On Aug. 5, 2010, little Haile Brockington was tragically left behind in a child-care van at a daycare center in Delray Beach. After six hours in the confines of the sweltering heat, Haile died from systemic hyperthermia.
She had been picked up from her home that day around 7 a.m., and driven to her daycare facility. The van driver and staff forgot little Haile strapped to her car seat inside the van.
Unfortunately, Hailie wasn't the first child who had been left behind to die in a child-care van. These preventable tragedies continued to occur. As an elected state senator, I vowed it would be the last.
I filed a bill for Florida that would require all child-care vans to be equipped with a safety alarm alerting system that signals to the driver when a child is still in the vehicle. I named the bill the Haile Brockington Act so little Haile’s name would not be forgotten. The bill passed in the Senate but failed in the House.
Within that same year, I approached then-Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson to mandate the same rules and regulations for Palm Beach County. Without hesitation, Commissioner Aaronson brought it to the Board of County Commissioners where it passed unanimously.
Now, 10 years later, the bill filed on behalf of that little girl and other children who tragically died the same death passed the Florida Legislature and became law.
It’s been my honor and my privilege to fight for little Haile Brockington. Especially when the lives of our littlest ones are concerned, we must never stop fighting.
When the state refused to require an alarm, Palm Beach County stepped up and mandated it countywide and finally, it has passed statewide.
Now I can rest easier knowing that all of Florida's children will benefit from the same protection that our children have here in Palm Beach County.
Maria Sachs, a former state representative and state senator, is the county commissioner for District 5, which comprises western communities from Boca Raton to Boynton Beach.
