Fort Worth daycare sued after 2-year-old wanders onto busy road

Parents trust daycares to keep their children safe. But one Fort Worth family says their 2-year-old daughter wandered away from her daycare and ended up alone in the middle of a busy road.

Now, more than a year later, they're demanding answers and taking legal action.

Fort Worth police body camera video captures the moments after good Samaritans found the little girl wandering alone in the road.

"What's going on? So I found a little girl in the middle of the road," one person said to officers.

Another said they initially went over to check whether a child had slipped through the daycare's gates.

According to the family's attorney, Russell Button, the girl had wandered away from the playground at BeYOUtiful Beginnings daycare and made her way to Parkwood Hill Boulevard.

Button says daycare staff didn't even realize the child was missing until police contacted her parents.

"The teacher didn't know how many kids that she was responsible for, and in fact, proof positive. She lost a little 2-year-old. They didn't even know it until the police end up calling the parents," Button said.

Button says the family still doesn't know exactly how long the girl was missing.

"Long enough that this kid was on the verge of heat exhaustion, was found hot, sweaty, had white stuff by her mouth," he said.

Button provided CBS News Texas with police body camera video from August 2025. In the footage, officers question daycare employees about the facility's safety procedures.

Staff told officers they use a Velcro rope to keep children together.

"Do a lot of children take them off?" an officer asks.

"Yes, and we have to keep putting them on," an employee responds.

Another employee acknowledged staff did not follow the facility's protocol.

"I guess she got off the rope, and we did not do name to face like we taught them to," the employee said.

Button says the incident was preventable.

"And so this was bound to happen. This was not a matter of if it was ever going to happen. It was just when. And unfortunately, it was our family that paid the price," he said.

State investigators also found the daycare violated multiple child safety regulations. No criminal charges were filed.

The family is now suing the daycare, accusing it of negligence.

More than a year after the incident, the parents say they're taking legal action because they still haven't gotten answers about how their daughter was able to leave the playground and end up in the road.

The parents declined an on-camera interview but sent CBS News Texas the following statement:

"We want BeYOUtiful Beginnings to tell us what happened to our daughter, how it was allowed to happen, and to take responsibility for putting her life at risk. No family should ever have to experience the nightmare that our family has lived through."

Button says the family hopes the lawsuit will help prevent another child from experiencing something similar.

"They were working every day since this happened to get their little 2-year-old back and trusting again. So she's on the road to recovery. Thankfully, she wasn't killed, wasn't hit by a car, but it doesn't make it any less significant here," he said.

CBS News Texas reached out to BeYOUtiful Beginnings daycare for comment but has not heard back.