Mother claims her toddler walked out of a Sacramento daycare. Now the state is investigating

By Brittany Hope

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — The California Department of Social Services said it is investigating a Sacramento daycare after a mother claimed her toddler walked out of the daycare and was found alone at a nearby park late at night.

Breonna Dixon said she dropped off her 2-year-old daughter and 4-month-old baby at My Little Playground on Kokomo Drive Thursday on her way to work.

When it came time to pick her children up at around 10 p.m., she said the door of the daycare was cracked open, and the head of the daycare proceeded to ask her where her daughter was.

Unable to find her toddler inside the home, she took her 4-month-old into her car and called the police.

The Sacramento Police Department told KCRA 3 a passerby found the child safe. A caller reported the child discovered at Kokomo Park to police at around 9:50 p.m., meaning the child had left the day care, walked roughly half a block to the nearby park and was found all before the mother said she realized her daughter was missing.

Dixon is now reunited with her daughter, but questions linger as to how long the toddler was alone and how she was able to walk out of the day care unnoticed.

“My baby could have been gone,” she said through tears. “She could have been abducted.”

The California Department of Social Services tells KCRA 3 it is investigating.

When KCRA 3 crews were on Kokomo Drive on Monday, we witnessed two people who identified as state employees going inside the daycare. We reached out My Little Playground for comment. The owner said she did not want to comment and referred us back to Sacramento police. We also spoke with Sacramento County Child Protective Services on Monday, who could not comment on the department’s involvement.

According to documentation from the CDSS, My Little Playground has been licensed in the state since November 2020. In November of this year, the daycare faced two citations after an unannounced annual one-year inspection.

One Type A citation said the licensed provider did “not have the allotted amount of cribs for children in care.” The on-scene licensing program analysts “observed that children in care, who are not able to climb out of cribs, [were] utilizing alternative sleeping devices which poses an immediate health, safe or personal rights risk” to the children in the day care’s care.

The other Type A citation read as follows:

“It was observed that a child was present in the garage. As stated on the fire clearance, the garage shall not be used as part of day care. The fire clearance was granted on 5/16/2022 which poses an immediate health, safety or personal rights risk to persons in care.” Documentation obtained by KCRA 3 shows both Type A citations were cleared and resolved nine days later.

As soon as the CDSS’ current investigation into the toddler who was able to walk out of the daycare is completed, KCRA 3 will update this story.

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