A 4-year-old boy abandoned in an animal park after an outing to daycare

An investigation is underway after a four-year-old boy was abandoned at a wildlife park after a trip to nursery.

Clare Hodge said staff at Dunmore Nursery in Lochgelly did not return to collect her son, Carson Morhulec, until 40 minutes after being alerted by the Scottish Deer Centre.

Ms Hodge, who said there were only nine children and three staff members present at the outing, described the incident as “staggering”.

Fife Council said it was treating the issue “extremely seriously”.

Ms Hodge said the children were asked to go to the toilet before leaving the Cupar attraction and Carson was last in line.

When he went out and found no one, he first thought the others were playing a prank on him.

But he soon realized that they were gone.

Ms Hodge said: “Carson said he was crying when a man then found him and asked if he was OK, then took him to the deer center office.

“The deer centre then contacted the nursery to let them know they had left without him.”

She added that since Friday’s incident, she has had an “unreal” number of scenarios about what could have happened to Carson running through her head.

Ms Hodge said: “The worst part of the whole experience for me was the fact that there were only nine children and three teachers on the trip.

“A ratio of three children to one adult and they still managed to lose one without realizing it.

“What surprised me most was that I was told that a rigorous risk assessment had been put in place and that at least two counts should have been carried out before setting off on the trip.

“But that didn’t happen. Instead, they asked the little ones on the bus ‘is everyone there’ and they shouted ‘yes’ so they left. They didn’t Didn’t bother to count them.”

Last year, BBC Scotland News revealed a worrying increase in the number of reported incidents of children leaving early years centres in Scotland unaccompanied.

Data for 2022/2023 showed that two children per week, on average, disappeared either from nursery or while traveling.

Fife Council has confirmed that the Care Inspectorate has been informed of the incident.

Shelagh McLean, head of local government, said: “We are treating this incident very seriously and an investigation is underway to establish how this happened.

“As soon as the child was reported missing, immediate action was taken.

“The school contacted the child’s parents and the Care Inspectorate was immediately notified. »

Ms McLean added that policies and procedures would be reviewed to see where improvements could be made.