Hennigsdorf daycare child left alone after staff leave early, Digi Mart USA News (Hennigsdorf, Germany): A mother arrived at a daycare in Hennigsdorf, northwest of Berlin, on October 22 to pick up her three-year-old daughter, only to find the doors closed and the premises empty. The facility was supposed to receive families until 5 p.m., but when she arrived around 4:45 p.m., no employees remained inside, according to a report by Bild.
While searching the grounds, the mother spotted her child climbing a play structure in the garden, unattended. The incident did not end in tragedy because a worker on a nearby construction site entered the grounds through a gap in the fence.
The man stayed with the child until her mother arrived to collect her.
According to initial police findings, the educators left the facility assuming that all children had already been returned to their families. Investigators are trying to determine whether the girl had hidden or whether her presence simply went unnoticed by staff when they left.
The period during which the child was unsupervised reportedly lasted less than thirty minutes.
Following a complaint filed by the mother, a criminal proceeding for failure to fulfill supervisory obligations has been opened. The municipality of Hennigsdorf, which operates the facility, has also launched an internal review.
The daycare has faced earlier scandals: between 2019 and 2023, it was the subject of prosecutions for child abuse, with educators at the time accused of locking children in or forcing them to sleep and eat.
