A mother has described experiencing every parent's worst nightmare after receiving a phone call that a stranger had picked up her daughter from nursery. Jody Riley, 37, from Formby, was working in a nearby café on Wednesday, June 10, when she was contacted by Kids Planet Crosby, the nursery attended by her toddler Rosie McDonald.
Panic and confusion
Jody told the ECHO: "My phone rang at around 2.20pm and it took a while for the staff member to tell me what had happened, but she eventually told me somebody had picked Rosie up and they were still investigating it. They let me know she was back at the nursery safe and everything felt like a blur from there. I had a panic attack and I had to try and calm myself down to go and get her. Getting that call is every parent's worst nightmare and I feel like I've had a taste of what that is like now."
Jody was informed that another child's grandad had picked up her sleeping two-year-old Rosie and driven away with her for at least 10 minutes before the mistake was noticed. She said: "Rosie is a light sleeper and wakes up when you pick her up so I've just been trying to piece everything together because none of it makes much sense to me. I don't understand how he was able to get through two security doors, enter the toddler room, pick up my sleeping child, and then leave the building, strap her into his car and drive off with her without anyone noticing it wasn't his child."
Security concerns
Jody and her partner Gary McDonald, 40, both business owners, usually pick Rosie up from nursery at either 3pm or 5pm. Jody explained that when she collects Rosie, facial recognition technology is used to let her in and then she has to knock on the toddler room to collect her daughter. She said: "You have to walk past the office and they tell you where your child is. Apparently his granddaughter was downstairs in the nursery garden so I don't understand how this has happened or how he's been able to walk out of the room with no one stopping him or seeing who had picked her up."
By the time Jody reached the nursery, Rosie was back in the room. When they brought her down, she was shouting "mummy" and wrapping her arms around me. Jody added: "You could just tell she knew something had happened and it definitely wouldn't have been nice for her because she's really clingy with me and her dad."
Unanswered questions
Jody said she is still waiting for many questions to be answered about how the incident was allowed to happen. She said: "The staff were shook up and couldn't apologise enough but they didn't have any answers for me. At that stage I was still mid panic attack and in shock so I wasn't asking all the questions I could because I just wanted to see my daughter. Obviously I knew she was safe which was the main thing, but in a situation like that you start to worry about everything. I just kept thinking about how long she was missing for before either the nursery or the man noticed and I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone. I barely slept last night and I feel like the more I process it and the more it sinks in the more questions I have. I still can't figure it out."
Jody said Rosie will not return to the nursery and she will look after her full-time for the foreseeable future. She said: "She'd only been there for a few months because we really struggled getting her a nursery place. Trying to balance work with looking after her will impact me massively because I won't be able to get her into another nursery now until at least September. At the minute I just want to keep her with me at all times because even though she's fine and happy, I feel so shaken up."
Nursery response
A spokesperson for Kids Planet said: "We can confirm that an incident occurred at our Crosby setting in which a child was mistakenly released to a grandparent who is known to staff, has passed all required security vetting and who is an approved collector for a different child, who was also onsite at the time. The child was returned safely to the nursery within minutes, and we are in direct continuous contact with the families involved to offer our sincere apologies and to provide ongoing support while a full investigation takes place. The safety and wellbeing of the children in our care is our highest priority, and we take this unprecedented matter extremely seriously, which is why we have implemented immediate measures including supervised working for the team and additional security protocols, as well as working to revise our policies and training. In line with our safeguarding procedures, we have made immediate self-referrals to Ofsted and the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and are cooperating fully with both organisations. As this remains an active investigation, we are currently unable to offer further comment."
