Florida Mother Suing Daycare After 2-Year-Old Child Left Alone at Locked School

A Florida mother who picked up her 2-year-old daughter at daycare and discovered that she was the only child and there were no adults present is taking action.

According to Local 10, Stephanie Martinez is suing Plantation KinderCare in Plantation, Florida, claiming the company never called her to pick up her daughter as the staff left for the night.

When Martinez picked up her daughter, Anastasia Brathwaite, on Feb. 18, Plantation KinderCare was already closed. The lights were turned off and no staff members were present.

“I started knocking,” Martinez said. “I banged on every window. I couldn’t see anything because everything was dark. And finally, I heard her and she popped on the little window, on the little door, and I lost it.”

The Plantation Police released a report describing that the school’s assistant director, Nichole Burrillo, and Lucilena Viggiano, a teacher, closed and locked the school doors, and proceeded to leave the facility at 6:20 p.m. Police stated that they were called at 6:28 p.m. to the daycare center.

According to the police incident report, Plantation Fire and Rescue freed the 2-year-old from the school at 6:51 p.m. by prying open the school doors.

An attorney for Martinez released a statement Friday:

“We are outraged that KinderCare endangered the life of a child by not observing any safety protocols that led to a two-year-old being abandoned and locked inside a darkened facility. Making the whole situation worse was that Ms. Martinez was forced in horror to witness her child in peril and it was not until law enforcement and the fire department were called that the toddler was then extricated through extreme measures.

“The entire event could’ve been avoided if KinderCare did not abandon their responsibilities and the toddler. What adds insult to injury is that nobody at KinderCare bothered to answer the phone in this emergency situation, they failed to apologize for their bad behavior, and they failed to provide anything but a bad excuse for what happened. We will be filing a lawsuit to provide justice through the court system and to ensure that nothing like this happens to another child.”