'School lost my son after I was 10 minutes late to pick him up - I was livid'

Sending a child off for their first day of school brings nerves and excitement, and for some parents, it's the first time waving off their little ones, but what happens if they've vanished when you pick them up?

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Losing sight of your child, even for a split second, is every parent's worst nightmare. So when a child vanished from school on their first day, the parent was understandably absolutely livid.

The 26-year-old mum enrolled her six-year-old son at the local school, after being initially put on a waiting list, and waved goodbye as he joined his peers. But to her horror, when she went to collect him at the end of the day, albeit a few minutes late, he was nowhere to be seen.

A friend of the parent shared a post on Reddit on her behalf to explain the situation and ask if this was "acceptable behaviour" from the school. For the sake of the post, they called the mum, Farrah, and the son, Jacob, and explained it was his first day at a local school.

They shared: "As she [Farrah] was going to pick her son up, she called before school was out, to say she would be ten minutes late, assuming they would keep him in the office or something, given that he is in fact, six years old.

"When she got there, she went into the office, and they informed her that they had no idea where Jacob was and to try his classroom. No dice. The teacher had even gone home for the day. Mind you, it's 2:40 and school lets out at 2:30. Jacob is not on campus. Farrah is crying."

In a worrying turn of events, they added: "She is then informed Jacob was put on a bus that he was not signed up for or given permission for, nor was he ever instructed in the use for, or how to get home on his own."

In frustration they asked in the post: "Have they called ANYONE to notify them of this? no. Is this a regular bus stop? Not as far as we know at this point, they drop 6 year old Jacob off at a park....A PARK.... ALONE....around the corner and down the street from his house.

"Farrah arrived just in time as he was about to cross the street, something he is not allowed to do by himself as he is easily distracted and does not remember to check his surroundings."

They ended the post with: "Now Farrah is telling me this with a relatively calm demeanour (although I know she is not and was not earlier) and I am ready to blow my ever livin' roof off. Help. This cannot be acceptable school behaviour?!?!?!"

The post was met with a flurry of comments from concerned parents. One wrote: "So sorry that happened to poor Jacob! It definitely is a school issue and not a mom was late issue. That's crazy."

A second commented: "I can forgive the fact that he was put on the bus by mistake. It happens. But how he got dropped off without an adult is beyond me. An accidental bus ride is easily fixable by calling the bus driver and bringing the kid back. No problem, not unsafe. Accidents happen. But dropping a kid off without an adult present should be a hard line with the district."

However, a third noted: "I’m sorry some of this is on mom. Teachers aren’t contracted to stay until every kid gets where they need to be. Admin is. I would make sure all that paperwork she filled out is correct."

Others had encountered a similar experience, as one wrote: "It happened to my non-verbal autistic granddaughter (kindergarten) last year. She wasn't dropped off at a park, but she was put on the bus after school on the first day. It was a miscommunication, and everything turned out okay."

Another shared: "Something similar happened at my son's school last year. They sent a 1st grader to walk home when his mom was waiting in the car pick-up line. By the time his mom made it to the front, they scrambled looking for the kid and then realised their mistake; their son had walked home alone. Thank God, he knew where he lived."