Mom: Workers Left for Night With Girl, 2, Locked in Daycare

When Stephanie Martinez arrived at a Floriday daycare center to pick up her 2-year-old daughter Wednesday night, she says she found the girl locked inside the facility, alone. Police say the Kindercare employee who was in charge of checking children out of the building left for the night at 6:20pm with the girl still inside, Today reports. Martinez called 911 when she got there at 6:28pm and the girl was freed within about 20 minutes. She had not been harmed, but Martinez says she could see her, through a window on the door, crying inside the dark room. (WSVN has a photo.) She was "super traumatized," says Martinez, who is planning a lawsuit, according to NBC Miami.

The local child protection agency is investigating, and it's not clear whether criminal charges will be filed. Kindercare, which says the incident "should not have happened," has placed all workers involved on administrative leave until the investigation is completed. More training will also be implemented to avoid such an incident in the future, it says. Martinez says that as she banged on the door, her daughter heard her and "managed to push a chair next to the door to stand on it and call for my name, and that was the only reason that I was able to see her, is because she’s shorter than the door. She got on the chair to say, ‘Mommy.'" (More Florida stories.)