What is the right thing to do in this situation?

[Terabith]

So my sister had an exciting morning.  She had dropped her kids off at school and day care and was headed for the gym (she is a college professor, so her schedule is kinda weird) when she drove past a little kid sitting on his driveway with his backpack at 9:30 am.  So she pulled over and chatted with him.  Apparently his mom had gone to work early, and the school bus never came to pick him up, and he couldn't get back into the house because he didn't have a key.  She tried calling the school, but nobody answered.  So she told him to hop in her van, and she drove him to his school (not the school my nephew goes to, although he's the same age/ grade).  

My husband is like, "She could get charged with kidnapping."  I'm like, intuitively I'm not sure that I would feel comfortable telling a strange child to get in my van.  My first thought would be offering my cell phone to call his mom, but that assumes he knows her number, which is not necessarily the case, and also that mom is in a position to leave work or even answer her cell at work.  My second thought is calling the police, but that is likely to trigger issues for the family, so I don't really love that idea either.  So maybe driving the kid to school (and going into the office and explaining what happened, as my sister did) was the right thing to do?

Obviously, mistakes were made, or at least less than ideal situation.  Ideally there would be a parent at home until the kid gets on the bus, but I know first hand that that's not always possible.  And I think mistakes were made with the child not having a way to get into the house or access to a phone.  (Kid was either 8 or 9, not a kindergartener.)

But the real issue here seems to be a school bus that didn't come.  Apparently it was running late, and either the kid wasn't there and thus missed the bus or the driver skipped his spot.  I know our school bus situation is horrendous.  Buses are 30 minutes to several hours late both picking kids up (and getting them to school) and bringing them home, because they're understaffed and having to drive double or triple routes.  However, I have a friend who applied for a job driving a school bus and was told they were only hiring substitutes, so there would be no guaranteed hours.  So, the fault appears to be with the transportation company.  We get calls at least once a week that the bus simply will not come.  Despite my oldest starting school this year and our family needing the income, we decided that I could not take a full time job because I had to be able to drive my youngest to and from school.  This feels to me like the real issue isn't a mother who went to work early, leaving her kid to get on a bus alone, but that the real problem is systemic.  

What would you guys do if you found an elementary aged child sitting on their driveway during the school day?

[Jaybee]

I think I would call the school first. Then I could offer to take him in, having somebody else know that I was not kidnapping him, or I could stay with him until they sent someone. Whether I would actually think of that in the moment, I don't know, but it seems a good option having had a moment to think it through.

[cintinative]

I feel like this is going to identify me as a helicopter mom, but I am confused.  I wouldn't leave a K-4th grader home alone to take the bus, and I am confused about how he got locked out. Did mom lock him out?  

If I saw an 8 or 9 year old kid sitting by themselves, i would ask what was going on, and offer to call the parent. If the kid didn't know the parent's number, I would call the school, and explain that the bus never came and ask if they knew how to contact the parent.  Then I would wait for said responsible party to arrive to get the kid and take him or her to school. ETA: I am just seeing that she said that she did call the school and no one answered.  I guess she could have called police nonemergency? But wouldn't the parent get in trouble then? Hopefully the kid would have had his mom's number somewhere. 

My SIL who is a school teacher probably would have no qualms at all about driving a child she doesn't know to school, and honestly, I think as a teacher she could do that without anyone batting an eye.

I would be concerned about the kid's safety sitting out there alone either way. If I left him, he was vulnerable. If I take him somewhere, I might be seen as doing something wrong.  

Edited September 26, 2022 by cintinative

[Katy]

I’d follow my gut and either call the police or take the child to school. 

[Tap]

I would have called the police and waited with him till they got there. I would have never put a strangers child in my car unless there was a dire emergency. This did not justify that. The parent needs a back up plan (((!!!!!!)))))….and maybe a visit from the police is what they need to get one in place.

[Katy]

I’ve never lived in a place where a kid over 8 or 9 alone waiting for the bus would in any way be neglect.  That definitely colored my opinion. 

