A Passaic County mother says that she is furious after her nearly 4-year-old son wandered away from a Paterson day care.
Chanae Coleman says that her 3-year-old son Jay’lani Thompson walked out of Camp YDP day care with another little girl Monday afternoon. They were found in a parking lot across the street.
“Somehow, someway, he walked down two flights of steps, past the reception area where someone sits, down another steps, across the street into the health center,” Coleman says. “They were in the health center playing around with the cars.”
People inside the health center found the two toddlers in the parking lot and called police.
Coleman says that the day care did not even call her to let her know about the incident. She says that she has no idea how long her son was out alone.
“All they could tell me was that they were sorry,” Coleman says. “All I could think about is, what if my son would have got hit by a car? What if he would have got shot?”
Jay’lani and the little girl were not injured. But Coleman says that her son will not be going back to that day care again.
“There’s no way to make it better, because if something were to happen to him, I would have been the mourning mom,” she says.
Coleman says that she is hoping to find another day care or rely on family members to babysit the toddler. She says that she will be contacting an attorney.
News 12 New Jersey did reach out to Camp YDP, but did not hear back.