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Employees fired after child left alone at Orlando day care

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County deputies say a mother found her child alone and locked inside of a day care facility Saturday morning.

According to the deputies, the mother went to pick her child up from the Kids R Kids Learning Center in Waterford Lakes after a Parents’ Night Out event.

The service allows parents to take a night off while the day care looks after the children into the later hours of the evening.

Deputies say the mother overslept, and when she arrived at the day care to get her child around 1:30 a.m., the facility was closed.

The woman called the Sheriff’s Office and, with help from Orange County Fire Rescue, they were able to gain access to the building where they found the 4-year-old boy asleep with no adults present.

Investigators are now trying to determine what happened.

Detectives said the owner of the facility is cooperating with the investigation, but he was not working during the time the child was there.

The boy is now safe at home with his mother.

So far, no charges have been filed, but the owner of the day care, Jose Diaz, released a statement that it was a result of miscommunication between two staff members during the clearing and closing process of the center.

They said in light of the mishap, the teachers at fault were fired.

Reports said the latest routine inspection of the day care was in February and it showed the facility met all requirements.

Diaz said that after the incident, the Parents' Night Out event has been suspended until additional staff training is completed.