[kirstenhill]

I think unless it was in a really unsafe area/situation, I would keep at trying to call the school and wouldn't involve police.  I would be too concerned about liability to drive the kid myself if I didn't know the kid at all (could the parent be upset you drove them? what if something happened?).   If the school didn't answer the first time I would keep trying, call a district office/admin number, etc.   I might also ask the kid if they knew any of their neighbors.   If they say,  yes, they know their neighbors, I might help them see if a neighbor is home that they could wait with the neighbor they know.

[Bootsie]

I would not ask the child to get in my car because I would not want to encourage a child to think it is acceptable to get in a car with a stranger offering a ride, not so much because I feared of being accused with something personally.  

How I would respond would depend upon the neighborhood and how close the school was; if it were close enough I might walk with the child to the school to see that he got there safely, but if he was waiting for a bus, I would think that the school is too far away from that.  I would call the school again, leave a message, and wait with the child.  If the child did not know the mother's number, I would see if the child new the place of work so I could find a number.  I would also ask the child if there were any neighbors that he knew that we could go ask for help.

[pinball]

In my perfect world, this wouldn’t even warrant a thread…bc either 99% of kids would walk to school OR a mom wouldn’t think twice about driving a neighborhood kid to school, even one she doesn’t specifically know.

i think she did the right thing.

call the police? Bc an 8 yo missed the bus? Come now

[kbutton]

If I could find the district’s number, I would try calling the bus garage. There is usually a transportation supervisor who will know what is up.

Barring that, I would continue calling the school or maybe ask the child if he is allowed to speak to any of his neighbors to see if they are home and would have parent information.

It’s very possible that both parent circumstances and bus circumstances aligned to make this a weird day—substitute driver with an “old” list (one of the things that had happened here) and potentially a parent that had to leave earlier by a few minutes or had a specific appointment or emergency with another child.

[Faith-manor]

Police. They will take him to school and the school can call the mom's emergency number. In today's climate, I simply would not put that child in my car, but instead just watch and wait for police to arrive. I would also be concerned about a child who thought it was okay to get in the car with your sister. She could have been Hannibal Lecter for all he knew. I would use the non emergency number and emphasize that a female officer is needed if possible and no guns and sirens are necessary. nOT a crime, just a child the school forgot. The reality is if the child is that young and mom left, she has probably still run afoul of the law. Tough situation for sure. But IF, she could get a hold of the school and IF they would send the bus back, that would be less traumatic for the child. Still, as a stranger, I would not put that child in my car under these circumstances.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Faith-manor

[Terabith]

My sister tried to call the school.  Nobody answered even though she called repeatedly.  

I asked my youngest, who is SEVERELY anxious, what she would have done when she was 8 or 9.  She said if she was locked out, if she was within walking distance of some public facility like the library, she would have walked there, because at least there would be bathrooms there, if she had to wait the whole day.  She knew my phone number, and would have tried to call me if she could have used a phone.  However, where I currently work, I have no cell service.  I had made her memorize Grandma's number when she was small, but whether or not she could have remembered that in an emergency, she's not sure.  She said she would have gotten in my sister's van, because my sister "looks like a mom and has car seats in her van," and trusting a mom who has children is what we always told her to do in an emergency, and it seems preferable to spending the day on the driveway.  

I might have driven a kid to school.  I have driven neighbor teens to school, but that was when they knocked on my door and asked me to drive them.  (These were neighbors I knew by sight, but that I had never actually spoken to before.)

My husband, on the other hand, said he would never in a million years have a kid get into his car, which I agree is smart, but the fact that I, as a woman, would feel reasonably okay taking the kid to school but my husband wouldn't is a lot to unpack, too.  

When I was doing student teaching, my kids were in 7th and 9th grades, and I had to leave before the bus came.  That was before the school bus situation went to hell because it was privatized.  My kids always had the ability to get into the house, though, and a few times texted me that they were sick and they stayed home alone.  Honestly, I was fine with my kids being home alone at ages 8 and 9, and while I never did leave them for the length of a school day, I don't think doing so would necessarily rise to the level of neglect.  

