A Buckie mother still has unanswered questions more than a year after her son went missing while on an organised walk from nursery.
Kristian Enkuzen, who was four at the time, was lost during an outing from Lady Cathcart in July last year by the seven staff tasked with supervising the 10 tots.
Mother Kristina Nikolova has been told the children visited the town’s “shoreline” to collect shells. Her son was later spotted by a member of the public at Cluny Square.
However, she says she is yet to be given a definitive answer about where the children had gone, where they were when Kristian left the group and how long he was gone for.
And the furious mum believes her child was then singled out after the incident by not being invited on future walks with classmates.
The local authority says it has apologised to the family and stressed the incident was referred to the Care Inspectorate with further training given.
What happened on Buckie nursery trip?
Ten children left Lady Cathcart for a walk under the supervision of seven members of staff on July 10 last year.
During the trip one member of staff started feeling unwell so returned to the nursery, leaving six with the children.
Kristina told the Press and Journal the toddlers visited the “shoreline” to collect shells and look at seaweed.
She said: “The story has kept changing about where they were. First it was the harbour, then it was the beach, then here and there.
“I don’t think they know exactly where they were when they realised.”
Kristian was then spotted at Cluny Square by a member of public, who initially drove past the child, before alerting members anxious members staff who they later saw searching for the toddler.
Kristina added: “I’ve been told he was missing for five or 10 minutes, I don’t know how they know that. He said he was coming home to see his mummy.
“It’s a busy road, an industrial estate area, there are a lot of lorries. A four-year-old is just running here and there not looking at traffic.
“He could have been crossing streets without looking.”
Phone call from Buckie nursery increased anxiety
Kristina was first informed that Kristian, who can understand Bulgarian, German, Latvian and English, had gone missing during the walk from the Buckie nursery by phone after he had been located.
By this time, staff knew that he was safe and well and was back at Lady Cathcart with his classmates.
However, the mother says the way she was informed about Kristian going missing only increased her anxiety during the call.
She said: “I was in Elgin and got a phone call saying there had been an ‘incident’, and then they started explaining what happened.
“I just held my breath. Did he fall and bump his head? Is he alright? I had all the things that go through your mind as a parent before they told me he was alright.
“For me, they should have started by saying ‘There’s been an incident, don’t worry he’s alright, this is what happened.’
“But they didn’t say that. They only told me he was alright at the end.”
Fears nursery pupil was ‘punished’ for going missing
After going missing, Kristian remained enrolled at Lady Cathcart nursery in Buckie.
However, Kristina grew increasingly worried and later withdrew him from sessions and taught him at home.
She said: “He never went out for another walk again at Lady Cathcart. Other children went out for a walk but I was told it was never his turn.
“So they punished him for their own mistake? He’s little, he doesn’t understand, he didn’t do anything wrong.
“I just kept him at home. We did little bits of homework, like learning how to hold a pencil and write.”
Kristian, who is now five, joined the rest of his new P1 classmates at Cluny Primary School this month.
Kristina added: “He loves it. He’s settling in really well. He loves running about outside.”
Care Inspectorate informed about incident
Kristina made three complaints to Moray Council concerning about Kristian going missing from the Buckie nursery.
These included not receiving the full details about how her son left the group, not having the opportunity to have her views considered in a previous complaint that was dismissed and concerns staff didn’t follow the correct procedures in managing the incident.
All of her concerns were upheld with an apology issued by Moray Council.
A council spokeswoman said: “Staff fully appreciate the distressing nature of this incident for the parent and child involved and an apology has been given, both from the nursery for the incident and from the council for the way the initial complaint was handled.
“A number of measures have been taken to avoid similar incidents happening again, including additional training for staff, a new policy on responsibility for external walks, and measures specifically for the child involved.
“The Care Inspectorate were also informed of the incident and are satisfied the actions taken are suitable to avoid a repeat of the situation.
“Any complaints about their investigation procedure should be addressed to them directly.
“This issue has been through our complaints handling procedure, where three of the complaints were upheld, and our complaints officer concluded that management responded appropriately to the incident and the head of education was fully informed throughout.”
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