Chicago Day Care Center In Trouble? Police, Firefighters Bust In To Save Abandoned Toddler
A Chicago day care center is in trouble after allegedly leaving a 1-year-old toddler alone in the building after hours on Monday night. When the toddler’s father, Cornelius Jones, had stopped by the All Things are Possible for Kids building, he could hear his baby girl crying inside the dark facility.
When Cornelius Jones heard the cries coming from inside the Chicago day care center, he called the police. When authorities arrived and began attempting to break the door open, the police had to stand back for the firefighters. Jones explained how he felt as the whole situation developed before his eyes in a report by the Root.
“I was terrified. I was also hurt because I knew she was in there in the dark and I couldn’t get to her. I knocked on the door, rang the bell, called and emailed the day care, but got no responses.
“I was wondering, where is she, where is she? I hear her, but I couldn’t see her. And one of the police officers flashed a light to the left and flashed it back to the right, and that’s when I saw her crawling towards us screaming, and my heart just dropped.”
No caring parent wants to see their child in that situation, alone in the dark and abandoned by those they paid to take care of the child. When contacted and confronted by Journee’s mother, Quanesha Borum, the director of the Chicago day care center apologized. She added that personnel thought Journee was a doll.
Borum was equally upset with All Things are Possible with Kids.
“She told me that they thought Journee was a doll, but she’s not that little to be a doll, so it’s some excuses.”
The only way Cornelius believes that might have happened was that when he arrived to drop off his daughter, an employee at the Chicago day care center said everybody had been in the back. Allegedly, they hadn’t seen him drop her off.
He told Fox 32 in Chicago, “If anything, it should be shut down, I mean nobody leaves kids behind, toddlers. I don’t care how old they are, that’s dangerous.”
The Department of Children and Family Services is currently investigating the center. They have so far said that the All Things are Possible with Kids (a name which may now have a disturbing connotation for future clients) previously was not a problem agency. Everything that was wrong before this point was paperwork.
Since the problem with the Chicago day care center, Journee is said to be home and happy again. Her parents have no plans to leave Journee at any daycare again. However, her parents both think All Things are Possible with Kids should be shut down, according to ABC News.
Investigators are looking into how an infant was allegedly locked alone in a Chicago daycare https://t.co/aN2J5mDsBS pic.twitter.com/E6jnXQWg5l
— ABC News (@ABC) October 22, 2015
Borum said, “I honestly think they should shut it down, because if they can’t keep an eye on her, they can’t keep an eye on the other kids.”
Jones added, “Protocol is, when you let the kids go, you check the whole checklist down and make sure everyone’s checked out. Who was supposed to check that checklist?”
It is yet unknown what happened at the Chicago day care center, but they previously had an incident where a child had not been picked up. In that incident, an employee brought the child home with them.
What would you do if you found your child alone and locked inside a daycare center at night?
[Image via WBLS]