Clearly, there were a lot of problems here, but I really feel like the bigger issue is systemic (the bus not being trustworthy), rather than a working parent sending an upper elementary kid to wait for the bus after she went to work.

[AmandaVT]

We have kids wait for the bus alone regularly in my neighborhood, and in the district I work at. That wouldn't give me pause. I wouldn't drive a child in my car alone though without parental permission. I would have called the school and left a message and waited with kiddo. Teachers in my school are all trained explicitly on not driving kids that aren't ours without written permission (as a teacher - this wouldn't apply to non-teachers). I think I'm most surprised about her not being able to get through to the school after repeated attempts - that is most uncool.

[rebcoola]

I would just keep calling the school if they didn't answer I would call the district office I suppose. I have never had the school not answer so that is weird.  I would ask the kid moms name and if he knows where she works so I could try and get ahold of her to. If after like an hour I hadn't gotten the ahold of anyone I would call the non emergency number police line.  The parents might get in some trouble here because of the being locked out it is legal to leave them alone in my state but they are supposed to have access to food, water, bathroom but it should be an education thing.

[Terabith]

3 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

We have kids wait for the bus alone regularly in my neighborhood, and in the district I work at. That wouldn't give me pause. I wouldn't drive a child in my car alone though without parental permission. I would have called the school and left a message and waited with kiddo. Teachers in my school are all trained explicitly on not driving kids that aren't ours without written permission (as a teacher - this wouldn't apply to non-teachers). I think I'm most surprised about her not being able to get through to the school after repeated attempts - that is most uncool.

It's a REALLY crappy school district.  Like, the options for my nephew were 1) the magnet Montessori school, or 2) private school.  And to get him into the magnet (and I think the twins are automatically eligible as siblings, when they're old enough), my sister, who had one year old twins AND a full time job, took a job for a year working as a lunch lady (on TOP of her full time job as a college professor), so she could get him in as an "employee's child" and then he'd be grandfathered in.  

[pinball]

2 minutes ago, Terabith said:

It's a REALLY crappy school district.  Like, the options for my nephew were 1) the magnet Montessori school, or 2) private school.  And to get him into the magnet (and I think the twins are automatically eligible as siblings, when they're old enough), my sister, who had one year old twins AND a full time job, took a job for a year working as a lunch lady (on TOP of her full time job as a college professor), so she could get him in as an "employee's child" and then he'd be grandfathered in.  

Your sister sounds cool

[Forget-Me-Not]

I would have called the police and waited with the kid until they arrived. It’s not my problem if this puts the family on someone’s radar. I can’t imagine picking up and unknown kid and delivering them to their declared school.  Too many legalities. What if she’d had an accident with this kid in her car?? Imagine the trouble she could get in. 
 

The fact that the bus didn’t come combined with the fact that nobody at the school answered would have me worried that school was out for the day and the parents missed it on the calendar. Plus wouldn’t someone need to sign the kid in late? 

[Terabith]

7 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

I would have called the police and waited with the kid until they arrived. It’s not my problem if this puts the family on someone’s radar. I can’t imagine picking up and unknown kid and delivering them to their declared school.  Too many legalities. What if she’d had an accident with this kid in her car?? Imagine the trouble she could get in. 
 

The fact that the bus didn’t come combined with the fact that nobody at the school answered would have me worried that school was out for the day and the parents missed it on the calendar. Plus wouldn’t someone need to sign the kid in late? 

She didn't just drop him off at the school.  She walked him into the office, and spoke with someone in charge.  I'm not sure if it was principal or counselor.  But she wanted to make it clear to the school that this child was put at risk because the bus was running two hours late and then skipped him.  

[kirstenhill]

5 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

The fact that the bus didn’t come combined with the fact that nobody at the school answered would have me worried that school was out for the day and the parents missed it on the calendar. Plus wouldn’t someone need to sign the kid in late? 

