Parents say children found wandering near busy road after escaping day care

BUFORD, Ga. — Parents are outraged after they say two 3-year-olds scaled a fence and escaped a local day care unnoticed.

Channel 2’s Carl Willis talked to the parent of one the kids Friday night who escaped from Lanier Academy in Buford.%

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A good Samaritan found the girls near a road.
 
Some parents told Willis they feel uneasy turning out onto the busy highway the day care sits off of.
 
One parent said the Good Samaritan found a 3-year-old walking into the roadway.
 
"It could have been awful for my daughter and that other little girl. I just can't explain how terrifying it was," said mother Hillary Earls.
 
Earls said her daughter, Grace, and another child of the same age were somehow able to climb a fence outside the day care on Lanier Islands Parkway.
 
The mother said the girls had time to wander all the way to the highway. Her daughter stopped in the parking lot, but her friend kept going.

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"According to her, she made it to the road, but when the other girl went into the busy road, she came back," Earls said.
 
Thankfully, Earls said a good Samaritan recognized the small child on the road, called 911 and pulled over until a day care worker could come out.
 
Willis called the day care Friday. They would only say that they are complying with state agencies.
 
"I feel that parents should at least be made aware of this mistake if that's how they want to describe it," Earls told Willis.
 
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning confirmed that they are investigating.
 
Earls hopes that will help her get the whole story.
 
"I was able to get a couple of handwritten statements that didn't match at all the 911 information that I received -- a total lack of urgency, a lack of care," Earls said.
 
Willis said he saw two handwritten statements from teachers. One of them said they were helping children go inside to use the restroom when they said they saw the children go over the fence.

Cox Media Group