Parents Are Furious After a Daycare Taped a Toddler’s Shoes to Her Ankles

North Carolina mom Jessica Hayes took to Facebook after two daycare workers taped her 17-month-old daughter’s shoes to her feet. The tape was wrapped so tightly that the toddler’s feet were left bruised and swollen, a shocking sight that Hayes shared photos of on social media on May 16, blasting Pleasant Hill Day Care for the incident.

“I am upset that this happened to my child as someone was clearly upset that she was learning take her shoes off and done it out of being aggravated,” she captioned the photos. “This was also not just her shoes being taped up it was around her ankle. My 17-month-old child was unable to say anything.”

And Hayes’ daughter wasn’t the only toddler subject to taping at the Elkin, N.C. daycare. Another parent commented that the same thing happened to her child that day. However, she stressed that the daycare was handling it, claiming, “They are just as upset as the parents and devastated that this happened.”

Both workers involved in the event have since been fired, according to Pleasant Hill’s director, Maehsell Marley, who Hayes says “was just as speechless as I was” when informed about the tape marks. Marley stated that the daycare “in no way condones or allows any practice that would be harmful to a child,” and that “the shoe-taping incident is not a representation of who we are.”

Hayes also shared a follow-up post in which she explained she will continue to keep her daughter enrolled in the daycare: “I am positive this won’t happen to another child as it has raised awareness to all.”