Mom Jessica Hayes is furious over the day care center attendants who taped her 17-month-old daughter's feet to her shoes so tight that it bruised her ankles.
The Incident
Hayes left her child at the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Day Care in Elkin, North Carolina while she went to work. She was upset to find out later on when she picked her up that someone had taped her shoes to her feet and around her ankle. In a Facebook post about the incident, the single mom said that whoever did the unthinkable thing was probably aggravated by her child because she is learning to take off her shoes.
"To the sports players who tape their shoes, they are older have the say so in doing so and is able to say it is to tight and bothering them. My 17-month-old child was unable to say anything," she wrote.
Hayes reported the incident right away to Maehsell Marley, the director of the day care, who she said was "speechless" as she was. The mother said the shoes were left taped long and tight enough that her daughter cried when she removed them. It also left marks, bruises, and caused her child's feet to swell.
Director's Response
Hayes complained about the marks to Marley who immediately viewed security footage to find out the identities of the employees responsible. The day care attendants have since been dismissed.
"Pleasant Hill Day Care in no way condones or allows any practice that would be harmful to a child. 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," Marley told news station WXII.
WXII has reached out to the Elkin Police department to find out if the incident opened a criminal investigation. The chief of police has yet to respond.
As for Hayes, she said that she did not wish to taint Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Day Care's reputation. She reasoned that she only did what any mother would do for her child and be her daughter's voice. She also revealed that she still patronizes the day care. She even dropped her daughter there the next day after the incident and the rest of the week.
