Mom Says Daycare Workers Waxed Her Child's Eyebrows: 'They Had No Right to Touch My Daughter'
Like other moms, Alyssa Salgado loves “every little thing” about her 2-year-old daughter, Lilayiah Mendez — including her eyebrows, she says.
Imagine the young Washington mom’s shock when on Feb. 1, she picked her daughter up from daycare at the Columbia Basin College campus in Pasco and realized that the toddler’s brows had been waxed — without her permission, she wrote in a Facebook post Friday, in which she shared photos of Lilayiah.
“I saw a red mark in between her eyebrows,” Salgado wrote. “I think it’s a scratch but as soon as a get home I get a closer look these WOMEN decided to WAX MY DAUGHTERS uni brow.”
“I AM A MOTHER NOTHING LIKE THIS SHOULD EVER HAPPEN AND THEY HAD NO RIGHT TO TOUCH MY DAUGHTER AT ALL,” her post continued.
It added: “I birthed my daughter and love every little thing about her and these so called women took it upon themselves to correct the way my daughter should look.”
Salgado, who dropped off her daughter at the daycare center while she attended high school, also claims that daycare workers waxed the brows of a boy who attends the facility. She says she contacted his mother about it. (Attempts to reach that mother were not immediately successful.)
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Salgado accused the daycare workers of causing her daughter physical pain when they allegedly waxed her brows, writing she felt a sense of guilt herself because “I wasn’t there to protect her I failed her.”
Girl Had Allergic Reaction, Mom Says
The alleged waxing was only the beginning of her daughter’s ordeal, Salgado tells PEOPLE.
“On Saturday is when it hit her hard,” she says. “She had an allergic reaction. Her skin was covered in red pockets of pus. She was crying and saying, ‘Mommy, owie. Mommy, owie,’ and pointed to her forehead.”
“I started crying because I didn’t realize this was go to happen,” she says, though she adds the little girl “is doing better” as of Thursday.
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Salgado took the child to the doctor on Monday, who documented the missing hair between the girl’s eyes.
Salgado has since taken her daughter out of that facility. When the alleged incident took place, Salgado wrote on Facebook, “I refuse to let this go unnoticed!!!” Since Friday, the alleged incident has been shared more than 20,000 times and has made national headlines.
Officials are also looking into the incident. On Saturday, the college posted a message on Facebook, saying, “Columbia Basin College (CBC) was made aware that the Boys and Girls Club of Benton and Franklin counties is investigating a complaint regarding its staff at its childcare center operated for the Pasco School District on the campus of CBC.”
The Washington State Department of Early Learning, which is the licensing agency for childcare centers, will be doing its own investigation beginning Monday at the childcare center, CBC said in its post.
The Boys and Girls Club childcare center provides care and early learning for children of parents who attend New Horizons Alternative High School, which is also located on the CBC Pasco campus, the post says.
