It could have easily been any parent's nightmare.

But rather than getting a call to learn their five-year-old daughter was missing, Paul Jacobs and his wife were each called to learn their daughter had left the Nazarene daycare on her own on Monday.

The daycare is located off Centennial Street near MacDonald Road. The youngster walked along the Alaska Highway toward downtown Whitehorse and ended up at Goody's gas bar with store staff. A stranger had been good enough to pick her up and try to find her parents.

'It was good that he was a good, honest guy,' Jacobs said Tuesday of the man who had picked her up.

Hearing different versions of the incident, Jacobs said, he still isn't entirely sure how his daughter was able to leave the daycare she's attended for four years without any problems.

The territorial Department of Health and Social Services is conducting a probe on what happened, but it hasn't been completed yet.

The daycare was expecting to receive the report later today, but has already started making changes so a child isn't able to wander off again.

What the father has learned is that throughout Monday, his daughter said she wanted to go home. At some point, she was able to grab her things and head out without anyone noticing, he said.

'She decided she was going home,' said Jacobs.

She later told her parents she wanted to see her mother (who was at work) and had decided she would go home.

She began walking along the highway toward her family's house in Porter Creek, but when she got to Wann Road, she was afraid to cross it. That's when the passing stranger noticed her and took her home.

They rang the doorbell and found no one was home. They then went back to the service station, where the man called territorial children's services officials while staff at the gas station asked the girl for her name.

Eventually, they were able to learn the family's name and find out where her mom worked to call her, Jacobs told the Star.

After the parents' made a fast trip up to Goody's, Jacobs said his wife called the daycare and asked if their daughter was there.

It was only then that daycare staff learned of the missing child, he said.

'That was the first they'd heard of it,' said Jacobs.

He said this afternoon the family will not take any action against the daycare, noting that children's services staff are dealing with what happened.

For now, the family is finished with daycare and is fortunate to have extended family help look after their daughter over the summer before school starts in the fall.

Meanwhile, Pastor Norman Hajian of the Church of the Nazarene, which operates the daycare, said this morning he's still waiting to receive the government's report to learn exactly what happened.

Hajian wasn't there at the time, but it initially appears there was a communication breakdown on a day of unusual circumstances at the daycare and that action was taken immediately to address it, he said.

'It's something we're very troubled by,' he said. 'It was, obviously, a very unnerving situation.'

While Hajian said he has a sense of what happened, he didn't want to speak on the record to it until the report is available to make sure he had the details correct.

If there is a difference between what is believed to have happened and what really did, there could be more changes implemented to ensure there is no recurrence, he said.

'We've taken steps immediately based on what I think was the problem,' Hajian said.

As a father who had children in daycare when they were young, he said, he would not hesitate to place young children in daycare now.

Pat Living is the spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Services, under which the children's services branch falls.

Because the daycare has initiated changes and is co-operatively working with the department, she said this morning, officials opted not to close the facility temporarily while they looked into the incident.

The department also looked at the impact the closure would have on parents whose children attend the daycare.

The changes range from the more physical, like a door buzzer which sounds anytime someone comes in or out of the building, to policies such as a different communication system between staff being relieved for breaks.

The department is also planning to increase the number of spot checks it does on the facility.

More changes could be made, depending on the report's conclusions.

Licensed daycare centres in the territory are required to have a staff ratio of one daycare worker to four infants, one worker to six preschoolers more than 18 months old, and one staff to eight preschoolers more than three years old.