Child, 3, Left Alone At Wallingford Day Care Facility: Police

WALLINGFORD, CT — Two parents were outraged when they found their 3-year-old daughter left alone in a bathroom waiting for help at a Wallingford day care facility with no employees to be found in the building.

Wallingford Police received a call from the child’s father, Timothy McWade, at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 14 reporting that he was at the YMCA’s Learning Community located on the Choate Rosemary Hall campus, and his daughter was left in the building unattended in the bathroom, according to Lt. Cheryl Bradley. McWade told police that all the workers had left.

Responding officers found that the child and her mother were sitting inside their vehicle.

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McWade told police that he arrived at the day care to pick up his daughter at about 6 p.m. and noticed that there were no employees inside the building but the lights were on.

He looked inside the building and saw his daughter’s coat and lunch bag were still there, according to Bradley.

McWade proceeded to contact his ex-wife and obtain the code for the front door so he could go inside. Once inside, he located his daughter in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet waiting for help, according to Bradley.

The child’s mother, Bernadette Sorbo, told NBC Connecticut that they found their daughter covered in her own feces with no one around to help her. An emotional Sorbo said that her daughter was very upset, but after cleaning her up, she was excited to show them her cubby because of the Valentine’s Day gifts she received.

Sorbo also told NBC that she doesn’t understand how a day care could just up and leave a child behind, adding that her daughter has been having night terrors over the incident.

“The Police Department conducted an investigation and spoke with those involved,” Bradley said in a press release. “The investigation concluded that there was a breakdown of internal procedures, and the child was not intentionally left behind. While the situation is one of an alarming nature, it does not rise to the level of criminal conduct.”

Bradley also said that the Department of Children and Families, along with the Office of Early Childhood which oversees daycare licensing, is conducting an investigation.

For more on NBC Connecticut’s interview with Sorbo, click here.

Image via Shutterstock

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