COOKEVILLE, TN (WSMV) –
A trip to lunch with some friends on a Friday quickly turned into a Cookeville mother’s worst nightmare.
“She’s like, ‘Where’s that kid’s mama?’ I look over, and the first thing I notice was his shirt, then his shoes, then I realized it was my child and I started screaming,” said Amber Kilgore.
Kilgore’s 2-year-old son was on the side of the road, just hours after she dropped him off at Mother’s Day Out, just as she had done for the past several months.
Teachers at First Baptist Church believe the boy walked out through a main door and through the parking lot to Broad Street.
Luckily, Jackson was not hurt, but a witness said he almost got hit by a car.
“We see it as a wake-up call for us,” said Mike Head, associate pastor at First Baptist Church.
First Baptist is now being investigated by the Department of Children’s Services, even though the program is not licensed through them.
“We aren’t licensed. We are a ministry of our church ministering to families,” Head said.
They don’t have to be because they aren’t a daycare, rather a church service. Head said this is not a program they have to make money.
“The ladies that teach up there do not make much money, and they certainly don’t do it for the money, they do it for the love of children,” he said.
After Jackson’s escape, Head said there will be many more security upgrades, such as installing electronic locks and putting teachers at the door.
Even with these changes, Kilgore said it’s not enough to keep her two children enrolled there.
“For me and my family, it’s too little, too late,” Kilgore said.
As for the two teachers who were watching Jackson, one has resigned and the other is on unpaid leave.
No charges have been filed against anyone at the church, but the Kilgores said they would like to see someone punished for this.
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Source: NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) Channel 4
Mother finds her toddler walking near busy road after escaping from church program
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