6-year-old child left alone for hours outside home in latchkey mixup

FRASER, Mich. (WJBK) - A 6-year-old girl was left alone for hours and stuck in the rain outside of her Fraser home after a latchkey mishap.

"Somebody could've took this child. Anything could've happened," said her mother, Regina Jackson.

Trying not to think about what could have happened to her 6-year-old daughter, Jackson was fuming Tuesday after finding out her daughter had been left alone in the cold and rain for two hours.

"She was terrified. ... I had to really calm her down and let her know everything's going to be OK," Jackson said.

Jackson says she dropped her daughter off at Edison Elementary's Latchkey Program around 7 a.m. Monday and went to work. Then she called the school early that afternoon.

"I spoke with Rose. I wanted to reiterate that my daughter would be going to latchkey so she said fine, she took the message down, she said she was going to give it to her teacher," Jackson said.

But just before 6 p.m., Jackson says she got a call from Fraser police, telling her that her 6 year old had been sitting on her porch, alone for two hours in the cold and rain.

"The policy of the school is that a parent has to be at the bus stop with the child and there was no parent there. And they said well she seemed to be OK," Jackson said.

She says a neighbor found the first grader and called police.

"I'm glad the police did come because it was a situation where you have a child that's basically wandering around," she said.

Despite what Jackson says, a spokesperson for Fraser Public Schools says all procedures were followed, adding that the information they received was that Jackson's daughter was to ride the bus.The superintendent's office also says only kindergarteners are required to have a parent at the bus stop for pick up.

Jackson says that's not what she was told, visiting the principal Tuesday morning.

"She showed me the book. It said bus, that the child was supposed to go home on the bus. ... Even though I specifically said that she was going to be going to latchkey."

Jackson is now prepared to call the school daily and do whatever she can to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"I just don't know what to say. It's ridiculous. So I'm hoping that maybe they see this and they realize this is a serious issue. Very serious."