Is Your Child’s Daycare Facility Secure?

Imagine arriving at your daycare facility to pick up your child and your child is not there.  You would be frantic.  This is what happened to one mother in Jackson, Mississippi.  Claire Mayronne arrived at First Baptist Church in Jackson to pick up her 4-month old son only to discover he was not there. A daycare employee tried to give Mayronne the wrong child.  The daycare made a mistake and sent her child home with the grandmother of another family. Mayronne’s son was missing and daycare personnel had no idea that they had allowed her son to leave the facility with a stranger.  After twenty minutes of searching, Ms. Mayronne was reunited with her son.  Although this story has a happy ending, the experience was traumatic for the Mayronne family.

Following this incident, Mayronne filed a complaint with the Mississippi Daycare Licensing Board saying, “”I just wanted to know how something like that happens.”  According to the report, at least one employee has been fired and the daycare states it has improved security in the facility.

How Do You Know if Your Daycare Facility is Secure?

When you are looking for a daycare for your child, the security of the facility should be one of your top priorities.  Not only should the daycare protect the child while they are at the facility but the daycare must have procedures in place to prevent the incident like the one above.  Daycares with many children must have procedures in place that prevent child misidentification and the amount of staff should be sufficient to supervise the number of children attending the facility.

Here are some questions that you should ask daycare personnel about their security policies and procedures:

• How do you prevent unauthorized individuals from entering the daycare or coming onto the playground or other premises?
• What procedures are in place to ensure a child does not leave with the wrong person or an unauthorized person?
• What is the emergency plan in case of fire, intruders, tornados, and other emergencies?
• How does the daycare notify parents in the case of an emergency?
• Where does the daycare take children in the event of an evacuation?

Each daycare facility has its own security procedures. You should interview several daycares before you make a decision on the daycare facility for your child.  Some security measures you may want to look for include:

• Doors that are locked from the outside but allow for emergency exit (with an alarm) to prevent individuals from accessing the building.
• A front door with an alert system to notify staff when someone enters.
• A code that allows parents to enter the building but prevents others from entering.
• A system that identifies each child with each parent to prevent a child from leaving with the wrong parent (i.e. identification bracelets, ID numbers, etc.)
• Classrooms that are away from the main entrance to decrease the risk of unauthorized access to classrooms.
• Video monitors at all entrances and throughout the facility.

Atlanta Daycare Attorney

If your child is injured at a daycare, contact Council & Associates, LLC by calling
(404) 526-8857 or contact us now.  We are strong advocates of children and families in Atlanta and throughout Georgia.