advice needed please RE childrens center incident

[MrsC1977]

Hi, my dd 2 goes to playgroup at my local childrens center. She has been going since she was 9 months old and I have always found it a nice place to take her up until this morning. Anyway today she escaped out the gate and was running all over a road parked with cars etc, no one helped me get her meaning staff/parents (I have mobility problems) eventually I did get her and went to the office fuming, I was told the gate was a fire exit so isn't allowed to be locked as a requirement from oFstead. WTF. Is this right?? Please can someone advise me on where to go from here? As I do want to take this further.,Hi, my dd 2 goes to playgroup at my local childrens center. She has been going since she was 9 months old and I have always found it a nice place to take her up until this morning. Anyway today she escaped out the gate and was running all over a road parked with cars etc, no one helped me get her meaning staff/parents (I have mobility problems) eventually I did get her and went to the office fuming, I was told the gate was a fire exit so isn't allowed to be locked as a requirement from oFstead. WTF. Is this right?? Please can someone advise me on where to go from here? As I do want to take this further.,

if its a fire exit then no it can't be locked

I think that if this is a playgroup where the parents stay, then you are deemed responsible for ensuring your child is safe and supervised. However, they should have made you all aware that this gate isn't locked , so you wouldn't think she was in a completely secure environment.

If it is a playgroup where the parents don't stay (like nursery), then the staff are responsible for insuring the children can't get out of the building/garden.

if it's a fire exit then it can't be locked.

Where were you while she was getting out of a gate?

How did she manage to get out of the gate and onto a road if you were there too?

Sounds like a horrible incident for you, I'm glad your dd is ok and didn't get hurt.

With regards to the children's centre they are not responsible for what happened if it os a group where parents stay. You could try having a chat with them about how to avoid future incidents but I don't think you can take it any further than that.

If you asked someone for help and they refused then yes I would ask them to explain themselves there

Totally agree with karma - it depends what type of group it is.

We used to run a parent & toddler group and had to have loads and loads of notices up refering to the fact that 'please ensure you look after your own child' - even so I was constantly checking the door/gates etc .......

You need to find out exactly what sort of group it is (if you don't know already).

Are your mobility issues obvious? Did you ask for help? Did you see her run out of the room?

Op can you confirm what kind of setting this was?

I guess now you know the gate is unlocked you will watch her more carefully near it? No different to a gated playground really. It's a shame no one helped you to catch her, but maybe they were concerned about their own children running off?

I've heard of fire doors but never fire gates.

OP can you confirm a little more about the setting. EG where you in or out side? What type of gate/door was it.

I agree it sounds like a place where the parent/carer remains in chrage of their own children but that doesn't mean you can't question the safety of the area.