Mum reveals gut-wrenching call from daycare centre that sent her into 'panic attack'
A Gold Coast childcare worker has been suspended after a baby was reportedly locked in a bus on a 30 degree day, for more than an hour.
The 16-month-old showed severe signs of dehydration when her distraught mother arrived to take her to the hospital herself, after the Parkwood daycare centre failed to seek medical advice, she claimed.
Lisa Easton told the Gold Coast Bulletin she had only been at work a few hours when she received the heart-stopping phone call from a childcare worker telling her: “I have done something terrible.”
“I got a call from the centre, telling me that my daughter had been forgotten about, in a hot bus on a day over 30C,” she said.
Ms Easton said suffered a “complete panic attack” after receiving the gut-wrenching phonecall, and raced to the Goodstart Early Learning Centre on Tuesday morning.
She arrived to find her daughter, Violet, had been placed in a high chair looking “spaced out”, and given a sandwich instead of contacting emergency services.
According to her mother, the little girl showed severe signs of dehydration.
A childcare worker told Ms Easton that another staff member heard Violet crying, alone on the locked bus, when they realised the fateful mistake.
She immediately withdrew Violet from the centre and had to quit her new job because the mother said the incident left the pair traumatised, with Violet refusing to leave her mum’s sight.
Despite the dramatic oversight, Ms Easton received a bill for the day of the incident.
“It could have been a few minutes from my baby dying that day,” she said.
Goodstart Early Learning Queensland state manager Lesley Jones told the Bulletin the staff member has been suspended and the company was investigating.
“We are deeply concerned that this has occurred and we find it totally unacceptable,” Ms Jones said.
“The safety and wellbeing of children is always our priority.
“We are co-operating with the relevant authorities, providing support to the family, and undertaking a comprehensive internal investigation to determine what happened and ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Ms Easton said she has lodged complaints with various departments and would consider taking legal action.
“I think it will be a long road until I gain enough trust to let her be taken into someone else's care,” she said.
