A child was found dead inside of a car at an early childhood education center in Plantation on Monday afternoon, the police department said.<\/p>\n
Plantation officers and fire rescue crews were called to A World of Discovery Academy in the 7000 block of Northwest Fourth Street<\/a> shortly after 5:30 p.m. after receiving a \u201creport of a deceased child in a vehicle,\u201d the department said in a statement shared on X<\/a> on Monday night.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon arrival, Plantation Fire Department sadly confirmed the child was deceased,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n A death investigation is underway. The police department did not release additional information late Monday.<\/p>\n The family-owned academy is a bilingual early childhood education center that offers programs for children ranging in age from 3 months to 4 years, according to its website.<\/p>\n The academy\u2019s director and owner Leslie Novoa told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Monday night that the child was an 18-month-old boy who attended the school. The boy\u2019s father was supposed to drop off the boy at school in the morning but forgot the child was in the car, Novoa said.<\/p>\n The father went to work and later in the afternoon drove to the school, she said, believing his child was there. Novoa said she opened the car door to find the boy in the back and called 911.<\/p>\n Novoa said she knew the family and the boy well. She described them as a \u201cwonderful family.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a tragedy that happened to them and to all of us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n At least two other children in Florida have died in hot cars since the beginning of 2026, according to the education and public awareness group Kids and Cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n On June 20, a 3-year-old boy was unknowingly left in a car in Hillsborough County, WTSP-TV reported<\/a>. In March, an infant in Winter Haven died after she was left in a car for an unknown amount of time, Fox 13 Tampa Bay reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nearly 40 children die in hot cars every year in the U.S. on average, about one every nine days, according to a fact sheet from Kids and Cars.<\/p>\n The vast majority of children who have died in hot cars are age 3 or younger. Nearly half of all children who were unknowingly left in hot cars were supposed to be dropped off at childcare, according to the group.<\/p>\n Temperatures inside of cars can reach 125 degrees in minutes, even with windows cracked, and children overheat as much as five times faster than adults, the fact sheet said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn an overwhelming majority of child hot car deaths, it was a loving, responsible parent that unknowingly left the child,\u201d according to the organization\u2019s fact sheet.<\/p>\n