CARROLL COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) — Just three months after receiving eight code violations from the Virginia Department of Social Services (DSS), a 2-year-old boy went missing from the Noah’s Ark Daycare Center in Hillsville on June 1.
Around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office was notified that the boy was missing from the daycare center. Several authorities were called to assist with the search and the boy was found safe hours later and was reunited with his family.
On June 2, the Noah’s Ark Daycare Center stated they are “at a loss as to how this incident occurred.”
“We are all in complete shock and we are very terribly sorry that this happened. We know that sorry isn’t enough to undo what happened, or to change the circumstances,” Noah’s Ark Daycare said in a statement on its Facebook page.
According to the DSS, the Noah’s Ark Daycare Center, Inc. was last inspected on March 1, 2023.
During that inspection, they received eight violations including failure to ensure that hazardous substances such as cleaning materials were locked, cleanliness violations, medicine violations, and failure to ensure that people involved in the day-to-day operations of the facility have a registry check before 30 days.
In the statement the daycare said, as providers who see children daily, they care for them like they are their own and are grateful that children are part of the daycare, but they are working to address concerns.
“We understand all of your concerns and we are working rapidly to address and correct them. We will be doing everything in our power to ensure an incident like this never occurs again,” said the daycare center.
WFXR News is working to learn more information and will update you with details as they are released.
