A Norridge family whose 7-year-old son was mistakenly left behind by a day camp during a recent field trip to a water park is asking camp organizers to review safety protocols.
The Norridge Salvation Army day camp took a group of children to Seafari Springs at the Hanover Park District on June 21. When it was time to board the bus back to the camp, the boy’s mother, Gina Rapatas, said her 9-year-old daughter Thalia asked the camp director to wait for her brother Peter, who was not on the bus.
In a report Rapatas filed with Norridge Police that afternoon, she claims camp staff acknowledged Thalia’s attempts to alert the counselors but left the water park anyway.
Despite a head count that was taken before campers departed the water park, she said the bus left without the second-grader and had returned to The Salvation Army Norridge community center before supervisors realized Peter was missing. Rapatas said she was on her way to the camp to pick up her kids when Peter called her on her cellphone to tell her he had been left behind at the water park and was waiting with a lifeguard.
“I was freaking out,” Rapatas said. “I wanted to make sure he was with someone safe. He said he was a lifeguard, but I didn’t know for sure.”
By the time Rapatas got the call from her son, camp director Jeff Rowland was on his way to the park to get Peter, and he was returned to his mother at the camp. Rapatas said she never got a call from the camp, however, and wants to see the camp director fired to help ensure that the situation doesn’t repeat itself.
“We’re not against The Salvation Army — but it’s the camp and the safety of the kids we’re concerned with,” she said.
The Norridge Police Department did not file criminal charges against the camp.
Rowland, who is named in the police report as the camp employee Thalia spoke to about her brother not being on the bus, was still employed as of June 30. Salvation Army spokeswoman Melanie Scofield said the organization had spoken with the Rapatas family and was investigating the incident. Describing it as a human resources situation, Scofield released a statement and declined to provide additional comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
“The Salvation Army regrets the incident, takes this matter very seriously and is conducting a full investigation into the incident, as well as taking all necessary precautions to ensure a safe, positive and educational experience for our day campers this summer,” she said in an email. “Salvation Army Metropolitan Division leadership has personally spoken with the family to express our concern and sincerest apology for the distress that this incident has caused the child and his family. We are extremely grateful that the child was unharmed and returned safely home.”
The Rapatas family was issued a refund for the program costs. Peter and Thalia have been enrolled in a new summer camp.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.