Aumsville, OR (Honk News) – A mother in Oregon is outraged after her young daughter was allegedly abandoned on a bus in frigid temperatures for hours.
Cassandra Robinson, a heartbroken mother, shared with local Fox affiliate KPTV that her 2-year-old daughter was left alone on the school bus for the entire class period at Doris’s Place daycare in Aumsville on Monday, Jan. 27, after the driver and daycare staff overlooked her presence.
A little girl was left buckled in a car seat on a bus for nearly three hours, enduring temperatures that dipped to 36 degrees, without shoes or a coat. The young child had an accident in her diaper while on the bus.
Staff at the daycare operated by Family Building Blocks allegedly found Robinson’s daughter on the bus when it was meant to take her home, prompting them to contact her mother to relay the news.
“Initially,” Robinson told KPTV, “you are thinking, ‘Did she fall down?’ Or something innocuous but normal. ‘Was she bickering with another child?’ Something like that.”
However, upon discovering the reality, it took her “a minute” to fully comprehend what had transpired with her daughter.
“I said, ‘I’m trying to process this information, because what do you mean?’ And so it takes me a minute but I’m like, ‘How long was she on the bus for?’ ” Robinson recalled, “and [the daycare worker] said, ‘The whole class period.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ ”
Concerned for her daughter, the mother went to Doris’s Place, finding the toddler sheltered from the cold, yet not quite herself, she shared with KPTV. “She was quite reserved,” the mother remarked. “It was unusual that she didn’t rush over to embrace me.” She simply remained seated, gazing at me.
Robinson informed the outlet that this shift in behavior has persisted, several days following the incident on Jan. 27. “Typically, when she engages in play, she does so alone,” the mother remarked. “However, if I’m not present, she will call out, ‘Join me, come sit beside me.’” If I’m already settled on the couch, she tends to bring her toys over to me.
Doris’s Place employees have expressed their apologies to Robinson for the incident involving her daughter being left on the bus, yet the mother insists that accountability is necessary, as she shared with KPTV. While her daughter won’t be going back to the daycare, she is determined to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
“All of them didn’t do their job. It wasn’t just the bus driver. Everyone is liable, everyone is responsible, everyone needs to take accountability, all of them,” she said.
Robinson expressed that she has received “a series of apologies” following the incident, noting that “that’s nice but it doesn’t change anything that they allowed to occur.”
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While “it could have been so much worse, so much worse,” for her little girl, it is still “not okay,” she told KPTV. “I’m so thankful that conditions were right enough that she’s physically unharmed, but it could have gone any other way.”
The local police are looking into the situation, collaborating with state human services and the office responsible for training investigations and safety, according to KPTV.
The Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care informed KPTV that the Aumsville daycare has self-reported the incident involving the school bus, and the department is currently working on issuing a citation for failing to comply with supervision and vehicle safety regulations.