Babysitter botches first day on the job . . .

caitlin1214

tPF Bish
O.G.
Jul 7, 2006
29,110
780
by picking up the wrong 5-year-old from school!


Baby sitter botches 1st day on job by picking up wrong 5-year-old from school


Wed Oct 4, 5:41 AM


LONG BEACH, California (AP) - 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.

Angel Guerrero was taken by mistake Monday when the woman arrived at the school and took him without knowing what the child she was to care for looked like, said Sgt. David Cannan.


The mix-up caused alarm when Angel's grandmother came to the school and was told someone had already picked him up. Police issued a missing child alert, and his name and picture were broadcast on several TV stations.

Meanwhile, the baby sitter had no idea she picked up the wrong child until her employers returned home.


"The baby sitter said 'This is your son,' and the parents said, 'No, this is not our son,' " Cannan said. When the parents saw Angel's picture on their TV screen, they immediately called police.


School officials didn't notice the mix-up, Cannan said, because Angel willingly left with the woman. Meanwhile, the boy she was supposed to pick up waited for several hours until school staff called an uncle to pick him up.


"There's a lesson here," Cannan said. "What an opportunity to tell parents to talk to their kids, and communicate with their caregivers. This young child was full of trust, and he sees an older, caring adult and just walked off with that person."
 
i mean, there's so many to blame here.. but for the mom, don't let a stranger pick up your kid if they do not know each other.. and the school, just let anyone pick up a kid? are they kidding me?
 
Wouldn't it make sense to introduce the child to the new babysitter first?

And, failing that, they couldn't have shown the respective pictures to the child and the babysitter so that each would know what the other looked like?

We never had to use it, but when my brother and I were younger, my parents set up a code word system. (I think the word was 'Leonard.' Leonard was my grandpa's name.)

If someone were to come up to either one of us and say "Your parents said I should come get you" we were to wait until they said the code word (Leonard). If they knew it, then we knew that our parents did in fact send them to get us. If they didn't know the word, it wasn't safe to go with them. No matter who they were.
 
"The baby sitter said 'This is your son,' and the parents said, 'No, this is not our son,' " Cannan said. When the parents saw Angel's picture on their TV screen, they immediately called police.

It's not funny but OMG I cracked up when I read this line.
 
Frankly, the parents were the ones to blame most for this mishap. As mentioned before, what mother in their right mind lets a stranger pick up her child. She didn't introduce them nor give the sitter a photo of the child. And yes, I'm very surprised the school didn't step in & the fact that the child just went with this woman. THAT is serious! He went with her to a strange house & was there for hours with someone he didn't know ~ just nuts!