A Letter From a Grieving Mother: Protect our Children this School Year

To my dear community, and to fellow parents everywhere, 

A few months ago, our precious 4-year-old daughter, Adina, was taken from us in a tragedy that no parent should ever even be able to comprehend. 

My daughter was vibrant, full of life, and loved with every fiber of our being. She was truly the light of our lives. Adina was being driven to school in her routine carpool since August of last year. The driver mistakenly left her inside the vehicle on a hot day. The alarm bells went off when I went to pick her up at the end of the day and her teacher said she was absent. By the time anyone realized, it was already too late and my Adina was gone. 

Since that dark day, our world has been shattered and the silence in our home is unbearable. What was once filled with giggles and simcha is now filled with an eerie silence. But as the new school year approaches, my family and I will not remain silent while other precious children remain at risk. 

Over this past summer alone, Klal Yisrael has wept for precious neshamos lost in Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Eretz Yisrael. These horrific incidents happen because human memory is fragile and our days are filled with distractions.

That is why I am writing directly to you today. I am pleading with every parent, school administrator, and community leader to take immediate action and implement the life saving initiatives led by Team Protect – an organization devoted to keeping children safe.

Team Protect is imploring schools and daycares to operate a multi layered defense to do our part to make sure no other family ever experiences this excruciating pain and grief BEH:

In Our Vehicles: The Clever Elly Device

The Clever Elly is a small safety device that plugs directly into a car’s 12V auxiliary port. Every single time the car engine is turned off, it plays a clear, safety reminder: Check the backseat.

It doesn’t rely on Bluetooth, apps, or complex setups. It just works—every single time. I urge every shul, preschool, and daycare to organize community distribution drives so that every parent, grandparent, and carpool driver has this device in their car.

In Our Schools: Mandatory Automated Attendance Systems

Every elementary school, preschool, and daycare must implement automated attendance tracking protocols that immediately alert parents via text, phone call, or app if a child is marked absent without prior notice. As our precious children are returning to school within the next few weeks, it is incumbent on the administration of every school to ensure these systems are in place prior to the start of the new school year. 

Recently in Miami, one of these systems saved a child’s life after their mother was alerted that her child hadn’t arrived at school. The child was found in the back of a carpool van just in time. Every minute counts. If a child doesn’t show up, parents must know immediately. Please, do not wait to update your attendance systems. 

If your school currently has an attendance system, please consider sharing your name on the website. If your administration is open to looking into this, consider signing a pledge – it’s quick, free and creates momentum to encourage others to do the same. Team Protect also offers a comparative analysis of different attendance systems to look over. 

Team Protect can help make sure that every parent has a Clever Elly in their car and guide all early childhood administrators to implement an attendance alert system that works for them. 

Check out Team Protect’s campaign, which details their mission and the importance of their cause. 

Please, in honor of my sweet Adina, take action today so that no mother ever has to write a letter like this again.

May the memory of Adina Liba bas Zev Chaim A”H be a blessing, and may Hashem protect all of our children as we begin this new school year BEH.

To learn more about hosting a Clever Elly drive or implementing automated attendance protocols in your school, visit Team Protect or contact [email protected]