COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKRC) - The Smart Start Childcare Center is under investigation after three children wandered away from the daycare center Wednesday. While the children were not harmed, the two women who rescued the kids are concerned about their safety.
Amanda Lawhorn, a mother of four, says her heart dropped when she saw the children on the side of busy Harrison Avenue in Colerain Township.
"What's so worrisome to me as a mother is how far these children actually got and how lucky they are that nothing happened,” said Lawhorn.
The ER nurse tended to the lost kids while another passerby called 911.
"Three small kids,” said the 911 caller. “They ain't no more than 1 or 2 [years old] and they out here on Harrison. Yeah, I'm going to stay with them."
The children managed to walk away from Smart Start Childcare Center. A letter sent to parents and obtained by Local 12 says the three children opened a playground gate. Staff members eventually came to recover the children while Lawhorn waited for police to arrive.
"I grabbed on to their wrists so they didn't dart out into the street or even not getting hit. If that had been a worse kind of person who stopped on the side of the road there and threw them in their car and took off with them,” said Lawhorn.
A representative from Job and Family Services tells Local 12 that the agency is currently assessing the situation, but it’s likely state investigators will have to step in because of the number of children involved. Meantime, the daycare center’s director says they are installing new locks and bells for their back gate.
"You had three of them out here. Three,” said Lawhorn. “And they are really little. You have dump trucks going by; they probably couldn't see those little ones down there."
Lawnhorn says she’s fortunate she and the 911 caller were able to rescue the children. Now, she hopes investigators get some answers from the daycare center.
"I definitely think a state board needs to review this. Something is wrong in that daycare,” said Lawhorn.
Local 12 spoke to the daycare center’s director. She told us she was aware of the situation and is trying to rectify it. Haley Kummer was upset about the situation and said she would send Local 12 a statement, but a statement was not sent by the time this article was published.
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