WALLINGFORD — State authorities are investigating after a 3-year-old girl was left on the toilet waiting for help in a day-care center that had closed for the day.

The child’s father was able to get her out of the YMCA Learning Community at 333 Christian St. Tuesday night after getting an entry code from his ex-wife, Wallingford police spokeswoman Lt. Cheryl Bradley said Friday in a release.

Parents who attended a Friday night meeting at the Wallingford Family YMCA’s 81 S. Elm St. facility said they were told that three staff members would no longer be allowed to work with children.

The child’s father called police at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to report his daughter had been left inside the day care and all the workers had left.

He told police he’d arrived at the day care about 6 p.m. and saw the lights were on but no employees were there. The man saw his daughter’s coat and lunch bag inside the building. He called his ex-wife and got the front door code so he could go inside and get the young girl, he told police.

The girl’s mother, Bernadette Sorbo, told NBC Connecticut that, “We found our daughter in the toilet and she was covered in her own feces with nobody around. ... I got her off the potty. I wiped her down and cleaned her off and we went over to the cubby.”

Police spoke with people involved and found there had been a “breakdown of internal procedures,” Bradley said, but said the child wasn’t intentionally left behind.

“While the situation is one of an alarming nature, it does not rise to the level of criminal conduct,” Bradley said.

Parents leaving the Friday night meeting said those present were generally supportive of the Y’s staff and that they were confident procedures would be put in place to prevent future incidents.

“It seems like they’re going to be really diligent,” said Kate Frank, whose 4-year-old son attends the day care. “They’re a really amazing staff that [the children] love and we don’t want to rip our kids out of there.”

Frank said the meeting focused on “using more checklists and stricter protocols” to make sure children are kept safe and accounted for.

“This is a really good program and I’ve been really happy with the YMCA,” she said.

Jennifer Turner, who sends her 3-month-old and 21-month-old children to the day care, said, “I support the Y. They’ve done everything they could to support the parents.

“I understand the incident was very unfortunate, but I completely support the Y and their program.”

Turner said she “was freaked out” when she heard that the child was left behind and said “there was some airing of grievances” at the meeting, but that she was confident in the staff.

Victoria Grattan called the situation “a little disappointing. We put our trust in them.”

“My heart breaks for the child,” Grattan said, but she said she would keep her 4-year-old daughter enrolled.

Wallingford Y Executive Director Sean Doherty would not comment after the meeting.

John Thomas, a Quinnipiac University Law School professor, said while he was unfamiliar with the details of the case, police and state agencies aren’t usually reluctant to charge third-party providers of child care and school transportation with child endangerment or risk of injury in many cases.

“The third-party provider has the same responsibility for a child’s health and well-being as a parent,” Thomas said. “The bar for charging parents is much higher. Although they will act when necessary, police are more reluctant to file charges in a matter where a parent is involved because that relationship in considered sacrosanct.”

Deputy Police Chief Marc Mikulski declined to comment further on the department’s reasons for not filing any charges in the case.

The state Department of Children and Families is investigating, as is the Office of Early Childhood, which oversees day-care licensing, police said. Spokesmen from both offices would not comment on the case.

The Learning Community is located on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall, which rents space to the day care center, according to Lorraine Connelly, a Choate spokeswoman.

“We are committed to ensuring that our parent community is comfortable with the handling of this situation and have informed them that the three individuals primarily involved in Tuesday’s incident will not be working with their children at any of our sites,” Doherty said in a statement to NBC Connecticut.

Register reporters Ed Stannard and Luther Turmelle contributed to this story.