DFPS investigating Arlington childcare facility after 4-year-old boy wandered away

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is investigating an Arlington childcare facility where a boy with autism was able to wander away to a nearby grocery store parking lot.

Marissa Gonzales, a DFPS spokesperson, told the Star-Telegram on Friday the Child Care Investigations team began looking into Creative Minds Childcare on Feb. 3, the same day of the incident. Investigations typically last 30 days.

“CCI will work to determine whether abuse or neglect occurred and whether or not there were violations of the minimum standards for child cares,” she said. “Details of investigations are confidential.”

Arlington police officers were dispatched on Feb. 3 to a Kroger store in the 2300 block of Southeast Green Oaks Boulevard, located within a strip mall a few storefronts down from Creative Minds, police said. Employees had found a 4-year-old boy walking around the parking lot, alone, and brought him inside as they called police.

Police believe the boy was gone from the childcare facility for about 15 to 20 minutes. The Kroger employees called his parents and took him back to Creative Minds.

The child’s parents filed a police report the next day and a detective was assigned to the case, the department said. But the investigation ended in the determination that no criminal activity occurred.

“After speaking to the parties involved and reviewing all the evidence, our detective determined there was not enough there to charge anyone at the daycare with a crime — and so the case was suspended,” police spokesman Tim Ciesco said. “That detective did inform the child’s parents about their decision and the reasoning for it.”

The Star-Telegram was unable to get in contact with the child’s parents.

Creative Minds owner Belinda Langley sent the Star-Telegram a statement on Friday saying the parents never told the business about their son’s autism or that he’s a “runner” and a “climber.” The father told employees, she said, that the child had escaped from their home as well as his previous daycare.

The father’s reaction to the incident was not one of shock but “more of commonality,” Langley said. She stated the parents brought their son back the next day with no complaints.

They only complained, Langley said in the statement, when they were informed the facility could no longer accept him for the safety of all the children.

“My number one concern is the safety of all kids,” she said.

But the parents said in an interview with KXAS-TV they made the decision to withdraw their son from the daycare. They have also said in news reports that they informed daycare workers their son had active nonverbal autism and were told he would be looked after.

The father told KTVT-TV that the person who should have been watching their son left the room for a moment and that’s when he wandered away.

They said they wanted to speak out in order to warn parents to be careful when choosing a daycare, according to KXAS-TV.

This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 1:24 PM.