BOSTON (WHDH) - A mother is devastated, furious and demanding answers after her three-year-old son walked out of a daycare facility in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood before he was found roaming along a busy street last week.
Iesha Smith told 7News that she was horrified after learning her young son escaped through the front door of ABCD Headstart on Thursday.
“I just kind of screamed. I just cried,” she said. “I’ve been devastated all week. I told the school that he wasn’t coming back.”
Smith said it was just her son’s second day at the facility.
“I can’t even leave him here and know that my child is safe,” she said.
Officials admitted that the toddler was able to escape without anyone seeing him.
Two employees found the boy a short while later walking along Geneva Avenue, according to ABCD CEO John Drew.
“They ran out. One of them was faster than the other,” he said. “She was able to outrun the child, pick him up and bring him back to the classroom.”
The boy was not harmed during the ordeal.
Three teachers at the facility have since been suspended without pay, according to officials. All protocols are also under review.
Smith said she is not satisfied with the actions that were taken. She plans to sue ABCD and homeschool her son.
“I feel like they should pay me for my job loss, my time and suffering, my son’s education,” she said. “Everything that I have been through within the last week.”
ABCD, which operates 30 childcare centers in the Boston area for low-income residents, has offered Smith’s son a seat at a different location.
State and federal authorities have been notified of the incident.
An investigation is ongoing.
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