested.

[Corin Stormhands]

Now you're just babbling.

Unless of course you're advocating that women who will have to put a child in daycare should have an abortion.

Your logic escapes me.

[Wneighbor]

The mother of this child certainly deserves a big share of the blame - the child was HER responsibility, but the odds are she was too obsessed with the pursuit of material things to even consider staying home and raising the child she brought into this world.

Thanks a whole heck of a lot there Buddy. I've been a single parent for most of my life thanks to the guy that promised to take care of things and keep a job so that I could be home to take care of my kids. He was having so much fun down the road at the business he started that he walked out on me for a hussy that liked to come in the shop and hang all over him, left me with the kids to raise and in the last 14 years I got 2 child support payments, the second of which bounced. So, after being a stay at home mom my youngest was sent to daycare for the first time at age 3. I am sure I have cried more than she ever did for having to go to daycare and at the same time I've had to deal with people criticising me because in the midst of going to work and supporting my kids I've become something of a success story in the work that I do to support them. When I began hearing this story on the radio Sunday all those horrors of leaving the kids hit me again. And then this morning when the radio news came on that death was the item that woke me up. You ought to remember that you don't always know what mother's who put their kids in daycare have had to go through to land them in the spot where they're taking those kids to a daycare. A whole lot of time it has a lot to do with dead-beat men who don't stand up to taking care of their families!

[RMDupree]

I am dumbfounded by anyone who could possibly blame the mom in this scenario!!!!

I am fortunate enough to have my mom care for my kids while I pay the bills. I am going to ignore the "holier than thou" crew on this thread.

As Hair would say....PFFFFFT!!!!!!

[RomanCatholicProlifer]

Taxes, Schmaxes...........I do not understand these milquetoast, socalled "men" who cannot figure out how to support their family. If your educational and technical abilities are not up to par to support your family, you know what? get a second job, work over time, etc, etc, but do everything under the sun to keep your kids away from these miscreants making minimum wage at these so called day care centers......have you ever driven by one of these sad places around 5 pm, watching those poor kids waiting for their mothers?

It is heart wrenching.

[Conspiracy Guy]

If it had been summer you would have busted the window. You wouldn't have gone in the house and smoked crack with your boyfriend or watched your favorite soap. I do not believe you would have left him there for hours. We are responsible for our actions. The way we respond to adverse conditions separates a mistake from a catastrophy. I would never have entrusted the care of my babies to someone making minimum wage. As many times as daycare centers have done this, it is no longer permissible.

[Corin Stormhands]

CS: That statement is just plain rude and ignorant.

UTR: I stand by it.

CS: My work here is done.

[LizardQueen]

We decided that if we couldn't do it right (or at least what we have decided is right), we wouldn't do it at all. I had broached the subject of me working (I make about half again what he does) and him staying home but it was received with a snort.

A friend of my sister has that arrangement - the wife is very career-oriented and makes megabucks, while the husband is very mellow and non-ambitious, had a low-paying job and would rather be bird-watching ::lol::. He stays home with their daughter while she works, and it's worked out well for them.
The problem for him is isolation - a lot of the soccer moms think he's weird because he doesn't work, and he gets left out of the neighborhood mom-gatherings, which is too bad.

LQ

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

thank you, thank you, thank you ....

[Corin Stormhands]

'bout time y'all showed up!

[Wneighbor]

This is pretty unfair. As a single mom of two girls, I really struggle with the daycare issue. I would hope that if something happened to my child at daycare that someone wouldn't say that my selfishness caused her to die.

You keep it up girl. You are doing a good job. My youngest just graduated from high school last Saturday night. My oldest is married to a great guy and has 3 kids now too. People like to quote you statistics about kids growing up in single parent homes but I proved all the statistics wrong and YOU WILL TOO.

oh, and if you ever need a compassionate ear in the situation, you can freepmail me.

[glory]

I have to agree with you, but the fact is that all to many people put children in daycares for the pursuit of the dollar! Heck, in my community many "sahm" put their children in at least half day care from the time they are about 2. I know I'd feel at least a twinge of guilt if I was one of these "sahm" and I was out doing pilates or having coffee with the girls or, in the case of working mothers, climbing the corporate ladder while my child was baking at a daycare center and didn't even need to be there. Obviously the daycare provider is ultimately responsible, but I know if I were the parent and daycare was an OPTIONAL matter, I would certainly be second guessing my decision right about now.

[HamiltonJay]

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.

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 watch my mother struggle to raise us after her divorce, so I know first hand that not all women have a choice. However it cannot be ignored that far far far too many women do choose to work not because the income cannot meet the neccessities.

I listen to people all the time, couples who claim they can't afford to live off one paycheck. Yet, they have 2 vehicles, neither less than 3 years old, large screen TV's, she's a shopaholic and he has other expensive hobbies etc. Far too many don't work because they need to, they work because they want to. Sure it would be nice if my wife were out working and adding another 40 or 50k to our household bottom line or more, it would mean we wouldn't have to be driving around in a beat up old van with 120k miles on it, or that we could get the roof fixed without a second thought, or that we could take nice vacations to exotic places every year, or we could buy brand name instead of generics, and we would not have to worry about a bill being made.... but you know what, knowing that my child will never be subject to the puppyfarm daycare center is worth far more than 50k a year.

I know many women who don't work, and/or if their children are older work part time, because they put their children first. And frankly, no matter what anyone says, except in the cases where the mother is completely neglectful, or abusive, it is undeniable that their children are far better off for it.

BTW I don't think its just women who are guilty of this... far too many men get too wrapped up in their careers when they should be focusing on their family.... we definately as a whole have the live plan whacked! Raise your family first, then focus on your career! Believe me that unappreciated middle or upper management opportunity will still be there when your in your 40s or 50s, and by then you'll have enough seasoning to handle it with style.

[Corin Stormhands]

It is heart wrenching.

Indeed it is. It breaks my heart everytime I have to drop my son off at daycare.

I'm glad your world is perfect.

[annyokie]

Yes, I would have broken the window had it been summertime.

You are being way too harsh, though, IMHO. Many women HAVE to work. What kind of a marriage is it when the husband is gone 24/7 so mom can stay home? Isn't she in effect a single parent?

Boys and girls need Daddy in the picture, and for longer than suppertime.

[Wneighbor]

I do not understand how any parent with a modicum of common sense would ever consider sending their children to one of these disease infested daycare warehouses........

Would you prefer the mother and children to stay home and starve? Or live without electricity and water?

[glory]

And someone without an option would have no reason to second guess their decision. I know when I see things written about parents, it's agreed we are talking about folks where daycare is a chosen envirnoment for a child vs. parent care. We are not discussing parents who have no other option but to use daycare.

[RomanCatholicProlifer]

My world is far from perfect, but I make a conscience decision every morning that I will create a home life for my wife and 5 children that insulates them from the harsh reality of our capitalist economy. Nothing in life is easy, but I work my arse off, even at night to make sure their memories of home are happy, and not frantically being shuffled off to some daycare warehouse.

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

><> People like to quote you statistics about kids growing up in single parent homes but I proved all the statistics wrong and YOU WILL TOO. <><

I already have .. I can't tell you how my girls have just blossomed in the almost a year that I've been single. They are coming out of their shells, relaxed, happy, laughing, and outgoing, doing great in school. They will be just fine.

thanks for the encouragement..

[Wneighbor]

Amen. I had to put my youngest in daycare for a few months and it tore me up everyday to do so.

I sure do sympathize with you over that. I have told people for years that the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life was leave my todders at daycare. And you don't know me, but some of the Freepers around here do, I ain't have an easy life so saying that's hardest is saying a lot.