Official: Toddler allowed to wander from nursery left at ‘considerable risk’
A nursery left a child at considerable risk of harm after the toddler was able to walk out of the building and almost got hit by a bus, an official report has found.
Three-year-old River Mason Woods wandered out of the Kingsford Nursery, in Aberdeen, without any alarm going off or staff noticing he had disappeared.
Now the Care Inspectorate has ruled that the nursery, run by Aberdeen City Council, failed in its duty to protect the toddler from risk of harm. His parents withdrew him from the nursery after the incident.
Dad Peter Wood, a stand-up comedian who also works for Soccer Scotland, said: “We are horrified. Our son was able to simply open a door and leave the premises on his own and staff were unaware he was gone.
“This is every parent’s nightmare, something that should never have happen if there had been any proper care and attention. Anything could have happened to River. He was almost killed by a bus on one of Aberdeen’s busiest streets, and the nursery wouldn’t even have known about it because they weren’t aware he had gone.”
The report said that River was captured on CCTV walking out of Kingsford Nursery at 4.27pm
on August 3 but staff did not notice the toddler was missing for 13 minutes. Cameras showed a member of staff searching the
grounds of the nursery at 4.54pm. A call was made by nursery staff to Aberdeen City Council at 5.02pm, and then Police Scotland four minutes after that. No call, however, was made to his parents.
River’s mum, Kayleigh Kilpatrick, 31, said: “A total stranger brought my son home before the nursery had even picked up the phone to tell me he was missing. I’ve still not recovered from the trauma of seeing River brought home by a stranger when I believed he was safe in the nursery.”
River’s parents fear that, after meeting officials at Aberdeen City Council, no lessons have been learned. Kayleigh said: “We feel the answers and information we have been given from the council about what happened have been misleading. It is also unacceptable that River has had to miss all this time at nursery and now has to reapply for a place when none of this has been our fault.
“I’ve really struggled to be able to trust the council with looking after my son and, as a result of that, he has missed his friends and the routine he had.”
In a damning report, the Care Inspectorate found River was “alone in the community for a considerable amount of time, during which he was at considerable risk of harm”.
The watchdog said there was “not enough consideration given to the security at the front door” and alarms and other improvements were ordered. It was also critical of the lack of communication with River’s parents to warn then what had happened, the lack of timely reporting the toddler missing. It ruled this had “lengthened the period of time he was at risk”.
The Care Inspectorate was made aware of an internal investigation at the nursery and it upheld the six points of complaint by River’s parents.
It stated: “People using the service should be confident they will be contacted in a timely manner in the event of an emergency.”
The Care Inspectorate said staff should all have a working knowledge of the council’s missing child policy, including contacting parents, and called for health and safety training for employees.
Aberdeen City Council said: “We met with River’s parents following an investigation into this unfortunate incident to apologise and to discuss the measures we have undertaken at Kingsford School Nursery following a review of its security systems to help ensure there is no repetition.
“River’s parents have sought information on available early learning and childcare spaces in their chosen area and two settings have been identified.
“River’s parents were advised that, once they decide on the most appropriate setting, they require only to update the applications to be formally offered a place.”