Daycare death apology too late

A child care organisation should have done more to express its sympathy to the Te Awamutu family of a 14-month-old toddler who died after choking on a piece of apple while in its care, a coroner has found.

In response, the chief executive of Kidicorp, which owns the childcare centre, says he will now write to the parents, a gesture the mother says would be "too little, too late".

Kory Lucas Downie-Boyte choked on a piece of apple during a morning tea break at Te Awamutu's Kids To Five childcare centre in August 2008.

He died six days later after his life support machine was turned off.

Kory's family have never received an apology from Wayne Wright, the chief executive of Kidicorp, the company that owns Kids to Five, despite coming face-to-face with him at a heated inquest into Kory's death in December.

Releasing his findings, Waikato coroner Gordon Matenga expressed his "disappointment" at how Kidicorp handled the situation.

"I trust, however, that the directors of Kidicorp Ltd have learned from this experience and, if something like this should ever happen again in one of their early childhood education centres, then their response will be tempered with empathy and understanding for the grieving family," Mr Matenga said.

Mr Wright told the Waikato Times yesterday he would write a letter to the Downie-Boytes today to offer an apology.

But Alison Downie-Boyte, Kory's mother, said any apology from Mr Wright now would be too little, too late.

"This coroner's inquest hasn't brought us any closure, because Mr Wright is still trying to get out of it," she said referring to letters Mr Wright's lawyers sent to the the coroner following the release of his initial findings to the parties in February.

She said that for Mr Wright, Kidicorp was probably "just a business".

"But you have got to have a bit of compassion. Even if he'd just said `look it happened on my watch, I'm sorry'.

But it's got to the point now that an apology from him would mean nothing."

Mrs Downie-Boyte thanked the coroner for his efforts, but was now looking to the future.

She had set up a trust in Kory's name to help parents who, as she had, rushed to Auckland's Starship Hospital with a sick or injured child.

Mr Wright said that at the time he thought he handled the situation the best way he could.

"I'm a very matter of fact person and this required a personal touch," he said.

So it was decided to let the Te Awamutu centre manger handle things while he contributed money to a koha for the family.

"We really feel sad that they think we didn't appreciate their suffering. But maybe they weren't aware of what we were doing for them."

Mr Matenga recommended that the Health Ministry complete its planned review on the risk of young children choking on food in child care centres.

- © Fairfax NZ News