• Sweden edition
Society

Daycare sends infant girl alone in taxi

Published: 7 Oct 11 11:27 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/36604/20111007/

A daycare centre in Jönköping, southern Sweden, sent an unaccompanied 15-month-old girl by taxi when she needed to be transported between care facilities.

”Anybody could have been driving that car, any sick individual,” the devastated mother said to local paper Jönköpingsposten.

The mother had left her little girl at her regular daycare centre in Jönköping in the afternoon.

When the centre closed, the girl needed to be transferred to a night time care facility, as the mother was working night.

The daycare centre had promised to deal with transporting the child between the two, but failed to inform the mother that they were planning to send the little girl on her own in a taxi.

According to the paper, the mother is very upset that her child was sent off with a stranger, and travelled unaccompanied in the car.

The head of the daycare centre told the paper that the measure is common practice when children need to be moved from one care facility to the other, but that it is generally only applies to four- and five-year-olds.

All the childcare staff are screened before they are hired, in order to ascertain that they have no criminal record. However, this is not the case with the taxi drivers that are responsible for transporting the children.

Since the matter was brought to their attention, local authorities have decided to change procedures used when transporting children and never let them travel alone by taxi.

TT/Rebecca Martin (news@thelocal.se)

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12:30 October 7, 2011 by J Jack
Everyones baby is the best one in the world but if she doesn't want assistance, she should find a job that eliminates the need for her bundle to be moved around. Typical, Mummy wants a baby and a life and everyone else to pander to it.
13:34 October 7, 2011 by pjtaipale
Hey, the baby did not have to drive herself. She was transported by a responsible adult who has a license to provide transportation services. What on Earth was wrong? That anyone who ever sees a child needs to be formally screened and assessed and cleared?

What's the use?
13:43 October 7, 2011 by Twiceshy
Both of you are missing the point here. When someone hands their child to a daycare service, they have the right to expect that the employees are approved to work with children.

Obviously this implies that these employees should not hand over the child to random people, otherwise what's the point of having qualified people caring for the kids in the first place?

It's not rocket science...
14:42 October 7, 2011 by eppie
Putting anyone in a car with a swedish driver is not a very nice thing to do...let alone an infant.
15:01 October 7, 2011 by Svensksmith
Alone? Wasn't there a driver?
15:09 October 7, 2011 by dolphin, the
Oh my!

This is just blown out of proportion. Last time I heard, any one who wants to be a taxi driver has to be screened and will be asked to produce a paper showing he has no criminal record from the police.
15:12 October 7, 2011 by skogsbo
And the difference between this taxi and a bus etc is? Nothing. Its parents and relatives who are not registered or checked prior to supervising kids, they are the ones to watch.
16:01 October 7, 2011 by Twiceshy
skogsbo when have you ever seen an infant travelling by him/herself on a bus? What is the point of even bringing up buses here?

What a bunch of Einsteins we have here...
16:28 October 7, 2011 by Frobobbles
I am so impressed by those new driverless taxis
17:15 October 7, 2011 by Nysvensk
It is pretty obvious that most of the commenters are men and without children because, if you had kids, you would be upset as well. No baby or toddler should be sent off unaccompanied in a taxi. My own daughter, who has a mental handicap, was driven home and dumped at my house when no one was home because the driver did not take her to the after-school facility as he was supposed to. She was running around the yard crying and my neighbor had to call for me to come home and take care of the situation. Yes, she was fine but it was irresponsible of the driver not to at least check to see if 1) anyone was at home, and 2) verify where he should have been taking my child.
19:48 October 7, 2011 by cattie
So, I wonder if the daycare center even got the name and license number of the cab driver, or just sent the tot off to the night care facility?

Egregious is the right word.

In any country with real accountability, this would be a serious breech of contract on the part of daycare.
20:30 October 7, 2011 by skogsbo
twiceshy, the point is in sweden many children get to pre school and then school aged 6 or 7 on a taxi bus, the driver could be exactly the same person as this taxi. It is very relavent.
06:59 October 8, 2011 by Da Goat
If one wants to gamble then go big!

if you leave something for someone else to care for then you must trust them if not stay home and negate the risks..... oops home is probably no safer!

the taxi driver is probably safer than the neighbour!
18:16 October 18, 2011 by Imperor
I have kids and I think you are being hysterical and plain stupid. I DO understand the "concern", but it is utterly unfounded in reality and wholly founded in prejudice and irrational fear!

Child molestera are EXTREMELY rare, the chance of winning the lottery is astronomical compared to the risk of being molested by a stranger. They do get an absurd amount of attention and media coverage though which gives people a completely skewed picture of reality.

The fear does a lot more damage than the risk!
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