MarinaVanessa 12:00 PM 07-22-2015
I'm in a parent's online support group for families with children that had ADD/ADHD and a woman from New York that I have become familiar with had an incident with her son yesterday and she's not sure what to think. We're both looking into whether or not summer camps have licensing regulations imposed on them or not but I thought maybe someone from the group could help.
Her son has ADHD and is 8 yo. She dropped him off at summer camp yesterday and spoke to the camp director about her son, his ADHD, the meications he takes for it and let him know that he tends to wander. The director thanked her for the information and she left for work. Later she picked him up, the camp staff told her he had a good day and her son talked nonstop about how cool it was and how much fun he had.
This morning she drops him off again and the director asked to speak to her and tells her that yesterday they realized that her son was missing and that it took them 20 minutes to find him. She wasn't told about this yesterday at pick up (maybe the camp staff employee she picked him up from had no idea) and she received no phone call from any of the staff during the day or after camp.
So now she's concerned because her son was missing for at least 20 minutes which means he was missing for longer because it took them 20 minutes to find him from the point that they noticed he was gone and she wasn't told about it until today.
I'm in CA and a few months ago I went through an incident where a child left my daycare unsupervised and there was a whole ordeal that I had to go through and a process that I had to follow (calling 911 to report the child immediately after I realized she was gone, calling the parents immediately after calling 911 to notify them that she was missing an that 911 was called, calling licensing to report a missing child etc.). She thinks that NY has similar protocols and regulations when it comes to licensed child care but doesn't know if applies to summer camps ... help anyone?
EDIT: I wanted to add that the camp is sort of like a farm camp with animals like horses, sheep etc. and there's a large swimming pond that he could have gotten into. She's not taking him back to the camp because of the fact that he went missing in the first place and he could have wandered into the horse coral or into the pond by himself and she's just not sure what she's supposed to do other than that (like file a complaint etc). There's another parent in the group that lost her son last week from drowning from being left alone in a swimming pool for a few minutes so she's more than just a little concerned.
Blackcat31 01:21 PM 07-22-2015
Thriftylady 01:51 PM 07-22-2015
I don't really know, but I can tell you what I do know from working with our church camp and DD being an employee there.
The state highly regulates some things such as the kitchen areas and the pool for sure. They are inspected just like a restaurant or hotel. I have not heard of any child care regulations, and all of our "deans" who run camps for a week at at time are volunteers. They do have background checks and such I don't know if the state requires any of that, but the insurance company does. The insurance company seems to make most of the rules there. Such as DD can't drive a camp vehicle of any kind (even golf carts) because she isn't 18 yet, even though she has a license. She can drive her own car off the camp, but can't take anyone with her who is not also a paid employee. Seems to me that the insurance is much more strict than the state.
MarinaVanessa 02:12 PM 07-22-2015
No, he didn't say anything to her. She's talked to him about it today and all he said was that he went on a walk and that one of the camp staff saw him and told him he needed to stay with the group. Other than that it doesn't sound like anything else was said to him. I don't think he see's it as a bad thing or something he wasn't supposed to do, he just walked away to play and was found near the barn playing on the hay bales. He's like that though, tends to wander away when you least expect it which is why his mom talked to the camp director to make sure they kept a good eye on him and so they'd be vigilant.
Thanks for the link. I found something similar but no contact information. The woman did contact the licensing department to get help but she got an automated message and left a voicemail. From what I read it doesn't sound like Summer Camps have strict regulations compared to daycares and nothing I found about summer camps says anything about what to do if a child goes missing so maybe it's not a big deal in NY?? Thanks again BC. I sent her the link.
MarinaVanessa 02:15 PM 07-22-2015
Originally Posted by Thriftylady:
I don't really know, but I can tell you what I do know from working with our church camp and DD being an employee there.
The state highly regulates some things such as the kitchen areas and the pool for sure. They are inspected just like a restaurant or hotel. I have not heard of any child care regulations, and all of our "deans" who run camps for a week at at time are volunteers. They do have background checks and such I don't know if the state requires any of that, but the insurance company does. The insurance company seems to make most of the rules there. Such as DD can't drive a camp vehicle of any kind (even golf carts) because she isn't 18 yet, even though she has a license. She can drive her own car off the camp, but can't take anyone with her who is not also a paid employee. Seems to me that the insurance is much more strict than the state.
Thank you, yes it seems that summer camps are regulated differently than regular family and center child care. I read that they need to apply for a permit and all staff has to be background checked etc and I did read a lot about pool and water safety protocols and what do do if a child goes missing during swim activities but nothing that says what do do if a child is just generally missing. He didn't leave the property either, just walked away from the group and played by himself for a while.
Thriftylady 03:20 PM 07-22-2015
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
Thank you, yes it seems that summer camps are regulated differently than regular family and center child care. I read that they need to apply for a permit and all staff has to be background checked etc and I did read a lot about pool and water safety protocols and what do do if a child goes missing during swim activities but nothing that says what do do if a child is just generally missing. He didn't leave the property either, just walked away from the group and played by himself for a while.
Oh wow my daughter is a lifeguard and would come unglued if her pool count was off! I know at our camp, the deans try to keep the kids together as much as possible, but I know some do wander off at times. At our camp it is hard to leave the property with hundreds of acres in the middle of nowhere, but this time of year if is also hard not to be seen by someone.