Children's Aid Society says 'good parents in a hurry' tend to leave kids in hot cars

Many parents may believe they aren't capable of leaving their children unattended in hot vehicles, but most of the time it's "good parents that are in a hurry" who do so, according to the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa.

On Tuesday, Ottawa paramedics responded to two calls within seven minutes after children were left inside hot cars, as temperatures soared across the city.

Paramedics are pleading with the public to remember that the inside of a vehicle parked in the sun can quickly reach 55 C, and that the first phase of heat stroke — which can be fatal — can develop within minutes.

While some people may think those who leave their children unattended inside hot vehicles are "problem parents," that's generally not the case, according to Barbara MacKinnon, executive director of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa.

"People don't think it means them. They think it means somebody else that has problems," MacKinnon told CBC News.

"I have to say that 99 per cent of the chance it is good parents that are in a hurry."

About five cases each summer in Ottawa

Police are obligated under law to call Children's Aid if they have concerns about a child's well-being, and they're more likely to make that call when children are found inside vehicles during extremely hot weather, said MacKinnon. 

The organization gets involved in about five such cases each summer in Ottawa, she added. 

"I think people just don't recognize how quickly it can happen, and that...chance that they got held up in the store that they went into, where they were delayed longer, could happen."

MacKinnon said she recognizes that parents today have a lot on the go, but the consequences of leaving a child in a sweltering car can be deadly.

She said it's a risk with a very simple solution — just don't do it.

"They're the types of risks that we don't have to take."