Georgia mom of 6-year-old child who climbed into hot car and died has urgent warning for parents

Little Sydney Stanley with her mom, Jenny Stanley. Sydney tragically died in 2010 after she became trapped in a hot car at her family's home. (Jenny Stanley)

On July 31, 2022, another 2-year-old died after being found unresponsive inside a car in Scranton, Kansas, as Kids and Car Safety shared in a news release. The Osage County Sheriff's Department in Kansas said signs suggest the death may have been heat-related. The department confirmed the child was not left in the car, according to Kids and Car Safety.

"Nobody really knows the real reason why children get in on their own because we can’t ask them."

Children may enter vehicles on their own while exploring, playing games like hide-and-seek or for other circumstances, Amber Rollins, director of Kids and Car Safety, told Fox News Digital.

"Nobody really knows the real reason why children get in on their own because we can’t ask them," Rollins said. "But, in Jenny [Stanley’s] case, she does believe she knows."

Young Sydney Stanley is shown posing on a boat during a family vacation. (Jenny Stanley)

Sydney Stanley was just 6 years old when she died after climbing into a hot car 12 years ago. Stanley describes her daughter as being "full of happiness," "a princess some days and a tomboy the other days." "She was very definite about what she wanted and what she didn’t. It was very clear-cut," Stanley said. "And when she would get upset, she would say, ‘Someone hurt my feeling.’ Not her ‘feelings' — her ‘feeling.’"

Sydney is photographed while playing in her team softball league. (Jenny Stanley)

Stanley shared another example of Sydney’s "spunky" character. "One time, she had a friend rubbing her feet and reading to her. I don’t know how she managed [to get her friend] to do that," said the mom.

Sydney also developed a passion for dance, something she began at the young age of 3. "She finally got to do hip-hip and when I picked her up, she said, ‘That was my best day,'" Stanley recalled. "She died that following Sunday, so she never got to do her hip-hop again …only once."

Sydney poses wearing sunglasses and a feather hair accessory. Her mother told Fox News Digital that the child loved dance and softball. (Jenny Stanley)

The day of the tragedy, on Aug. 22, 2010, Jenny Stanley had been running errands with her eldest son Logan (who was 12 years old at the time) while Sydney played at a neighbor’s house. At one point, Stanley's husband Mike asked their middle child Mason (10 years old at the time) to go next door and let Sydney know it was time to come home. When they realized Sydney was not next door, her father got in the car to drive around the neighborhood to look for her. As he was getting into the car — he found Sydney in a fetal position on the back passenger-side floor board.

The Stanley family — Mike (at far left), Jenny, Logan, Mason and Sydney (in front) — pose with Santa Claus for a family Christmas photo.  (Jenny Stanley)

A family friend reached Jenny Stanley, who was halfway home.

When she arrived, police and an ambulance were in front of her house. Paramedics were working on her daughter Sydney, she said. "It was almost like slow motion," she told Fox News Digital. "I remember them working on her and I remember screaming, ‘Don’t stop [working on her].’ It was just shock. It was slow-motion shock. It just didn’t make sense. It was almost like, ‘This cannot be happening.’"

Sydney as a baby, wearing an adorable pink dress.  (Jenny Stanley)

"Mike and I went into the ambulance and each held [Sydney’s] hand and I remember looking out the back of the ambulance seeing my two boys … I remember looking at Mike and saying, ‘We need to take care of them right now,'" she added. "That was the hard part of it."

Georgia siblings Sydney (at far left), Mason and Logan walk along a beach when they were young children. (Jenny Stanley)

Stanley suspects that Sydney returned home to enter her family’s vehicle and retrieve a craft that she had started earlier that morning at church Sunday school. "It's hard to grieve and then be happy, if that makes sense," Jenny Stanley added in reference to being strong for her sons.

"We still did baseball and all that stuff, we went forward — but always missing her."

Sydney loved her "brutters," also known as her "brothers," her mom said. In this image, big brother Mason is feeding little Sydney.  (Jenny Stanley)

The hot car deaths of children vary by circumstance. From 1990 to 2021, 56% of children who died in a hot car-related incident were unknowingly left in the vehicle by a driver. Children sometimes gain access to vehicles on their own (26%) — and accidentally become trapped inside. In very few cases, the circumstances are unknown (3%), while in 15% of cases, the children were knowingly left in the vehicle, according to data reported by Kids and Cars Safety in February 2022.

Little Sydney is pictured in a memorial collage shown here. (Jenny Stanley)

This year, at least 14 children have died in hot car-related incidents, according to Kids and Car Safety. The national nonprofit works to prevent injuries and deaths of children in and around motor vehicles. Kids and Car Safety reports an average of 38 hot car deaths per year   — or   one every 9 days.

Following Sydney’s death, her preschool build a garden in her memory and included sand from the playground where she often spent time.

Seen in this image is a plaque dedicated to Sydney Stanley, who died in a hot car accident at the age of 6. (Jenny Stanley)

Sydney's preschool build a garden in her memory. (Jenny Stanley)

Jenny Stanley has since worked with Kids and Car Safety by opening up about her child’s death in the hope of educating other parents and caregivers about the dangers.