Florissant, MO — The parents of a 4-year-old girl claim that their daughter was duct taped to a chair while attending a suburban St. Louis daycare facility back in March, and that the daycare facility failed to report the incident.
Parents Elysha Brooks and Christian Evans are furious, and rightfully so. The couple says they were recently contacted by the Department of Children and Family Services in Missouri about an alleged incident that supposedly occurred about four months ago at Little Learners daycare in Florissant, Missouri. They say that the agency shared a photo with them showing their daughter taped to a plastic chair witht a caption reading “Thought I was playing.”
“One of her teachers DuctTaped her to a Chair and posted her on SC [Snapchat],” Brooks posted to Facebook on Friday. In the post, Brooks also accuses the daycare facility of failing to document an incident involving a rock that was lodged in her daughter’s ear, which according to Brooks “almost damaged her eardrum.”
“I’m looking at a picture of my daughter duck taped to a chair, and her facial expression, I can just imagine how she felt,” said Brooks.
Christian Evans, the girl’s father, said that “Seeing your child duct taped to a chair, seeing the anxiety, seeing how scared your kid is, knowing for one that you’re there to protect them and knowing for two that you have people around that would stoop to that level to hurt your child puts you in a crazy mind state.” Evans says he won’t be happy until the center is shut down and the person responsible is put in jail.
The Little Learners daycare center has not publicly commented on the matter.
The Department of Children and Family Services is currently investigating the matter, but so far, no criminal charges have been filed. We will continue to provide updates to this story as more information is released.
Commentary
We can’t help but be reminded of a similar incident that our law firm handled just a few years ago, where a Texas daycare worker was allegedly duct taping children to their beds in order to stop them from moving around. We’re truly appalled that someone entrusted to take care of children could act in such a manner, and we hope that those found to be responsible are held fully accountable for their actions.