WEST POINT, Va. — The joy of a 2-year-old on a playground in the springtime is something Chandler Madison appreciates more than ever with her son Callum after a conversation on March 6 with the owner of her son's now-former daycare, Creative Critters in West Point, when she went to pick up her kids.
“I had no idea what I was walking into that day when she told me she wanted to talk. I never expected her to say basically her staff failed my child, and he ended up in the middle of the road,” Madison said.
Madison said she filed a complaint with the state that night, and an inspector with the Virginia Department of Social Services visited the daycare on March 13.
The inspector validated her complaint finding that her child ran through two doors located inside the building and ended up running into the main road.
“We were angry, devastated, upset because that is a busy road. It could have ended very differently. I could have lost my 2-year-old,” Madison said.
A woman who lives near the daycare sent Madison video of the incident captured by her security camera after someone posted about the DSS violation on Facebook.
In the video you can see Callum run out of the building and someone running after him, but that person stopping, and then another person chasing him but stopping briefly before starting to run after him again.
“The papermill is right on the corner so logging trucks are traveling up and down this road all day long,” Madison said.
Madison said Callum eventually made it out into the road where a Virginia State Police trooper on their way home from work saw the child, stopped and initiated his blue lights until the child was rescued.
“I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost my 2-year-old,” Madison said as she watched the video.
Since the incident, Madison said she quit her job and now stays at home with her two sons full-time.
“I just can’t mentally get past the fact of leaving him somewhere else right now,” Madison said.
We called the owner of Creative Critters in West Point Tuesday to talk to her about what happened and to ask her if she reported the incident to licensing when it happened, and she said she had to talk to her lawyer and would get back to us.
We are waiting to hear back.
While outside the facility on Tuesday we did see a West Point police officer and what appeared to be officials from the state entering the daycare.
In the daycare’s plan of correction on the DSS website, it stated additional locks have been put on all classroom doors, and a sign was put on the lobby door to alert parents to be sure the door closes after entering.
“Hopefully this can bring more light to the facility, more safety precautions,” Madison said.
Emily Anne Gullickson, the Superintendent of Public Instruction with the Virginia Department of Education, said her office of Child Care Health and Safety is aware of this situation.
"Because the Department has received new information related to this issue, we have reopened a previously closed complaint. Because this is now an active investigation, the Department will not release any additional information at this time,” Gullickson said.
West Point Police Chief Tim Sawyer said his department is “currently investigating this matter."
This is the third incident CBS 6 investigative reporter Melissa Hipolit has reported on since November involving a child running out of a daycare and into a nearby busy road. The first was in Henrico in November and the second was in Chester in February.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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