That's an interesting point! Sometimes districts have these weird middle of the week days off (Our district had them last year as "staff wellbeing days" where they had extra training on mental health issues, among other things).  No one would have been answering the phone since all teachers and staff were attending training.  I could definitely see a parent missing this information.  It doesn't sound like this was the case in the OP's sister's situation, but if you were to randomly find a kid sitting alone on a certain day, how would you know if you don't have kids in school?

[HomeAgain]

I would have done the same as your sister.  I think I would have added one thing, though - a note.  This kid is going to have a story to tell when mom gets home and I'd like her to know who I was so she didn't worry more than necessary about who picked her kid up and dropped him at school.

At the very least, knowing where the kid lived I could have stopped by after and dropped the note in the mailbox/doorframe.

[Tap]

49 minutes ago, pinball said:

In my perfect world, this wouldn’t even warrant a thread…bc either 99% of kids would walk to school OR a mom wouldn’t think twice about driving a neighborhood kid to school, even one she doesn’t specifically know.

i think she did the right thing.

call the police? Bc an 8 yo missed the bus? Come now

I suggest calling the police to assist the child and find a solution that doesn’t involve me. Not to try to cause trouble for the family. 

[catz]

I would have asked the child for his parent's number first.  I would never ever put a stranger's child in my vehicle.  Honestly, it wouldn't have occurred to me to try and get the kid to school or contact the school.  But kids in our neighborhood probably go to 20-30 different schools and I wouldn't want to try and figure that out.  

But if I couldn't get a hold of a parent, I would call the police.  Not because that family should be on radar.  But because I'd want someone responsible for transporting the child and following up with the school on their bus issues.  I wouldn't find this situation super problematic unless maybe this was like a pre-k/k kid.  Early elementary kids walk to the neighborhood school here regularly though.  

I have done a lot of teaching/volunteer youth leadership and I actively avoid situations where there is not 2 deep "leadership" and especially so if there is just one child present.  My concern would be being accused of something.

[Ailaena]

For me, if there was nobody else in the car with me, I have the potential to lose my livelihood.  It has been drilled into me that I am not to be alone with any child that is not my own.

otherwise, I’d consider bringing him to school after calling a parent.

Just thinking here, what if there was no school that day?  Now I’m stuck with a kid and have to explain to the police that I was trying to be a Good Samaritan. Idk, I guess I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it.

And what if it was MY kid??  Guess I’d better make sure he has access into the house because I’d be so freaked out by this.

I think a better choice is calling the police. Unless there has been previous contact, it wouldn’t cause trouble for them, would it? A one-time screw up?

[lmrich]

I would 100% not put the kid in my car. 

I might ring neighbor's doorbells to see if anyone has mom's number. 

I recently saw a five-year old wandering around a busy outdoor mall alone. He spoke very little English. First thing I did was get someone else to run around and look for his parents and to make an annoucenment. I asked another adult to stay with me and the little boy. We found his mom after about 10 minutes. 

[73349]

For me, first choice is call the school (which in this case didn't work). Second choice is ask if Mr. 8 knows a parent's phone number (unlikely). Third would be to ask if he knows the neighbors and if any of them might have the number. Fourth would be to escalate to the superintendent's office. If I really couldn't get anywhere with all that, it would be police. Imagine if his teacher had notified mom he wasn't in school and she went home and found him not there, either! No, I wouldn't want to do that.

[bookbard]

I'd drive him to school, but I'm in Australia, so less likely to be sued/shot by someone. In fact, I've had this situation before, where a random girl missed her bus and needed to get to school, so she put out her thumb to hitch a lift. Obviously she was a bit older, but I took her to school and made sure to tell her that hitch-hiking wasn't a safe option (as if she listened to me!)

[prairiewindmomma]

WWID (what would I do)?

This is a situation that comes up often enough here---buses not having enough drivers, new drivers skipping a stop, etc.

1. We would have tried to call parent on the cell phone.

2. I would have called the bus depot to schedule a pickup, and if parent wanted me to wait with the kid until pickup I would (it can take up to 1 hr for an emergency pickup).

3. I would have called the school and let them handle the calling tree, bus dispatch, etc. and waited with the kid until there was a plan and I was excused by the school to go on my way.

