Mother furious after toddlers escape daycare onto busy road
A young mother is demanding answers after her toddler managed to flee his daycare centre and walk onto a busy road.
Adelaide mum Makayla Lill dropped her son Wyatt off at the Goodstart Early Learning Blair Athol on Monday, when only hours after, Wyatt and another toddler were seen climbing through a hole in a broken fence.
The two children ran out towards the busy road, which is regarded as a notorious accident blackspot, forcing traffic to slow down to avoid hitting the children.
The staff quickly realised the children had escaped and ran to retrieve them.
"I am pretty furious. There’s no excuse,” Makayla said.
After the children were secure, the staff rang Ms Lill to inform her of the incident, which is now under investigation.
“The first thing she said was ‘I’m just letting you know Wyatt is safe’”, Ms Lill said. “That straight away makes you think ‘What’s happened?’”
"They said he was there for a maximum, this is what makes me upset, 10 seconds," Lill said.
The mother said staff told her the gap in the fence was missed on a routine perimeter check.
George Mavromatis was nearby when the incident occurred and said he heard the staff's screams from across the road.
"This is a very bad intersection. We've seen multiple car accidents, it was very lucky to come out of that lightly to tell you the truth," he told Nine News.
Makayla Lill has made a formal complaint with the centre, as some parents have pledged to remove their children from the daycare centre, while others have said they hoped it was just an isolated incident.
The incident is now under multiple investigations by the centre and the Education Standards Board of South Australia, as South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said SafeWork may have a role to play in the investigation.
"I think any parent would be horrified when they see these images. They're pretty confronting. I think it begs the question of what went wrong in this circumstance," Malinauskas said.
Image credits: Nine