Boy left inside hot van by El Paso daycare workers, mother says
Parents of a four-year-old boy are demanding answers after they say their son was left in a day care van for about an hour in near triple-digit temperatures. They say this story could have ended tragically, and they have a warning for parents to always check the back seat for children.
Latara Newman, the boy’s mother, says something told her to pick up her son earlier than planned at “A Place to Grow” in Far East El Paso on Tuesday. As she was passing by the day care, she decided to pull in. She says when workers there told her that her son Talon wasn’t there, she started to panic.
“I’m yelling, ‘where’s my son?’ And the looks on their faces: they have no idea where he is! I’m thinking of everything, from what he’s wearing to his tennis shoes, his socks…what goes through your mind there are no words to describe other than terror,” said Newman.
She says after a frantic search, an administrator eventually brought Talon in from the parking lot. She says he was drenched in sweat, and his lips were cracked.
“He (the daycare worker) tells me, ‘oh, he was on the back of the bus.'” I couldn’t believe they left my son in the bus for an hour,” she said.
Newman says she took Talon to the hospital, where he was given an IV and treated for heat exhaustion. His dad Terrence has a copy of paperwork he says is from the daycare, showing Talon checked off as being off the bus. The Department of Family Protective Services is investigating.
Terrence Newman says what can happen to a child in the car in just 30 minutes is horrible, and the point of him sharing this story is not for his family’s sake, but for all children.
“I don’t want any child to go through it. What can come out of this is proper training, proper checks,” he says.
Terrence and Latara thank God for his timing that Latara was prompted to pick up Talon early. “Thankfully, I was listening,” said Latara.
The Far East El Paso Daycare, named “A Place to Grow,” had no comment on the incident. ABC-7 checked their licensing record on the Texas database and it does have a good record, no complaints during inspections, and is in compliance.
To check your child’s daycare’s record, click here.
