Photo: Facebook
The little girl's mother was rightfully alarmed by it.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Mar 06, 2023
A mother was left furious after she discovered what daycare staff did to her infant daughter in retaliation for her trying to remove her shoes. Jessica Hayes, from North Carolina, demanded answers and consequences after her 17-month-old daughter was left with bruises and physical marks from daycare employees that were meant to be watching over her.
Hayes discovered marks on her one-year-old daughter's ankles after daycares staff taped her shoes on.
In a since-deleted Facebook post, according to Daily Mail, Hayes had gone to pick up her daughter from daycare, as she'd done countless times in the past, only to come across something alarming. She shared photos of her daughter's feet, which were tightly bound with masking tape by the daycare employees, who had been "aggravated" that Hayes' daughter was constantly removing her shoes. "Does anyone see an issue with this?" Hayes captioned the photo. "Am I the only one?"
In the photos, the little girl's ankles were being tightly squeezed from how tightly the tape had been wrapped, to the point where her skin was turning red with visible angry marks. "I am upset that this happened to my child as someone was clearly upset that she was learning [to] take her shoes off and [did] it out of being aggravated," Hayes wrote in her Facebook post.
"This was not just her shoes being taped up, it was around her ankle." Hayes also shared photos of her daughter's ankles once the tape was removed, which caused swelling and bruises. "Yes, it does hurt and break trust when you put that trust into two individuals who have been with my daughter since she was 6 weeks old."
"This was left on long enough and tight enough to leave marks, cause swelling, and bruise."
The daycare employees were promptly fired after the director of the daycare was made aware.
According to WXII, Hayes immediately took the photos of her daughter's bruised ankles to the director of Pleasant Hill Daycare, who was "speechless" at the incident.
In a statement to the news outlet, Maehsell Marley, the daycare's director, confirmed that the two employees responsible were fired: "Pleasant Hill Day Care in no way condones or allows any practice that would be harmful to a child," Marley assured. "We have an outstanding group of caregivers who strive to meet the highest of expectations on a daily basis for the children in our care, and what occurred in the shoe-taping incident is not a representation of who we are."
Hayes confirmed that she had kept her daughter enrolled in the daycare for the time being, but would soon be removing her due to a lack of support from other parents since sharing the incident on social media. "I have felt very welcomed by the director of the daycare but as for all the stares and bad looks I get from the parents with my child beside me, how immature and disrespectful can you be?" she questioned.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.