Mother says girl mistakenly removed from school, demands answers

‘We had the wrong child’: Girl mistakenly removed from school; mother demands answers

Updated: 9:58 AM EST Jan 28, 2025

A girl was mistaken for someone else and removed from school on Friday. Now, her mother is demanding answers.The woman, who asked to be named Ms. Campbell, said her 11-year-old daughter attends the Maryland International School in Howard County and was mistakenly removed from class by police in a mix-up that she feels should have never happened.It started when Ms. Campbell got a phone call from her mother — the girl’s grandmother. The police called the grandmother to let her know that they had one of her grandchildren.”And she was like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he was like, ‘I picked her up from school, the school released her to me, made a mistake, we had the wrong child,'” Ms. Campbell said of the conversation between police and the grandmother. Ms. Campbell said she immediately called the school to figure out what was going on.”I asked them, ‘Hey, I just got a call from my mom stating that my daughter is with the police. What happened? How did this happen?’ All they could really do was say, ‘We’re sorry we made a mistake, we know,’ and that was it,” Ms. Campbell said.Baltimore County police were sent to the school to pick up a child at the request of parent that was in the hospital, but Ms. Campbell said her daughter had apparently been mistaken for another student, who has a similar name. Her daughter was released to police by the school and taken to the hospital, when the mishap was realized.”Come to find out, when she went to the hospital, she said, ‘Hey, that’s not my mom, and the mother said, ‘That’s not my child,'” Ms. Campbell said. “That’s when the police was like, ‘You know what? We made a mistake.’ And, you know, my daughter said, ‘Can you call my mother or my grandmother?’ And that’s when the police called my mom.”In a statement to 11 News, Baltimore County police said:”Prior to the arrival of the Baltimore County Police Department, family members notified the school of a family emergency and that an officer would be picking up their child. Once the child arrived at the hospital, the officer was made aware she was not a family member. The officer promptly contacted the school and the student was safely returned to campus.Ms. Campbell said the situation has emotionally affected her daughter.”Even now, it’s very sensitive for her,” Ms. Campbell said. “Ever since the incident, she’s been sleeping with me because she says she has been having nightmares. ‘I think that someone is going to take me away from my family.'”Now, Ms. Campbell wants accountability.”I think the school should have verified identification with the police officer to make sure they had the right child,” Ms. Campbell said. “And two, they should have called the parents or anyone on the emergency contact form to verify and make sure instead of just assuming his particular child is the person to go with.”In a statement, Jasmine Alvarez, the family’s attorney, said:”My client and her family have suffered unimaginable stress and anxiety. Imagine not knowing where your child was for hours. And the trauma suffered by your child being taken away by the police, the child thinking they were going to jail, not knowing when they will see their parents again. Their fear compounded by the ICE raids happening at schools. As parents, we are entrusting the school with our children’s safety. We are shocked and appalled at the gross negligence and mishandling at the hands of the Maryland International School as well as the Baltimore County Police Department. Our goal with bringing forth this matter is that this doesn’t happen to another child ever again.”