A Montana mother was upset after she arrived at the daycare center taking care of her 6-month-old baby only to find it locked, with the lights off, and her baby alone inside.
The situation took place at the Kids “R” Us Childcare Center in Billings on Nov. 2.
Tanaya Merchen posted about what happened to her and her child on a local classifieds page on Facebook, warning other parents about the daycare.
“I mean, at this point, I would definitely recommend nobody ever take their child there,” Merchen told KULR.
The single mother said that she went to pick up her son Avery only to find the building locked.
“It was instant panic like I had no idea what the situation was I just knew I couldn’t get in there, and I knew nobody else picked my baby up, so I was very confused,” she said.
“I called the director lady–the one I communicate with the most. She answers and instantly she already knew. She told me, she said, ‘I am so mad. I am almost there.'”
The owner, Kim Redding, blamed what happened on a miscommunication among staff members. Staff thought all the children were gone.
“It was a horrible mistake, and we’re sorry, and we got a damage control method just to double check all of the staff to check out the sign-out sheets just to be careful, and it was a horrible mistake. I’m not downplaying it, it was a bad mistake,” Redding said.
Billings mother speaks out after baby left at daycare https://t.co/yucqkYIxcC pic.twitter.com/zleSJDdA1D
— Montana Right Now (@MTRightNow) November 6, 2018
Mother angry that baby left inside locked daycare with no adult supervision – Story | KTVU https://t.co/1r3dvWBto2
— Jeanne Lookabill (@atasteofcreole) November 9, 2018
But the daycare has a history of problems with attendance records, according to Child Care Licensing. The state cited the daycare in April 2014 for not having updated records and found that 18 children were in the care of an unapproved caregiver.
Another problem was found in June 2016, when a state inspection found phone numbers of parents and poison control weren’t listed correctly. And in June 2017, one caregiver was found taking care of 10 children, reported KTVU. Two caregivers are required if there are more than six children, reported KTVU.
In addition, Merchen said that the daycare director told her a different story, that a staff member had gotten sick and gone home early. The director claimed her son was only alone for about 30 minutes.
“I have not taken him back to that daycare since,” Merchen said.
