Custodian Finds Baby Left Behind at Wichita Falls Day Care After Closing, Police Investigating
Wichita Falls police are investigating why a baby was left behind in a crib by staff at the Child Care Inc. day care inside the Martin Luther King center after closing last night.
On Wednesday (4/12) at around 6pm, a custodial worker at the MLK Center on Smith Street found an infant in a crib inside an empty nursery after the center had already closed for the night, KFDX reports.
The mother of the baby said the infant's father went to pick up the child earlier that day around 5pm, but was told the baby had already been picked up. The father then left to get in touch with other family members to find the baby.
The custodian who found the child told police he was in the process of contacting the day care staff right as the family of the baby showed back up and started banging on the door.
According to police, the sign-out log at the day care does not show the child ever being checked out.
Child Care Inc. has since released a statement about the incident:
Wednesday evening, April 12th, an incident occurred where a child was inadvertently left after closing at the Martin Luther King Center, one of four child care centers operated by Child Care Inc. a non-profit organization. We are grateful that the child is fine and with her family.
We have made the appropriate incident report to licensing and will cooperate fully with any investigation.
We have also started an internal investigation to determine how this incident happened and what actions need to be taken to ensure it never happens again. The employees involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave pending a full investigation by all appropriate parties. Our agency considers this a very serious matter and corrective action will be taken on any investigative findings.
Child Care Inc. has served the community by providing safe and appropriate child care for 99 years. We are committed to our families and their children and we will ensure that their trust in our agency is well founded.
Licensing questions for the agency can be answered by calling the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services at 940-235-1995.
It would be speculative and therefore premature to field questions until the investigations are completed. Our contact person on this matter is Gregory A. Ross, Treasurer, at 940-692-7800, or Jeanmarie Baer, President, at 940-723-4323. Thank you.
Gregory A. Ross, Treasurer
on behalf of the Board of Directors
Child Care Inc.