When parents picked up their 11-month-old daughter from Les Hirondelles & Les Arlequins kindergarten in Saint-Josse, a municipality in Brussels, Belgium, on November 29, 2023, during normal opening hours, they found the door closed. . In a panic, they called the police, who in turn contacted the director of the facility, reports the information site Sud Info.
The daycare center was closed early
The head of the daycare center called the two child care workers who were responsible for closing the facility. It appears that they decided to “leave the premises earlier than planned”, probably because they thought all the children had left. But there was still a baby inside, that of the parents who had raised the alarm. One of the two child care workers returned to the scene to open the door and allow the family to pick up their child.
The baby was left alone for an hour
By the time the little girl was able to find her parents, she had been alone for “about an hour.” She slept and, above all, “sound and sound.” Following this affair, the two teachers, one of whom has more than 10 years of experience at this daycare center, were punished with a warning. The parents decided to no longer have their baby cared for at this facility and filed a complaint. The case was handed over to the Brussels public prosecutor's office.
Similar cases have already occurred in France, in particular on June 16, 2023 in the municipal nursery of La Celle-Saint-Cloud (Yvelines). Ali, 1, had spent about two hours in the empty facility, which had previously been closed by a child care worker because she thought all the children had gone home.
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