‘It never should have happened’: Woman wants day care shut down after toddler found wandering dirty alley

MARYSVILLE, Wash. -- A Marysville day care is still open for business after a 20-month-old boy under its care was found wandering around a back alley about a week ago -- and it’s not the first time the day care lost track of one of its kids.

A pizza restaurant employee found the little boy all alone wandering down a back alley where broken glass and discarded needles are regularly found

“He was cold, he was scared, he was 20-months-old,” said Danielle Ballrow.

Ballrow said her employee first spotted the child wandering around the alley.



She said police told her the child was supposed to be inside the Marysville Daycare and Learning Center, but she believes the boy somehow escaped through the fire exit without anyone knowing.

“That little boy was lost cold and scared it never should have happened,” she said.

But it did happen and wasn’t not the first time.

State records revealed another child somehow escaped the building without anyone’s knowledge nearly two years ago.

In both cases the children were later found unharmed.

Now Ballrow, who once used to run her own day care, said enough is enough.

“I’m a mother, I’m a grandmother of a 2-year-old and I’ve never lost a child,” she said. “I’ve helped raise more kids than I could count.”

Even more shocking for Ballrow, the day care is full of children and still operating.

Since 2010 at least 7 complaints were lodged against the facility. Ballrow believes the state should revoke the center’s license and shut it down.

“To not know one was missing, to not know who was missing, to not know how long he was missing, that’s a huge deal,” she said.

Employees inside the day care would not comment or describe what steps they are taking to make sure something like this never happens again.

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services would not confirm it’s investigating the day care, saying privacy laws prevent it from disclosing that information.