You could say it is impossible to imagine, and yet as a parent, it is indeed possible.
You turn up at a daycare centre to pick up your child, as you’ve done hundreds of times before, only to be told she was never dropped off that morning.
Your heart races. Your brain starts to tick over. The pit of your stomach erupts.
The reality of what has happened sets in: your child is still strapped in the back of the car, now lifeless after a day spent in the searing heat of a vehicle.
A father experienced this devastating series of events last week when he realised his 15-month-old daughter had died after she was left inside his car all day.
He arrived to collect her late in the day, only to be told she had never been signed in to the Earlwood centre.
The reporting has been devastating to read as witnesses described the distraught dad’s vain efforts to revive his daughter.
You may wonder how this could possibly happen.
Truth is it could happen to anyone, even the most diligent of parents.
And it has indeed happened many times, with incidents like this occurring more regularly than you’d think both in Australia and overseas.
It is easy to look at the character of the parent straight away.
To lay blame.
But there’s been so much research done in this space, around brain function and just plain old human psyche.
The slightest change in the morning routine. The phone call you didn’t expect. The meeting you’re thinking about at work.
A microsecond of distraction.
The possibility of tragedies like this does not discriminate.
It can happen to mothers, fathers, grandparents.
It can happen to doctors, tradies, receptionists and sales reps.
But I can’t help but think that there’s a way tragedies like this could be avoided, especially as someone who’s traversed the daycare system myself as a parent.
If you didn’t turn up to work today, there’s every chance your employer would call your emergency contact by the time the middle of the day rolled around, concerned about your welfare.
As a boss and manager, I’ve done it myself. You automatically assume a sense of responsibility and concern when someone should be under your watch but they’re not contactable and not following their usual routine.
And yet at most daycare centres, there is no fail safe in place to alert parents if a child has not been signed in or is not in attendance on a particular day they are scheduled to be at the centre.
No call or text message to the parents even if the child hasn’t been logged as sick or on holidays, and there is no expectation of a non-attendance.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is no blame on daycare centres for tragedies like this occurring. It is well and truly out of their hands, and they feel the grief just as much as anyone.
But it seems pretty simple to me that you could have that extra layer of protection and security.
A daycare centre knows exactly what kids are supposed to be there that day. They know when someone hasn’t arrived, and yet the stock standard response is just to play on. No call, no text, no action.
I’m sure someone will point out a daycare centre that does go above and beyond in this space, and good on them.
But when I raised this with my child’s daycare centre a year or two ago, it was met with roadblocks.
In short, kids arrive at different times, there’s shift workers, there’s variables, and it just wouldn’t be possible to implement such a system.
And yet it would be.
If you can tell a hotel you’re expected arrival time when making a booking, you can tell a daycare centre.
Surely it’s as simple as a parent being able to flag a standard drop-off time in the various software, and being sent an automated message if the child hasn’t been signed in within 90 minutes of that drop-off time.
If it’s not that simple, then maybe it’s worth the manual effort required. It could literally save lives.
Again, no mud at daycare centres here. They do a tremendous job and there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure children are fed, happy and safe.
But over the past week I just can’t stop thinking about that Dad at Earlwood.
I can’t stop thinking about how for the rest of this life, he will re-live that day.
About how he went about his day last Tuesday thinking his daughter was happy and playing at daycare, and instead she was dying in the back of his car.
And I can’t stop thinking about how a single phone call or a text message from the daycare centre flagging the unusual lack of drop-off could have saved her life.
Daycare centres expect you to flag when your child is sick or on holidays, and won’t be attending the centre.
They do this so they can be aware of non-attendance, prepare staff numbers and also offer casual vacancies should they be wanted by other parents.
I cannot fathom how the same system could not work the other way.
There will be a million reasons and excuses as to why such a standard system could not be rolled out.
But there is one very good reason to forget all of that and just do it: saving a life.
Surely that is worth whatever it takes to make it happen.
Troy Dodds
Troy Dodds is the Weekender's Managing Editor and Breaking News Reporter. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working with some of Australia's leading media organisations. In 2023, he was named Editor of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.