Van driver forgets about toddler

By adamg on Tue, 08/09/2011 - 5:38pm

Boston Police report a two-year-old spent at least an hour in an unattended Trans Pro van outside 25 Trotter Ct. in Roxbury this morning when the van's driver simply locked up and left.

The company manager spoke to the driver who stated that she parked the vehicle at around 10:00am and states that she forgot the child was on the van because the child was a new addition to her route. EMS responded and treated the child on scene. The child was reunited with his parent. The Department of Children & Families will further investigate this incident.

Neighborhoods:

Roxbury

Topics:

Parenting

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Comments

Gah

By eeka on Tue, 08/09/2011 - 7:08pm.

Good thing it wasn't terribly hot today.

But seriously, WTF. Companies transporting minors or people with disabilities are required to list each person on a roster when they pick them up and then sign out each person they drop off with the exact dropoff time and the signature of the staff person they released them to when they drop them off at child care/school/day program/wherever. It isn't like the drivers are expected to memorize who's going where.

Are you serious?

By anon on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 12:32am.

A driver of a school bus carrying 17-year-old high school students needs to sign out each kid? That can't possibly be the law, and if it is, it needs to be changed ASAP.

kids can be dropped off alone

By DaveA on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 6:59am.

Boston Public School buses will pick up and drop off even kindergartners (who could be 4 years old!) without a parent being present. The bus driver DOES have a list of all the kids and the more conscientious ones will exercise a little common sense (we received a cell phone call from the driver when we were not at the right location) but the assignment materials and bps website clearly advise parents that the bus drivers will not wait around.

http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/transportation#F

Is the driver allowed to leave small children at a bus stop if no adult is there to meet the child?

Yes. The parent is responsible for being sure someone meets the child every day. If a student seems afraid or unwilling to be left at the stop, the driver will keep the student on the vehicle and continue on the route until a parent can be contacted. Parents should make sure their children are familiar with the surroundings at their bus stop and know the safest route to walk home if no one is there to meet them.

In other school districts, I know the policies are different. In some places, a parent must be at the bus stop or the driver will not release kindergarteners. Once you are in the first grade, I think you're on your own though.

None of this is relevant for a 2-year old however, who must be placed in a car seat and is incapable of fastening and unfastening the restraints. It's not like the driver could have just said, "OK, everybody out!" But maybe this was the only toddler, first time, etc. No excuse. Scary. That company needs to set up some procedures ASAP to ensure this never, ever happens again.

Not just nitpicking

By anon on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 8:08am.

That company needs to set up some procedures ASAP to ensure this never, ever happens again.

No one can ensure that it never happens again.

I submit that people who claim they are doing something to "ensure" that something doesn't happen again either aren't too bright or are lying politicians, and in neither case are they the best people to be trying to ensure anything.

it can be done

By DaveA on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 10:47am.

I guess you can't have 100% certainty about anything, but setting up a basic chain of custody practice shouldn't be rocket science. Driver has a clipboard with a list of kids to check off when they are picked up/dropped off. Gives the list to the caregiver to sign off on at drop off. If a kid is not checked off at all, policy is to call the parents. If the parents don't answer, call the other contacts. If nobody answers, call the police.

Doesn't include yellow buses

By eekanotloggedin on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 11:40am.

I was referring to door-to-door transportation services, not yellow buses.

Door-to-door services are documented carefully because the person needs the service often means the person can't manage on their own (under 3, cognitive disability, among others), and because the service is being billed to the individual's insurance/school/DCF/etc. and is paid for for the specific person who needs it. If the transportation is through insurance, the documentation and signatures that the service occurred are needed just like they are for a visit to a provider.

What a careless fool.

By Kathode on Tue, 08/09/2011 - 9:59pm.

How hard is it to count your kids in the van and do a check before you lock it up? Can you imagine the child's parents having to entrust their child's safety to such careless drivers?