Day care leaves 2-year-old behind

GRANTS, NM (KRQE News 13) - Grants police and CYFD are investigating how a day care center in Grants - a city just west of Albuquerque - closed for the day leaving a 2-year-old girl locked in the building.

A Grants mother came to pick up her 21-month-old daughter from Small Wonders Day care around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. But, when she arrived, the toddler was asleep.

The mother said she and the day care worker agreed the day care would call when her daughter woke up so she could come and get her. But, the mother said that call never came.

At 5:50 p.m., she went back to the day care only to find it closed. She immediately called police. An officer arrived and found everything locked up.

"Upon jumping the fence, he did hear a child crying," said Detective Sergeant John Castaneda. "At that point in time, he checked the windows to see if he could locate the child and make entry into the building."

Inside the officer found the girl, standing in a crib while crying. The girl was not injured. CYFD began investigating Thursday what went wrong. They say the child was alone, locked in the building for approximately 40 minutes. 

"I don't know if they will totally be at fault, it comes down to the stories and what was set up between the parent and the day care," Castaneda said.

Grants police said this is the first problem they have encountered with Small Wonders Day care.

Both the child's parents and Small Wonders Daycare declined to comment.