Two state agencies have launched an investigation after a 2-year-old girl was reportedly left in a Baltimore day care van for hours after a field trip Wednesday.
Both the city's Child Protective Services and the Office of Child Care, part of the Maryland State Department of Education, are investigating the incident, said Elyn Garrett Jones, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Resources.
While the other children got off the van at the Harford Road location of Fitness Fun & Games, one child lay down on a seat and fell asleep, according to a statement from the executive director.
"The staff did not follow up with an interior van check, which is routine," wrote the director, Meg McFadden, in the statement. "Fortunately, the air conditioning had been quite cool and the windows were partially open as the child slept."
The child was checked for medical concerns and released, according to the statement.
Jones said the incident was considered potential neglect, not abuse. Staff members are still working to confirm details about how the child was left on the van.
The two agencies will determine whether the child care center needs to take any corrective action, Jones said. State regulations require child care providers to provide proper supervision for children while on providing transportation.
The girl's family could not be reached for comment Friday.
Safety and supervision have been important for Fitness Fun & Games for its 19 years of operation, the executive director wrote. "We have analyzed every step of the problem to ensure that this could not happen again," McFadden said in the statement. "We are adding additional safety checks throughout the day, and especially on field trips, to achieve this goal."
"Of course, even an isolated incident, such as this, feels like a nightmare for parents and providers," she wrote. "Our staff, which cares deeply for the children, are terribly shaken and upset." And disciplinary action is in progress.
Nationwide, 18 children have died this year after being left in hot cars, said Janette E. Fennell, founder and president of KidsandCars.org, which advocates for child vehicle safety.
Every year, there's an average of 37 fatalities nationally, and a number of children are left with brain damage or other serious injuries, she said.
Symptoms such as drowsiness are precursors to hyperthermia, Fennell said.
Day care centers and others who work in pupil transportation are supposed to check multiple times to ensure that every child has been accounted for, she said.
"When this happened, somebody didn't do their job, and that makes it really tragic," she said.
Some people even install alarm systems that require a worker to walk through the van to disable it, which can add an additional level of assurance, Fennell said.
But parents and caregivers driving their personal vehicles can also leave children in cars by mistake. To prevent these problems, drivers should keep some items such as a purse or a briefcase in the back seat along with the infant or child to ensure that they go back there.
They can also ask child care services to call them if their child has not been dropped off at the expected time. Families can also place a stuffed toy in the front seat as a reminder when a child is in the back, Fennell suggested.
Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Tan contributed to this report.
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