Two children (3 years old) escaped from a nursery in Horsens and were found about an hour later.

Naghma Abdel Aal was terrified after her son disappeared from kindergarten for over an hour last week. The ordeal began when Naghma's phone rang last Friday while she was at work. It was a teacher from her three-year-old son Elias's kindergarten in Hatting, Horsens. The teacher informed her that Elias and another boy had run away from the kindergarten and that the teachers hadn't found them yet. Naghma immediately drove home from work, trembling and in a state of panic. Her husband, who lives about 500 meters from the kindergarten, also rushed out, but he had forgotten his mobile phone at home, so Naghma couldn't contact him. He went outside after a worker in the area reported seeing the child in the garden of their house, sensing something was wrong. Before Naghma arrived at the kindergarten, the children were found, approximately an hour after their disappearance.

It later turned out that Elias and three other children had managed to get out of the kindergarten gate. One of the teachers discovered this and stopped them, but Elias and another boy had escaped. The teacher was only able to follow them for a short distance because she had two other children with her.

The two children crossing a main street
The two children then began their journey around the area. They crossed a main street and reached the family's garden, which is about 500 meters from the kindergarten. Around 1:30 PM, a worker spotted them. Thinking Elias was with his mother, the worker greeted the children, and they continued their journey before being found by the kindergarten staff. According to Nagham Abdel Aal, the children had traveled up to two kilometers from the kindergarten in just one hour.

The mother said there was traffic congestion, trains and agricultural tractors, and it was a very dangerous area for children to cross. She added that it was impressive that they were not hurt, and expressed her lack of understanding of the kindergarten.
Leaving behind a long list of questions about how the kindergarten handled the situation, the mother indicated that her criticism was not directed at the teachers.

She added: “They contacted me and my husband at 13:52, after the children had been missing for a long time. If they had contacted my husband earlier, he could have immediately helped find the children,” according to TV2 ØSTJYLLAND.

The mother, Nagham Abdel Aal, was also surprised that the children were able to get out of the kindergarten gate for the second time. On a previous occasion, three weeks before this incident, her child had managed to get out of the kindergarten gate. According to her, it is related to the lack of a sufficient number of employees.
As a result of what happened, her son has not been to kindergarten since the day of the incident (last Friday), and starting next month her child will move to another kindergarten in the municipality of Horsens.

The relevant department in the municipality responded

Regarding the incident, Anne Post, head of day care in Horsens municipality, said she understood the frustration the mother felt after the incident, adding, “We take this very seriously, and it is something we will do everything to avoid.”.

However, the municipality and the kindergarten do not believe that the mother’s explanation of the incident last Friday is entirely correct. They do not believe that the children were gone for an hour, nor do they believe that they went as far as the mother, Nagham Abdel Aal, estimates.

According to Ann Post, the children were no more than one kilometer away from the kindergarten, but she acknowledges the sense of insecurity that such incidents create for parents.
As a first step, the municipality and the kindergarten will focus on preventing children from opening the gate at the kindergarten themselves. They will also look into how to position teachers in the playground during breaks. The municipality will also consider closing parts of the playground when teachers are on breaks, so that children are not left unsupervised. In addition, the mechanism for communicating with parents will be considered, based on the mother’s criticism of the kindergarten not contacting the parents of the two missing children directly.