Mum harnesses social media for daughter
A mother whose daughter received horrific facial injuries has harnessed the power of social media to try to get justice for her daughter.
Mississippi woman Lacey Harris last week started a Facebook page on behalf of her five-year-old daughter AvaLynn after being frustrated by school administrators and police.
The Daily Mail website reports that Ms Harris believes her daughter was punched by another child on the kindergarten playground.
Some of AvaLynn's injuries. Picture: Facebook
This is despite Arlington Elementary School telling Ms Harris that AvaLynn hurt herself falling on the playground.
The Justice for AvaLynn Facebook page was started on Friday and features close-up pictures of little AvaLynn's gruesome injuries - black eyes, swollen face, damaged cheek and nose.
Ms Harris believes her daughter was punched by another child. Picture: Facebook
As of midday Monday, the page had amassed more than 69,000 likes.
The page administrators said their goals were to get answers from the school about the true cause of the child's injuries and to change school supervision rules so children are more closely monitored in the playground.
The five-year-old before she suffered the injuries. Facebook
On August 30, the site's administrators posted: "We're trying to spread word far and wide about what has happened to AvaLynn, and to get the media involved as much as possible, in order to force the school district to take action for what has happened.
"We aim to push for better supervision of our children, who are supposed to be safe and protected at school, not brutalised under the care of teachers with blind eyes."
Her injuries included black eyes, swollen face, damaged cheek and nose. Picture: Facebook
Like any social media foray, the campaign for AvaLynn has its pitfalls.
"Neither Lacey nor Jamie have made accounts on Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, etc," the Justice for AvaLynn Facebook page posted on Saturday.
"Anyone asking for help or for donations on any medium besides this page or the GoFundMe page linked to in this page's information is trying to scam people.
Morning news break – September 01
