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A Boys & Girls Club day care is under investigation after two Washington mothers accused the facility of waxing their toddlers’ eyebrows without permission.
When Alyssa Salgado picked her 2-year-old daughter up from the child care facility run by the Boys & Girls Club of Benton and Franklin counties earlier this month, she noticed the skin between her toddler’s eyebrows was red and irritated.
At first the 19-year-old mother thought it might have been a scratch, but when she looked closer, her daughter’s eyebrows appeared to be thinner than when she was dropped off.
“I am a mother. Nothing like this should ever happen and they had no right to touch my daughter at all,” Salgado wrote in a passionate Facebook post.
“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.”
Another mother, Glenda Maria Cruz, shared a similar account on Facebook, also accusing the day care of waxing her child’s eyebrows without her consent.
“You know my son can’t talk and I don’t know what he has been through,” she wrote. “It’s really hard honestly because he’s just a baby. He can’t defend himself.
“I’m at a point right now that I feel like a bad mom because I can’t protect him when he needs me most.”
Both mothers paired photos with their social media posts, which have been shared thousands of times.
Officials with the Boys & Girls Club and Washington Department of Early Learning confirmed to the Tri-City Herald they were investigating the allegations.
The nonprofit organization in a statement said it is “committed to operating safe and supportive programs,” adding it “has been recognized for providing quality programs serving youths of all ages.”
Salgado told the newspaper her daughter has not returned to the facility, which operates in a space on the Columbia Basin College campus.
“I just want them to figure out who did this to my daughter,” she said. “I don’t feel comfortable leaving my child there.”