If none of those answered, I would have called the police non-emergency line. In my state, anyone under the age of 10 cannot be left unattended by a caregiver adult.  It happens, because life, but there's no way I'm putting a kid in my vehicle without some sort of prior relationship with my kid. (IE--I would drive a neighbor kid from the same bus stop to school with that parent's permission if I had to drive my own kid because of a missed bus stop.)

ETA: I would privately grumble to my spouse that evening about the stupidity of leaving a kid at the bus stop without a specific plan for what to do if the bus doesn't come. There's a reason my kids, even in elementary, have cell phones here or electronic door locks.  No one should be driving away and leaving their kid without an ability to get help.  Even in ye old dinosaur days, there was a key under a rock near the porch or an elderly granny busybody next door or SOMETHING.

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by prairiewindmomma

[QueenCat]

No way in hades would I have put the kid in my car. Nope. If I couldn't reach the school and there were no obvious neighbors, then I would call the police's non-emergency number. The police are there to help.

[pinball]

Well, I probably would have take the kid to the local doughnut shop and just dropped him with the police there.

female only police, of course.

[Wheres Toto]

I wouldn't put a kid I don't know in my car.   

I'd probably first see if the kid knows his mom's number.  If not, try the school number.  If no answer there, police non-emergency line.  

I don't really have a problem with the parent of an 8 or 9 year old kid leaving shortly before the bus gets there (although I guess we don't really know how much before the expected time of the bus mom left), especially if the pick-up is the kid's driveway.  But I do think that the kid should have been able to get back into their house or had some way to call mom or known of a neighbor to go to if there was an unusual or emergency situation.  

[Arcadia]

My DS17’s classmate followed us (my neighbor and I and our kids) home in 1st grade, 2010, and the child’s mom threw a fit at the school office and was threatening to charge me and my neighbor with kidnapping. When we saw the child following us, we thought he was going home by himself and someone would be home to let him in. Nobody was home so we waited with him until his dad came and told the child that his mom was frantic at the school. 
So no way my husband and I would drive any kid anywhere without the child’s parent accompanying. 
In your scenario, I would call the school office followed by the non-emergency police line. If I am not in a rush, I would wait with the child. Very likely the fire department would give the child a ride to school since they do their daily drives around that time.

[Drama Llama]

I don't think your sister did anything wrong, but I probably wouldn't be brave enough to take that chance.  I'd probably try the school for a long time before I gave up.  If the school was close and the kid seemed safe and not hysterical, I might leave the kid, drive there to tell them, and then go back to wait with the kid.  If there was something like a library or a fire station I might walk the kid there. 

Here the rule is that you can stay home for a few hours when you are 8 or older, if it's daylight and you have a way to reach an adult.  I think CPS would look at getting locked out as an accident, and that otherwise the standard of care is met, and they might advise the parent to tuck a card with their number in his pocket, or teach him the number.  So, I don't think that calling the police would be terrible, but it wouldn't be my first choice.  

 

[Terabith]

31 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said:

I don't think your sister did anything wrong, but I probably wouldn't be brave enough to take that chance.  I'd probably try the school for a long time before I gave up.  If the school was close and the kid seemed safe and not hysterical, I might leave the kid, drive there to tell them, and then go back to wait with the kid.  If there was something like a library or a fire station I might walk the kid there. 

Here the rule is that you can stay home for a few hours when you are 8 or older, if it's daylight and you have a way to reach an adult.  I think CPS would look at getting locked out as an accident, and that otherwise the standard of care is met, and they might advise the parent to tuck a card with their number in his pocket, or teach him the number.  So, I don't think that calling the police would be terrible, but it wouldn't be my first choice.  

 

Yeah, before I embarked on a job that required me to leave before my kid did, I would certainly want to make sure the kid had both a way to get into the house and access to a phone.  

[bolt.]

I think I'd wait longer, keeping the child company and making sure they are safe -- then make another (few) phone call(s) to the school, try the mom, try the mom's workplace, etc. (depending how much the child knew).

