Mother Says Her 5-Year-Old Was Left Unattended At Discovery Lab Camp

A Tulsa mom is frustrated after she says she went to pick up her 5-year-old daughter from a Spring Break camp but couldn't find her. She said her daughter was supposed to be in an assigned classroom at the Discovery Lab but ended up spending several hours downstairs unsupervised.

Faith Liston said she was terrified and upset. Five-year-old Florence was excited for Spring Break camp, but now her mom said she's heartbroken.

"She looked at me and said, 'I'm just really lonely. And I really wanted to go learn about bugs. And I didn't understand why I'm by myself,'" said Faith Liston.

Faith Liston said at check-in, all kids and parents' names were on a list alongside the classes they enrolled in, but when she came to pick Florence up, she was missing.

"The educator in the room said, 'Well, her name is on the list, but she was never here.' So, it seems to me like maybe some cross checking should've happened. They could've checked at check in because she was checked in on that list," said Faith Liston.

Liston said they searched nearby classrooms and radioed down to the interactive exhibit gallery.

"Where they found my crying child who had been left unsupervised at the busiest attraction in the city of Tulsa for 3 hours. She was down there for 3 hours by herself," said Liston.

She said Discovery Lab told her that employees are trained to look for kids who might be alone or in distress.

"I'm gonna go ahead and say that training's probably not adequate or the capacity is too large," said Liston. "It's just so shocking to me that something like that could happen when all of the safety precautions seem to be in place. I never would've let her go if it didn't seem that way. It was a packed camp and you're gonna see all of these parents and kids walk in there tomorrow and I would just hate for this to happen to another child or another family."

In a statement, Discovery Lab said, "Today a child was dropped off for Spring Break camp and spent her morning in the interactive exhibit gallery rather than in her camp classroom. Although Discovery Lab staff members were in the exhibit gallery at all times and she did not express any concern or needs, we did not realize that she belonged in a classroom. We deeply regret this incident. We have put in place protocols to track and manage children during drop off and pick-up times. We will continue looking for additional ways to improve our process to avoid situations like this in the future."

Liston said she's been refunded for the camp and her daughter will not be returning to the Discovery Lab anytime soon.