Well still you got to think, would parents who have never owned an exotic animal think to put a lock on the cage or anything?
I had a tree frog when I was too young to be responsible enough to own one, my brother and sister and I always got it out and played with it. My sister did kiss it and get salmonella, it wasn't that bad, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't call my parents incompetent though.
Kids will be kids, but I really don't think they should be owning exotics unless the adult is really committed as much as if not more than the kid. The pet could die since some animals don't do well with handling, if a parent doesn't know information on pets, it's likely that they will receive husbandry techniques from a petsmart employee