“It’s your baby, and a chunk of her finger is just not there. It’s just in a little plastic bag next to you. It’s devastating,” Erin Kays said.
The Ouch Report sent home with her daughter from Children’s Academy 2 in Oak Harbor said that Kays’ daughter had been climbing on a rocking chair, ignored commands to get down and “continued to stand on it, causing it to tip over.”
The incident took off the top portion of the 2-year-old’s finger, with the fingernail still attached.
Kays said that while she was accompanying her daughter to the hospital, she held herself together emotionally until doctors removed the bandages.
“They had bound it up pretty good on the way to the hospital and they were unwinding it. It went from white to pink to red, to blood everywhere. I lost it,” Kays said.
The director of Children’s Academy 2 said the day care was sorry the child was hurt but noted that it was proud to be licensed by the state.
According to the state agency that licenses daycares, the Department of Early Licensing, there were five “valid complaints” lodged against Children’s Academy 2 from 2012 to 2018.
At least one complaint referred to character issues, and two others were categorized as “failure to report,” although further details were not immediately available.
Kays said she can only comfort her daughter so much at the moment.
“You can tell she’s in quite a bit of pain but, because she’s so young, all we can really do is give her Tylenol or Motrin,” Kays said.
After this incident, Kays said, she is telling all parents to be more curious about their child care providers.
“I felt like people need to do a little more research into their child care, and trust your community,” she said.
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