I don't think you got the whole story from your daughter or AirTran. Flight 319, scheduled to arrive @11:54 AM, arrived 39 minutes late @12:33 PM. Her scheduled connecting flight 985 was scheduled to depart at 12:29 PM. It actually departed at 12:43 PM but your daughter's flight was just arriving at 12:33 PM. While the first people were deplaning from her flight boarding for her connecting flight was probably closed. I'm not sure why they did not tell her or you this information.
ATL is AirTran's hub. Most airlines have a designated waiting room for unaccompanied minors at heir hub cities. There might not be an employee physically in the room at all times but rest assured there is probably someone nearby and access to the room is restricted. It may even be adjacent to an employee break room.
In the future you may want to think twice about booking a ticket with only a scheduled 35 minute connection. Even for an experienced traveler this can be tight especially if the inbound flight is running a few minutes late. Remember most airlines cut off boarding at 15 minutes prior to departure so that 35 minutes was, in actuality, only 20.
Finally why didn't you book her a non-stop flight? Probably price. Well now you know that the cheapest option isn't always the best.
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