One Nevada mom is warning other parents about the risks of birthday drop-offs after a shocking discovery at her daughter’s party.

What was supposed to be a carefree afternoon for her 9-year-old daughter took an unsettling turn for Lauren Rodriguez.

Rodriguez explained that she dropped off her daughter, Ashlyn, at a roller skating rink in August for a birthday celebration. It was her first time meeting the hosting parent.

“I asked her if it would be okay if I let Ashlyn stay with the party while I ran some errands, and the hosting parent said it was totally fine,” Rodriguez tells PEOPLE exclusively. She noted that they arrived a little after 2 p.m. and that she made sure Ashlyn was signed in, outfitted with skates, and settled with the group before she left.

“I asked her what time the party would run until, and she said it would be over at 5 p.m.,” Rodriguez added.

But when the mother of four returned to the rink at around 4:30 p.m., she was stunned to find the party room locked, the lights out — and her daughter nowhere in sight.

Since her daughter doesn’t yet have a phone, there was no way for Lauren Rodriguez to contact her directly. “I immediately started searching for Ashlyn,” she recalls. “I spotted her out on the rink and asked where everyone else had gone. She told me that everyone had left.”

As it turned out, Ashlyn had run into a friend from gymnastics who happened to be at the rink, though she wasn’t part of the birthday party. The two girls “buddied up,” giving Ashlyn someone to spend time with after the rest of the party had departed.

Worried, Rodriguez approached the rink manager, who explained that the birthday party had actually ended nearly an hour before she had returned.

“He told me they were a messy group, all trying to head outside with their roller skates still on, and he had to stop them, reminding them they couldn’t wear the skates outdoors,” Rodriguez explains. “So the party members removed their skates and went outside instead… and that’s where they planned to present a gift to the birthday girl.”

Lauren Rodriguez’s daughter, Ashlyn.
Lauren Rodriquez

Ashlyn, however, had returned to the party room after skating, only to find it completely empty. Believing the celebration had already ended, she assumed everyone had gone home.

It wasn’t until the host realized Ashlyn was missing that she contacted Rodriguez at around 4:24 p.m., sending a message that reportedly read: “Did you come and pick up Ashlyn? I haven’t seen her in a while.”

By that point, though, Rodriguez was already back at the venue and had frantically tried to reach the mother, calling her eight times without success.

“She eventually responded by text, explaining that she had lost her phone in the parking lot and that the reason she was texting rather than calling me back was because her battery was down to 2%,” Rodriguez recounts.

According to Rodriguez, the host then explained that they had only reserved the party room for 45 minutes before relocating the celebration to the lobby.

Neither Ashlyn nor her mother had been told about the move, which is why the 9-year-old returned to the party room after skating while everyone else had gone elsewhere.

The host later claimed they had remained at the rink until 5:30 p.m., but Rodriguez wasn’t convinced. “If she was there until 5:30, then why didn’t she come up to me while I was frantically searching for my daughter’s shoes and speaking to management?” she asked.

Wanting to raise awareness, Rodriguez shared the experience in a TikTok post, which quickly went viral, amassing more than 2.5 million views and sparking intense debate.

Some criticized her decision to leave her daughter unattended. “Why are we leaving our children alone in public spaces? Don’t you think the mother of the birthday child had enough on her plate that day?” one commenter wrote. “Ultimately, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure your child is safe. Run your errands another time.”

Others, however, defended Rodriguez and pointed out that drop-offs are common. “Maybe it’s just because of how I grew up, but as a millennial with three kids, I would not expect the parents to stay at my kids’ party,” one supporter commented. “To me, the standard is to drop them off and pick them up afterward. As the host, I would be keeping track of every child.”

Reflecting on the ordeal, Rodriguez admits that it was only after her daughter was safely back with her that she could begin to fully process what had happened.

“The fact that my daughter was left unaccounted for… really upset me,” she tells PEOPLE. “I was so confused, angry, and just heartbroken for Ashlyn.”

In hindsight, Rodriguez says she now recognizes that not all parents view responsibility the same way. For her, however, the rule is clear: any child in her care becomes her full responsibility, and she would always “treat them as if they were my own.”

Her message to other parents is straightforward: “Don’t do a birthday drop-off.”