The anti-triplet charmed baryon decays with the light scalar mesons are rarely measured, whereas the recent observation of the Cabibbo-favored Λ + c → Ληπ + decay hints a possible Λ + c → Λa 0 (980) + , a 0 (980) + → ηπ + process. We hence study the Λ + c → Λa 0 (980) + decay. Particularly, it is found that the final state interaction can give a significant contribution, where Σ + (1385)and η in Λ + c → Σ + (1385)η by exchanging a charged pion are transformed as Λ and a 0 (980) + , respectively. Accordingly, we predict B(Λ + c → Λa 0 (980) + ) = (1.7 +2.8 −1.0 ± 0.3) × 10 −3 , accessible to the BESIII, BELLEII and LHCb experiments.