If I needed to, I might call the police non-emergency number and without giving any identifying info ask about "my neighbour's child" and whether my plan to drive him to his school since the bus didn't come is okay. I might make it sound not like I was a stranger passing by, but more like we were family acquaintances, and I was helping a friend. (Not lying, just crafting my words.)

Then, if the non-emergency number police okay'd it, and the kid was also willing, I might do the drive.

I'd also return with a written note of exactly what had happened, my name and contact info, etc, and put it in the mail box.

[KungFuPanda]

I feel like she made the best call. The odds of anyone pressing charges seems insanely low. This borders on a Good Samaritan act and the kid doesn’t know your last name anyway. Who are they gonna charge?  Sometimes it seems like people look for every excuse to justify doing nothing. 

[Lecka]

I think what she did was fine.  
 

 

[Tanaqui]

I don't know, necessarily, what I *would* have done - but you can be sure that unless there were clear and visible signs of neglect or abuse, I wouldn't be calling the police over this. This is just not a police matter, and I don't think it's a CPS matter either.

[Terabith]

13 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I feel like she made the best call. The odds of anyone pressing charges seems insanely low. This borders on a Good Samaritan act and the kid doesn’t know your last name anyway. Who are they gonna charge?  Sometimes it seems like people look for every excuse to justify doing nothing. 

Well, she did walk him into the school and presumably gave them her information when she talked to them.  

[Lecka]

I think there are a lot of good options, but it’s such a leap of the imagination to characterize this as a kidnapping.  Nothing about it seems like a kidnapping to me.  

[Lecka]

I have a relative who thinks this way (aka saying things like “kidnapping” when I think it’s not justified) and honestly I just disagree with her sometimes.

She is a nice person, though, and she does do a lot to help other people.  
 

But we do have to agree to disagree.

 

Some things I would just not tell her, because I know it would cause her to worry or question my judgment, and that’s okay.  

[BlsdMama]

4 hours ago, pinball said:

In my perfect world, this wouldn’t even warrant a thread…bc either 99% of kids would walk to school OR a mom wouldn’t think twice about driving a neighborhood kid to school, even one she doesn’t specifically know.

i think she did the right thing.

call the police? Bc an 8 yo missed the bus? Come now

Yes, call the police - not to get anyone in trouble, but because she is a strange adult without parental permission. 
 

And if I’m the mom, the story my little child comes home with, “The bees didn’t pick me up today but a nice stranger put me in her van,” is terrifying. Obviously I have the luxury of not leaving a child alone to get on a bus, but this is actually a terrifying situation. She did the right thing by stopping and checking, but the wrong call to transport. 

[BlsdMama]

54 minutes ago, Lecka said:

I think there are a lot of good options, but it’s such a leap of the imagination to characterize this as a kidnapping.  Nothing about it seems like a kidnapping to me.  

Taking a child without permission is the definition of kidnapping. 
Mom gets pulled over on the way to school. Child gets scared and cries. Officer asks what’s wrong. Overwhelmed child says this isn’t her mom, she is a stranger. Best case scenario? Officer believes driver. Worst case scenario? Charges. I’m actually mind blown that other adults think it’s acceptable to transport the child without permission or contact. 

[mom31257]

I would have called the school for advice. 

We had a situation in our previous neighborhood where a 4 year old was being let off the bus but locked out of the house and couldn't get in because his middle school aged brother didn't come home for 30 more minutes. I let the child in the house a few times when it first started happening so he could wait on his brother. Another neighbor and I finally decided to call the school and report it when it kept happening. It turns out the bus driver wasn't even supposed to leave the 4 year old until they say him go inside his house. So lots of failure all around. 

The mom got him into an afterschool program at the school.  

[EKS]

5 hours ago, Terabith said:

What would you guys do if you found an elementary aged child sitting on their driveway during the school day?

Since it would not have even occurred to me that there was a problem, I would have driven on past.

