To be furious that DD was alone when I came home??

[ApocalypseCheese]

DD has asd and a statement which covers her from the moment she leaves home to the moment she gets home. IE she is never unsupervised for her own safety.

Got home from shopping earlier and the poor thing was sat on the sofa panicing, one phonecall to the school reveals there were hardly any kids on the transport bus so dd was home quite a lot earlier than usual.
The front door wasnt locked as i've lost my front door key, dp had left for work earlier and left it open for me/the builders.

Not good enough, these people are trusted to care for my child when i'm not there, heads will roll in the morning

If a situation arose that we were going to be early, we would contact the persons carers or phone home first not just leave them alone.

our job is done when we have handed the person over to their carer

That's the way all escort services should work pigletmania

Well I have to say that if my NT boys of 5 and 7 were dropped off by a bus service and they left them alone without handing them to me or and adult they know, they I would be fuming!!

Meant to add that I hope your daughter is feeling better now.

YANUB : I work with adults with ASD and escorts HAVE TO handover child to a known responsible carer, if not disciplinary action is taken. Also if transport is earlier for whatever reason, escorts have to inform carers of this....
Our transport was shambles today because all drivers wanted to watch the footy

YANBU the escort is paid to accompany your child home and is responsible for your child's safety until they hand them over to the parent - that is their job, today they did not do their job properly.

You should make it clear that you expect them to ensure you are there before leaving. It is common sense really isnt it?

Tbh usually the problem is them dropping dd off late and not contacting me, drop off is usually 3.20 at the earliest but is often later.

I will be having a word in the morning, I was back with time to spare, not much but still.

And no the door shouldnt have been unlocked, but I didnt expect to lose my key, or for the bus to be late, such is life.My responsibility.

However I am not/will not be responsible for the actions of the people trusted to care for my dd in my absence.

Well said cheesey, i hope you are both ok now.

have a stiff drink

"The point is being missed. It is a handover service and op should have been there to meet the bus. "

You are 100% right.

It is a handover service.

Therefore the child should have been handed over. She was not. She was allowed to go into a house without any handover. That was a fault on the escort's part.

Yes the OP should have been there. In future I am sure she will make sure she is at home from the time school ends.

But handover means handing over the child. It means actually seeing the other person. You cannot make any assumptions. I hand my children over to the school in the morning - I wait until they have gone in, or their LSAs have waved. I do not drop them outside the school and leave because that is not a handover. In the afternoon I am waiting outside the school. Their LSAs check that I am there and that the kids have come to me. If they don't see me, they don't let the kids leave, because we have not handed over.

Handover is not drop child off, watch child walk into house. That is not a handover. And that is a failure on the part of the escort. They must always hand over

Well said Hecate. Hope you are feeling a bit better cheesy and hope your dd is feeling ok.

That is awful. If you have care of a child you should only relinquish that responsibility to another adult, it is not like delivering a parcel. I don't think saying you should be there is relevant there could be any number of circumstances that prevented you being unexpectedly or unintentionally absent.
I think you are right to be upset. Though they probably thought you were there because of the open door and probably a genuine mistake.

Yes they should have handed over to you.

But I don;t think you should post in AIBU about this sort of thing because it will sit very close and painfully next to your heart and you don't need any sort of negative feedback.

Next time post in SEN forum or talk to a trusted friend.

YANBU if she's supposed to be covered for her own safety you should have been notified.

I nannied for a child with SEN, and was once a couple of minutes late to open door (was in the middle of changing nappy of her sibling) and the bus had driven off leaving her on doorstep.

Her mum was very cross and transport service very apologetic.

It was your fault for not being there, you prob should try and be there a bit earlier.

But never ever should they leave a child without checking an adult is there, until handover they are still in loco parentis. For all they knew the front door was open because you were lying unconcious on the floor

exactly what hlore has said, a disciplinary or dismissal would be in place if we did not hand the child/vulnerable adult to a parent or carer or a named person who can receive the person

exactly littleducks, what if that situation would have happened scary really.

The more i think about it the more it worries me, what if door was left open because there was an intruder inside?

(i too am obv in an area where you could not leave door unlocked!)

Littleducks, i'm luckey enough to live in an area where a crisp packet being dropped would probably end up in the paper, so felt safe with the door being unlocked for 10 minutes until I returned home.

I see your point tho.

Maamruby, that's a good analogy. Will remember that one with dh - we managed to lose my niece in the RAF museum a few weeks ago precisely because I thought he had her and he thought I had. V. embarrassing when you've managed to hang on to your own kid but lost someone else's...

YANBU.

That f@&$ing 'bespoke door to door service' comment has really got my back up. In the past I've had to pick up my other children and practically race the bus to my house, bespoke my arse!

so what time does school finish?

Personally I would expect to have to be at school (or home in this case) at school finishing time.

But what if the OP had had an accident and the child was still at home on her own now,which the carer had no way of knowing was not the case .

Someday, that's nonsense. OP's dd is not going to suddenly materialize on the doorstep at school finishing time.

If, for the last 6 years, the bus has pretty much without fail never got there before a certain time, then that is the time one would reasonably.expect the bus.

And none of that addresses the issue that OP's dd should ahve been handed over to OP personally, not let to wander in by herself.