The parents of a six-year-old child from Galdakao have filed a complaint with the City Council after their son went missing at the municipal camps he attends at the end of the day. The incident occurred on Tuesday at the Urreta sports center, where a morning sports camp has been held since March 30, organized by the Consistory and aimed at children born between 2013 and 2020.
When the father, Chakir, arrived to pick up his son, he realized the child was not at the exit. The monitors told him that everyone had already left. After about ten minutes of anxious searching, they finally found the child “very scared” in the parking lot in front of the outpatient clinic, located nearby.
“"Now the child won't leave our side; he's had nightmares all night. I don't understand how he could be allowed to leave without checking who he's with or if he's been picked up."
The parents then went to the Ertzaintza police station to file a report, but they were advised to file a complaint with the City Council, which they did through the municipal citizen service, ESAN. Since the incident, the child has not returned to the camps.
The City Council explained that “it is a group of 45 children and what was done until now was to take everyone and hand them over at the turnstiles.” The error may have occurred because “it seems the child left with a friend and the monitors thought that one of their parents would pick them up. The little one went towards the parking area and when the father arrived, he wasn't there, so they looked for him and managed to find him.” To prevent such situations, “the protocol has been changed.” From now on, “instead of everyone leaving together, they will do so divided into the three groups of 15 children in the camps, each with their monitor, and a more precise control will be maintained.” The City Council acknowledges that “it was an error caused by an oversight,” which is why they have become “more strict.”
