Mum accuses childcare staff of severing daughter's finger
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: An American mother is suing a childcare centre accusing a teacher of rocking over her one-year-old's finger resulting in her losing the top of her ring finger.
The toddler's mum is refusing to accept the Washington childcare's explanation that the girl fell off the rocking chair and injured her finger.
Erin Kays of Oak Harbor had to rush to her daughter Leigha's childcare centre, Children's Academy 2, on January 25 after she had an accident and lost part of her finger. She was told Leigha fell off a rocking chair.
Leigha lost the top of her ring finger on her left hand along with the nail, KIRO 7 reports. The mum said her little girl has been going to the childcare centre since she was five months old.
"It's your baby, and a chunk of her finger is just not there," Ms Kays said.
"It's in a little plastic bag next to you. It was devastating."
The child centre provided the mum with an "Ouch Report", according to King 5 News. The report claims the little girl was standing on the chair when it tipped over and "hurt her finger". For treatment, it's claimed the childcare workers used ice.
But Ms Kays believes the Children's Academy 2 isn't telling the truth.
On a GoFundMe page, Ms Kays said more details were surfacing, and despite being told Leigha fell from the chair, she is sceptical.
Ms Kays claims doctors weren't able to reattach the top of Leigha's finger, "so we have no idea if she will need surgery or special care in the future".
"The fact remains that my daughter is missing part of her finger," Ms Kays wrote.
"Our investigation has revealed that it was most likely a teacher that caused the injury. We have decided to take legal actions and pursue a lawsuit."
In a Facebook post, the mum wrote she was told the force of the fall from the chair detached her fingertip, but the story seems "very shady".
Little kids found alone with father's body nearly 24 hours after his sudden death
Sunshine Coast teen killed in freak horse riding accident
Driver sacked after little girl left on school bus for five hours
"A reliable source informed us that one of the teachers at the day care (it hasn't come to light who that person is) sat down in the rocker, rocking back over my daughter's finger," she wrote.
"The day care had the audacity to blame my daughter for this incident."
Ms Kays said Children's Academy 2 did call 911 and emergency services were there when she arrived, but the childcare centre tried to stop the bleeding "using a wet paper towel, no ice or gauze".
"Also, the severed part of my daughter's finger was not kept cold or on ice, it was thrown into a little bag," she wrote.
"Lastly, the day care removed the rocking chair from facility while we were still in the hospital."
The director of the centre, Jan Alger, told King 5 News staff did "everything" they were "supposed to do".
"We were not negligent," she said.
Five complaints have been made against Children's Academy 2 between January 31, 2012 and January 30, 2018, according to the Washington State Department of Early Learning's Child Care Check.
Ms Kays added she's filed a report with Child Protective Services and police.
