HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. (WTOC/Gray News) – A family in South Carolina is looking for answers after their 5-year-old child was left alone at her day care, which was closed that day.
On Monday, 5-year-old Genesis Moore started her afternoon routine as normal. She got onto her bus after her day at kindergarten, which took her less than a mile away to her day care after school.
But when she got there, something was off – the building’s doors were locked, and the lights were off.
The day care was closed, but the bus had taken off and was out of sight, leaving Genesis alone at the front doors.
“I was just standing there all alone,” Genesis said. “I knocked on the other door, and nobody still was in there.”
Confused and alone, she didn’t know what to do, so she just waited in place.
On the other side of town her grandmother, Shelia Anderson, was at work.
Anderson received a call that her granddaughter was standing outside the day care alone.
The call came from the day care owner, who had received a tip that there was a little girl standing outside of her location by herself.
“It’s not right … to just leave a child there; there were no cars in the parking lot, the lights were off, and no one was there to get her,” Anderson said.
Anderson rushed to the day care to pick her granddaughter up.
When she arrived, a stranger was standing there waiting with Genesis. Thankfully, it was a Good Samaritan.
“Thank goodness the stranger was nice, she saw a little girl standing alone and said she didn’t feel right driving past knowing she was all alone, so she came and waited with her,” Anderson said.
But things could have played out much differently.
“But that lady could have taken Genesis and got on l-95, and we would have never known where she went,” Anderson said.
The family says they were not able to get the name of the woman who stood by their kindergartener but want to find a way to connect and thank her properly.
“I am so incredibly thankful that this stranger pulled over and stayed with her,” said Abram Hamilton, Genesis’ father. “I want to find her so I can properly thank her.”
Now, the family is asking for answers. How did this happen?
According to the Hampton County School District, the bus driver realized the day care was closed 15 minutes after dropping Genesis off and turned around.
The district said by that point, the elementary school principal had also left to go be with Genesis, but her family had already picked her up.
Anderson said that the bus driver never should have let Genesis off the bus without anyone there to get her.
“There is always an aid from the day care [waiting for the students],” Anderson said.
According to another concerned parent, this may not be the first time the district has had issues with this bus driver.
Nachella Smalls, a parent whose daughter had been riding that bus, says when she heard about Genesis’ situation, she was scared but not surprised. She said that this is not the first issue the school has had with this specific bus driver.
Smalls claims the same bus driver had backed into a ditch near her home.
“I have trauma because of that, so I don’t think I will ever put her back on the bus ever again,” Smalls said.
She said it has come to a point where she no longer lets her daughter take the bus.
“I don’t know if she was rushing, or needs more training,” Smalls said. “I don’t know what it is, but I do know that I don’t feel safe putting my daughter on the bus.”
Anderson and her family say that this incident has made them nervous about letting Genesis ride the bus again, but due to their work schedules, it may be the only option.
They also want answers from the school district about the future of the bus driver.
“Just talking to her and still allowing her to drive buses the day after… that’s unacceptable to me,” Anderson said.
Superintendent Ronald Wilcox said the district has started an internal investigation.
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