By Adriana Christianson

Regina mother livid after scared toddler left strapped in vehicle

Jan 22, 2015 | 6:00 AM

A Regina mother says her toddler is having nightmares after being left alone for four hours on a mini bus last week.

Destiny Stonechild began to panic when she was told her three-year-old daughter Sequiona was not at daycare when she went to pick her up on Wednesday.

“It was 6 o’clock when I found out that my daughter was nowhere to be found,” Stonechild said.

She was supposed to be dropped off at daycare by a mini bus three hours earlier. The bus service is provided by the Aboriginal Head Start Program at the Aboriginal Family Services Centre where Sequiona goes in the afternoon.

She started making frantic phone calls to Mobile Crisis while trying to track down the emergency contact and director. A janitor had let Stonechild inside to search the building where the Aboriginal Head Start Program runs. She said it was 6:30 p.m. before she was able to reach someone by phone.

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“It wasn’t until 7:15 that the transporter found her in the vehicle still strapped in her car seat and had brought her to me,” Stonechild explained. “At that point I was completely livid. I was like shaking, crying, losing my mind.”

Her daughter might be OK physically, but Stonechild said what happened to her was certainly not okay. She said Sequoina is having nightmares, waking up screaming and crying at night. At first, she was too scared to get into her car seat in her mom’s vehicle.

Sequiona has vivid memories of the night, telling her mom she screamed for help when she saw a man walking a dog outside.

“She woke up while she was in there and she was scared,” Stonechild said.

As a mother, she still feels the Aboriginal Head Start Program is important because it’s the only place where her daughter can connect to her culture. She trusts the staff there, but she also won’t put her toddler back on the bus, choosing to drive her there instead.

She met with the director of the program and got a formal apology from the driver, but Stonechild wants more assurance that this won’t happen again. She pointed out the consequences could have been so much worse if it was a colder night or a hot day in the middle of summer.

“I don’t want this to happen to anybody. This is every parent’s worst fear,” said Destiny Stonechild.

“I don’t know her from a hole in the ground, but I do know that her negligence could have killed my child,” Stonechild commented.

Stonechild said she was assured that the driver was reprimanded, but they wouldn’t tell her how. The Head Start Program has also offered free therapy sessions for Sequoina.

“They assured me that they were going to change their policies, where there would be two people on the bus instead of one,” she explained.

Stonechild was also told the Head Start Program would improve the network of communication between parents and daycare facilities to make sure there are contacts for emergencies like this one.

The Aboriginal Family Services Centre which runs the Aboriginal Head Start Program has not responded to News Talk Radio’s request for an interview at this time. The executive director told other media outlets that she could not comment on the incident due to privacy concerns.

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