Furious Mom Says Girl Came Home From Daycare With Huge Chunks of Hair 'Ripped From Her Scalp'
A mother from Seattle is furious after she says her 2-year-old daughter, Chyna, came home from daycare with a large chunk of her hair ripped from her scalp. Chelsy Cooper is devastated by the thought that something terrible happened to her daughter but says that the Childtime daycare staff have yet to tell her what happened and refuse to show her surveillance footage. Frustrated, the mom is taking her case to the Internet and is hoping that by pressing the daycare facility, she'll finally get some answers as police begin investigating.
The mom explained that when her daughter came home from daycare March 6, the girl was missing a large chunk of her hair.
According to a post Cooper published on Facebook, the mom wrote that she had taken her 2-year-old daughter to Childtime for the day and when she returned, the girl was missing a large chunk of hair and had a busted lip. "I can’t even describe it I cried so hard and never felt so helpless in my life," she wrote.
Heartbroken, the mom asked her daughter's school for answers, but instead of giving her information that could have helped her piece together the story, she wrote that nobody seems to know what took place. "No one knows what happened to her at all, no report or anything. They wouldn’t let me check the cameras," she wrote. "They have live video throughout the day so I don’t know why I can’t roll the cameras back."
And although no one would allegedly confirm what caused the incident, Cooper added that a daycare official told her that whatever happened was "probably" because of the beads in Chyna's hair.
Cooper added that she had tried to contact police about the matter, but "not one police officer came out."
"I even called them when I went back to the daycare and still they never came out at this point," she continued. "I’m lost for words and don’t [know] what to do. I called 911 and they told me they don’t come out for calls like this."
Cooper's post has since gone viral and has been shared more than 13,000 times. But Federal Way Police Commander Kurt Schwan noted to Seattle Weekly that some people writing comments on Cooper's post have made "numerous other threats of violence against the school and its staff,” including some who wrote that “teachers would be shot."
Concerned about the safety of their staff, a Childtime manager called 911 on the night of March 6 to report what was being written online. A member of the Federal Way Police Department was dispatched to the facility the night of March 7 to keep an eye on both staff and the students as they left for the day.
According to Schwan, police will be looking into the case despite their alleged lack of follow-through when Cooper reached out initially. He said that the Criminal Investigations Person Crimes Unit will investigate and said they've also reached out to Child Protective Services.
The police officer also told reporters that they believe it was another child who was "involved in hair pulling. So obviously they are way too young to be involved with criminal intent. However, with regard to supervision, that’s why this was referred to CPS.”
In the meantime, Cooper has retained legal counsel and will “seek justice” for her little girl.
Lydia Cisaruk, director of communication for Childtime, spoke out about the incident and gave a statement:
“We take our responsibility as caregivers very seriously. When a concern is brought to our attention, we conduct a comprehensive review, and take any appropriate steps based on the findings.
This situation is still being reviewed, and we are continuing to cooperate with the investigation. However, based on our internal review, we have not seen anything to indicate that the child’s hair had been pulled or that the child was harmed in any other way by students or staff members. We believe our protocols were followed. Nothing is more important to us than our children’s wellbeing.”
Cisaruk also noted that the school had reported the complaint to CPS and to the state licensing board, in keeping with their process.
Alarmingly, Cooper's incident has not been the last complaint lodged against the daycare facility. On March 8, another child reportedly came home with a mysterious bump on his forehead. Four-year-old Keith Taylor's grandmother told Kiro 7 that staff at Childtime also failed to tell her about his injury. Both Keith and Chyna are no longer enrolled in the daycare.
"How did they let this happen?” Cooper wondered. “For them to hide it, that hurts the most."