Utrecht student transport company loses girl with Down syndrome for several hours
Transport company Willemsen de Koning lost two girls, one with Down syndrome and one with an intellectual disability, for several hours on Monday. The company’s drivers dropped the two girls off in IJsselstein and left them to fend for themselves. For two hours, their parents had no idea where they were until the two children found their own way to their aftercare program on foot, RTV Utrecht reports.
Emma, a 15-year-old girl who has Down syndrome, goes to the Bij Sep Horses & Co after-school care farm in IJsselstein three times a week. Willemsen de Koning takes her there from her school, Stip in Utrecht. On Monday, she boarded the Willemsen de Koning coach, but she should have been in a taxi bus.
None of the staff noticed that Emma was in the wrong vehicle. She and another girl, who has an intellectual disability, were dropped off somewhere in IJsselstein on a different route than they usually take. The two girls then made their way to the care farm on foot, walking almost 4 kilometers through the countryside.
They had to ask for directions twice, Emma’s mother, Marjoleine Baas, told RTV Utrecht. “My daughter and the other girl managed remarkably well, but this should never have happened.”
Baas first noticed something was wrong when she saw on Willemsen de Koning’s parent app that Emma was registered as absent from the taxi bus. “I had a gut feeling and called everyone, asking: Where is my child? But no one could tell me.” An hour later, Willemsen de Koning called to say that the drivers had dropped Emma off with her parents. “But that wasn’t possible, because I was at work.”
Willemsen de Koning advised her to call the police and report Emma missing. She was about to do that when the care farm called, saying that her daughter had just walked up.
But for two hours, from 3:50 to 5:50 p.m., Baas did not know where her child was. She told RTV Utrecht that she didn’t want to “shame” anyone. “But I do want to know whether the right staff are available to accompany these children on the bus and how this can be prevented in the future. Can this group of young people be transported adequately and safely?”
Everyone at the care farm was also beside themselves with worry about the missing girls, owner Cindy Bunnik told the broadcaster. “The girls were proud that they had done it all by themselves, but you don’t want to think about what could have happened. This is every parent’s fear. Everyone is distraught; it’s truly awful.”
Willemsen de Koning apologized to the parents and girls. “Unfortunately, it was human error, where the agreed-upon procedures were not properly followed,” the company told RTV Utrecht.
There was a mistake when the girls got onto the coach instead of the taxi bus. “Our supervisors saw that the children were on the list on other days and assumed this should also be the case on Monday afternoon. That was a mistake on our part. Someone who is not on the list should never simply be taken.”
Then the drivers and supervisors assumed that the grown-ups waiting at the IJsselstein stop were the girls’ parents and guardians. “The smooth transfer to the parents is our responsibility. This should never have happened.”
Willemsen de Koning said that it has taken measures to prevent recurrence and again emphasized all the procedures to the drivers and supervisors. The company is relieved that everything turned out okay. “We are incredibly relieved that the children ultimately ended up at the right location and express our appreciation to them for successfully reaching the care farm independently.”
