Mum's fury after her two-year-old son was locked in a storeroom at daycare

Daily Mail​

7 hours ago

A mother whose two-year-old son Ezra was accidentally locked in a storeroom at daycare says the traumatising event has left him unable to sleep.
Meryl, whose son attended Little Zak's Academy in Austral, western Sydney, shared her ordeal with Ben Fordham on 2GB radio on Wednesday.
She said Ezra was locked in a storeroom for an unaccounted period of time on January 6 before he was found by a parent who had come to pick up their child.
'He's struggling a little bit,' she said.
'He says he doesn't want to be in dark spaces and he says he's scared. He wakes up in the middle of the night and he struggles to go back to sleep.
'He wets himself all through the night, all his clothes are soaked.'
Meryl described breaking down in tears when she saw CCTV of the incident.
'It was (an accident). Apparently, the educator had walked into the storeroom and she didn't close the door behind her,' she said.
'She exited the storeroom and didn't look around for any children and just closed the door. There's no sound on the video but I saw him pointing so I think he must have been crying.'
Meryl alleged the footage appeared to be doctored, with a blank space cutting in 'out of the blue' and a woman suddenly appearing in shot, suggesting it had been spliced.
'This was confirmed by the centre director. She admitted the video was doctored,' she told the Sydney radio station.
Meryl said a man could be seen pointing to the storeroom and he is the one who opened the door, letting Ezra out.
'My son just walked out. It just shattered me,' she said.
'No-one even comforted him when he walked out. Nobody even hugged him or consoled him, he was just standing there.'
The mother said she reached out to the NSW Department of Education in February but is yet to receive a response.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the department and Little Zak's Academy for comment.
In a statement to 2GB, Zak's Academy apologised for the incident and said it issued formal warnings to staff involved.
'We are deeply sorry about what happened at our Austral centre... when a two-year-old child was accidentally left in a children's play and equipment storeroom for almost 13 minutes,' it said.
The daycare said several children had followed a staff member into the room but were told to leave. It said the educator did not realise Ezra remained inside when the door closed.
'We immediately contacted the child's family, told them what happened, and apologised. We understand how frightening this must have been for both the child and the parents,' the statement continued.
The daycare said it reported the incident to the early childhood education and care directorate of New South Wales and is fully cooperating with their investigation.
'We've taken comprehensive action, including formal warnings for the staff involved, mandatory retraining for all educators, updated supervision policies, new safety checks when exiting storerooms, and additional signage reminders,' it said.