Montreal-area daycares take preventive measures after death of child forgotten in a car

Some daycares in the Montreal area are implementing stronger safety measures following the death of a baby who was forgotten in a car earlier this month.

Police say the father forgot to drop the child off at daycare on June 22, and he only realized his mistake when he went to pick up the child around 5:30 p.m. that day.

In response, some childcare centres in the city are taking preventive measures to better communicate with parents when their children have not been dropped off.

Garderie Rainbow in Little Burgundy sent an email to parents this week, asking them to notify a staff member if their child won't be coming in for the day.

If the daycare hasn't heard from a parent by 10 a.m., they will call them, explained Lizon Raymond, one of Garderie Rainbow's educators.

'One phone call could save a child's life'

Raymond said the policy was already in place, but it often was not applied.

"We really took it hard," Raymond said of the incident involving the baby who was left in the car.

"We want to make sure that we play our part in order to try and prevent future incidents.… Just one phone call could save a child's life."

Several daycares in the Montreal area ask parents to let them know by email or phone when their children won't be coming in.

But Mona Lisa Borrega, the vice president of Quebec's association for private daycares (AGPQ), says parents often forget to do so.

It can be difficult for childcare workers to keep track as children arrive at different times, unlike schools, she said.

"In school, the bell rings at 8:30 [in the morning] and everybody's supposed to be in their classroom; you can take attendance and the secretary can start calling," said Borrega, who owns two daycares in Anjou.

"Life at daycare is never really the same."

Difficult for large daycares to advise parents

Borrega said it's unrealistic to expect childcare centres, especially large ones with more than 60 children, to check in with each parent when a child doesn't show up for the day.

"We don't have the manpower to do so," she said, adding she worries that relying on daycares to make sure a child hasn't been forgotten could create a false sense of security.

Borrega said other types of reminders — such as an alert on a baby seat, a note, or a purse left on the backseat of the car — can be more effective.

It should be a collaborative effort, she said. "It's everybody's responsibility."

Automatic text messages

Isabelle Grenier, the director of CPE Casse-Noisette in the city's Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood, uses a software called Amisgest that automatically sends parents a text message when they haven't checked in by 9 a.m.

The message asks parents to tell the daycare whether their child will be absent that day.

"Parents are very happy about that, and they all answer when they receive it," Grenier said.

She said she hopes more daycares adopt a similar system.