Babysitter picks up wrong kid

[Gina_M]

LONG BEACH, Calif. - A baby sitter bungled her first day on the job by picking up the wrong 5-year-old boy from his elementary school, police said.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15124795/

 

[kahskye]

Why doesn't this school have a form for parents to fill out authorizing who is allowed to pick up their child? I taught preschool for years and would have never allowed someone to pick up a child w/o verifying they were on the list of names authorized by the parents and also checking their driver's license. Even if a child ran to someone willingly, I still asked them for ID if I had never met them.
This school definitely needs to change it's policy on who can pick up a child.
I also think the parents should have made sure the child and babysitter met. I can't imagine my dd at 5 yrs old just going home w/ a stranger.

 

[GlitchWizard]

I can't imagine sending someone to pick up my child that she didn't already know and trust.

Why doesn't this school have a form for parents to fill out authorizing who is allowed to pick up their child? I taught preschool for years and would have never allowed someone to pick up a child w/o verifying they were on the list of names authorized by the parents and also checking their driver's license. Even if a child ran to someone willingly, I still asked them for ID if I had never met them.
This school definitely needs to change it's policy on who can pick up a child.
I also think the parents should have made sure the child and babysitter met. I can't imagine my dd at 5 yrs old just going home w/ a stranger.

 

[Amraann]

I thought the first rule when you hire a sitter or nanny was to introduce your child??

Observe how they get along??

 

[Melisinde]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding things, but it's also scary that the child would just go with someone who must have said, "I'm here to pick you up now, *name*".

 

[GlitchWizard]

I thought the first rule when you hire a sitter or nanny was to introduce your child??

Apparently, this child's rule of thumb was to be - hitchiking, when he's not picked up!


I recall a lady coming to my house, supposedly to "interview me" about watching her children. Within 10 minutes, she was bringing a GALLON OF MILK that was in the car, to put in my refrigerator. She'd had her mind made up before even meeting me!