A Florida daycare has issued a statement after a 2-year-old girl had to be rescued when she was left alone inside the facility after it closed.
According to CBS Miami, the girl's mother, Stephanie Martinez, went to pick her daughter up from the KinderCare Child Care Center in Plantation on Wednesday only to find “the building closed with lights turned off and all."
Martinez walked around the building and banged on doors and windows, until her daughter's face emerged from a pitch-black room.
Martinez called 911. The Plantation Fire Department arrived on scene and "forced entry without breaking the door. They just caused pry marks.”
The 2-year-old was removed from the building and was not in distress.
The police report states the last two people in the building were the facilities Assistant Director Nichole Burrillo and teacher Lucilena Viggiano.
Both left at 6:20 p.m. Martinez arrived 8 minutes later.
The business closes at 6:00 p.m. but stay opens for parents who regularly pick up kids late.
According to a KinderCare spokesperson, “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the children in our care. While we’re thankful the child was quickly found and was safe, this incident should not have happened. We take all concerns about children’s safety seriously and follow a specific protocol anytime an issue is raised. Part of that protocol includes notifying our agency partners, like state licensing and Child Protective Services, as we did in this case. We also placed the staff members involved on administrative leave while we, and our agency partners, look into the concern further.
As these investigations take place, we’ll also take immediate steps to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again. All of our teachers and staff will be retrained on proper child supervision. They’ll also receive additional training on childcare best practices as part of the curriculum we already had planned for all teachers and staff at our centers across the country for Professional Development Day on Monday.”