Child allowed to go home with a stranger

[Emmie412]

I signed up my 7-year-old for a sports camp, 3 hours a day, five days a week. I enquired in advance whether parents had to stay and they said no, most parents dropped off their children.

Fast forward to the first day and my child is brought home by a mum, who had a kid in the same camp but who is COMPLETELY UNKNOWN to us and my child. My child had gotten upset and the coach had asked her to sit on the side. The other parents who had been present had been trying to talk to her, which in turn made her more upset. The mum in question had then announced to the coach that she was taking my child home to which the coach had simply said fine. At no point did anyone ring us although contact details were provided during booking process.

I raised my concerns directly with the coach whose only (morose) response was to say there was no refund and that he didn't 'send her' home. It is obvious that he had a duty of care so I escalated this to the manager who swiftly responded by confirming that the coach had been reprimanded, refund had already been processed and that they would instantly review their safe-guarding processes and policies.

Luckily my child was fine and while I hope this coach gets the sack, am still left wondering what sort of mum thinks it is ok to take an unknown child without the permission of the parents, without knowing where she lived and without knowing whether parents would be home? (My child had to guide her through the park to our home address). Although she was upset, she was not lost and the coach had our phone number (which he clearly failed to use).

The whole incident has left me full of unease. We are very lucky that nothing happened but this has truly put me off any sort of holiday camps.

I think you should be grateful to the woman! She saw how upset your child was and returned her. I think that was rather kind of her.

It is the clubs fault for allowing her to leave and bizarre too in this day and age.

Can you name the club???

Outrageous both on the part of the 'care' setting and the other parent. Is this at a sports centre?

YANBU. I would be horrified if a club allowed a stranger to take my child away.

I think you should be grateful to the woman! She saw how upset your child was and returned her. I think that was rather kind of her.

I disagree completely! It's really not on to take an unknown child home! I can't believe any parent would think that acceptable.

The camp has contact details and should have contacted the OP.

Dreadful - and no you shouldn't be grateful to the other woman what she did was beyond stupid.

Greatful?! They let her 7year old leave with a stranger!!
I'd be going mental. Not acceptable at all. Completely irresponsible of them

The head of the organisation is ultimately at fault for allowing the woman to return your child to their home.

Thank goodness everything was OK.

Perhaps the organisation should be reported in some way. Their judgement of the situation was very poor.

What did you say to the woman when she turned up on your doorstep????

Outrageous, both the camp and the other parent.

BUT You obviously also need to talk to your DD about going off with strangers!

Complete idiocy by the coach, potentially endangering a child. If the other mum thought your child should be sent home, she should prompt the coach to call you

I think you should be grateful to the woman! She saw how upset your child was and returned her. I think that was rather kind of her.

Er no, it was incredibly stupid of her. You don't just walk off with someone's child. If she cared that much she would have insisted the person in charge call the child's parents there and then.

I'd be livid with the club and the parents behaviour is bizarre as well. If your dd was upset and asking to go home I could imagine asking one of the staff to call the op but no way would I take it upon myself to take an unknown child home. Really bizarre behaviour on her part.

I think the other woman was incredibly daft. She left herself wide open to any allegations, and if anything had happened on the way home you'd have had no idea where your child was or with who. She was probably well intentioned, but quite naive.

The sports club are outrageous. Have you complained in writing to them?

Also if they are registered anywhere then I'd be reporting them too. Groups who hire council facilities here have to be registered with them and have clear child protection policies so I'd report there.

Do they accept childcare vouchers or have a registration number for tax credits? If they do then they are ofsted registered so report there (some are because they can be holiday childcare and parents can claim toward the cost).

That's an appalling breach of safeguarding.

NO this should never have happened! This is a Safeguarding issue. If your child is not settling at camp, they should contact you to collect them, or follow proper protocols.

Complete safe guarding issue here. If the coach is in charge of the children and they allow parents to leave them then they should not allow them to leave with anyone and should in fact have signed forms stating who can pick the child up or if they can walk home alone etc. Yes the club is at fault but equally what was the woman thinking removing an unknown child from a club that her parents have left her at. I can't believe anyone would think that was the right thing to do, keep her company yes, encourage the coach to ring the parent but to take it upon herself to remove the child. Completely wrong and I would in no way be grateful to this person as the previous poster stated!

How oil does the other mother know that the OP would be at home? What would have happened had she been it for the day, planning to pick up on her way home? The other mother would be at an empty house with a distressed child and the OP would turn up to pick up her DD with only a vague chance they'd know who she'd gone home with.

Totally irresponsible onthe part of the coach and the other mother.

Yes, we have had a chat about strangers she is generally wary.

The mum had asked her if she wanted to go home and she had said yes, thinking that it meant they would ring us to pick her up. With 7-year-old's logic, she just wanted to get home.

We will be having further discussions to reinforce this and also the fact that adults are not always correct.

What an officious idiot your poor child came across.

Grateful my arse.

Shocking considering how over the top schools, child clubs, scout troops, etc are when it comes to background checks, safeguarding, etc. Surely anyone who works with children should know this?!?

The parent should have known better, too. You'd have to grow up under a rock to not realize she was completely insane to remove a child she didn't know from a holiday club under non-emergency circumstances (fire, terrorism, etc) and try to rind their home. Insane.

I would report them to Ofsted. I imagine they're registered.

So how did she know where you lived if you didn't know her why didnt you settle your child in like every other parent did ?

I'm sure that the other parent had the best intentions so I'm not going to start character assassinating her.

But, no childcare setting should be allowing a child to leave with a stranger. It's a massive safeguarding issue.

I would go apeshit at the organizer for this.

whilst I would never take an unknown child home with me, for one I'd assume they wouldn't let me, I suppose the woman thought she was doing a kind thing.

MrsJayy "So how did she know where you lived if you didn't know her"

She didn't. The OP said "My child had to guide her through the park to our home address"

Sorry if I'm getting this wrong. But as you weren't going to stay for the session, what arrangement, or agreement, had you made with the club/coach about collecting your DC?

why didnt you settle your child in like every other parent did ?

Where does it say this happened?