[Scarlett]

This reminds me of when my mom was a 5th grade teacher and one of her students got something in her eyes…..poison control said immediate visit to ER.  This was a small rural school an hour to an ER.  My mom immediately told the girl get in my car I will take you.  The super was all, ‘oh we can’t transport without parental consent’.  Mom was like ‘um I know Betty Jo really well and I am pretty positive she would prefer I transport without consent and save her child’s vision’. Super finally relented….I think because mom was going to do it regardless…..but yeah this is a crazy world we live in where a mom can’t give a kid a ride to school without fearing some sort of legal,consequence.  

[katilac]

1 hour ago, BlsdMama said:

Taking a child without permission is the definition of kidnapping. 

It actually is not. 

1 hour ago, EKS said:

Since it would not have even occurred to me that there was a problem, I would have driven on past.

This is my first thought, bc it's not that unusual to the occasional day with odd starting times around here. 

But if I did happen to speak to him, for whatever reason, I can definitely see myself just driving him to school (and of course walking in with him). 

 

[ktgrok]

I'd ask if he knew his mom's number, or anyone else to call. Maybe he knows where his mom works, and then I could call that place and ask to speak with her. And if that didn't work then call the school. And at that point call the non emergency police number. Because a kid should NOT get in the car with a stranger who pulls up - your friend meant well but someone else might not. I'd assume the kid was told never to take a ride from a stranger so wouldn't even think to offer him a ride. 

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, BlsdMama said:

. I’m actually mind blown that other adults think it’s acceptable to transport the child without permission or contact. 

Not to mention, can you imagine if you got home from work that day and your kid tells you a random stranger took them to school? I'd freak out. I mean, don't we teach our kids NOT to get into a stranger's car???

[mathnerd]

I didn't read the other answers. I would absolutely not ask that child to get into my car. I might offer my cellphone and ask the child to call their mom. If that did not work, i might look up the contact numbers of the Principal or some other administrator in that school district's website, call them and ask them how to help the child in this situation. If that does not work, I might park the car on the street, walk with the child to the school, go to the front desk and explain what happened and then file a complaint about the bus situation and ask the secretary in the front desk to write an email or note for the parent of that child.

All that being said, in my area, each school has one police officer assigned to it and they routinely show up when this kind of situation happens. They drive down streets looking for kids who are not in the pickup line when the parents show up to pick them up. I would contact the local police station and ask them what to do. But, it is not OK to encourage the child to hop into the car of the friendly lady who looks nice and helpful when mom does not ensure that the child's needs are met. This kind of parent who goes off to work before a small child leaves should have given their child a cellphone or instructed the child to go to a trusted neighbor or friend's house if unplanned things happen to them.

[katilac]

1 hour ago, mathnerd said:

This kind of parent who goes off to work before a small child leaves should have given their child a cellphone or instructed the child to go to a trusted neighbor or friend's house if unplanned things happen to them.

This kind of parent who goes off to work before a small child leaves 

I don't know how you meant this, but it comes off as very judgemental. Lots of people have to leave for work before their child gets on the bus, and lots of people don't have the luxury of their 9-yr-old owning a cell phone. Trusted Neighbor just might not have been home that day, or kid might have been uncertain about how much time had passed, and unsure of what to do (maybe the bus is just late, and if I walk down to Trusted Neighbor's, it might come right then and I'll miss it). Maybe he has a key but he forgot to put it back into his bag the day before. Maybe he lost his key, and it seemd all right to wait a day before replacing it, bc someone planned to be home that afternoon to let him in. This kind of parent might have all kinds of things going on that you aren't aware of in the slightest. 

8 hours ago, Tap said:

I would have called the police and waited with him till they got there. I would have never put a strangers child in my car unless there was a dire emergency. This did not justify that. The parent needs a back up plan (((!!!!!!)))))….and maybe a visit from the police is what they need to get one in place.

You would call the police before you called the school?? 

Yeah, these slacker parents without backup plans, we have no idea what happened but surely there's no possible way something just went awry or that their backup plan fell through, let's call the police to give them a kick in the pants. Because I'm just super-confident that would never result in an unknown amount of trouble for the family or trauma for the kid. 

Y'all harsh.