Mom claims school lost son with disabilities after he wandered from campus unnoticed

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - An Osceola County mother said her son left school at the end of the day, but he didn't end up at home. Instead, he ended up about a block away from the school before being found by a good Samaritan.

Vanessa Rhodes says her 8-year-old, Dominic, walked away unnoticed from Ventura Elementary School. She said it was unacceptable that this was allowed to happen as Dominic, who has disabilities, is supposed to have one-on-one supervision from a staff member to make sure he gets to the car safely.

"As a parent, when you know something is wrong, you get that gut feeling, and I had that instant gut feeling that he wasn’t in the school," Rhodes says

Rhodes says she was frantic, looking around the school to find her son. She says she was not happy with how the school handled the search and believes the school should have called the police.

"When a child goes missing, every second, every minute, every hour counts when finding that child," she says. "I feel like our child was dismissed."

She says she is forever be grateful for the person who found her son.

"We have our son because of him. Dominic could’ve been picked up by a kidnapper. He could still be gone. We could still be looking for him," she adds. "We have Dominic because of him."

FOX 35 reached out to the school district about the incident.

The district says, "that on the second day of school, a Ventura Elementary child did not go home the correct way. Procedures were immediately put into place so that it wouldn't happen again."

While the Rhodes family is beyond grateful Dominic is safe and sound, they say they are not stopping here.

"We’re not backing off and letting it go because they should’ve dealt with it the right way."

The family says they’re now working hand in hand with an advocate to make sure their son gets treated properly.