In a video that has now gone viral on Instagram and Facebook, a woman is shown pushing and pulling the hair of a toddler at a daycare center.
The incident was allegedly filmed by another employee at the My Little Playhouse Learning Center in Lubbock, Texas. The employee, who was reportedly the abuser, appears to be Hispanic and goes by Kay Kae Rangel on Facebook. The video shows the worker trying to get the child to follow instructions and eat in a cafeteria at a table while other children were around. The little girl on the video appears to be either not feeling well or tired, but neither has been confirmed.
The infuriating video shows the abuse becoming progressive as the child appears to not want to eat. There is even an unidentified person laughing in the background.
The owners of My Little Playhouse Learning Center released a statement:
“The owners and Directors of My Little Playhouse Learning Center LLC were made aware of video footage posted on social media at approximately 11:45 a.m. Staff involved were fired immediately. Local authorities (LPD) has been notified and are investigating accordingly. Texas Department of Childcare Licensing has also been notified.”
Lubbock Police were also notified and are investigating the situation.
Many parents were seen picking up their children because of what happened.
The unidentified girl’s grandmother, who saw the video about 20 minutes prior to picking up the child, had this to say about the incident:
“I was furious. My initial reaction was to come and snatch her head off her body,” said Shanna Walker, the grandmother of the child. “It’s very frightening.” She says the employees there are “supposed to be people that are taking care of [the kids] that has their well being at heart. “But when you come to find out something like this is happening… I know that everyone thinks that their grandchildren are the best. But this little girl, she is the sweetest little girl that you could ever know. And she’s very quiet and very timid. So, for her to sit there and just to pull on her hair it’s very infuriating. I mean I’m standing here right now, feeling like I’m about to boil over.”
On the Facebook fan page, which allegedly belongs to Rangel, she appeared to downplay the abuse by stating she was “holding her chongo [bun]” and lash out at the many visitors who were sending friend requests and leaving commentary on the page.
Paul Zimmerman, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said the agency is also investigating the incident for abuse or neglect. He said TDFPS investigators will turn over the results of their investigation to the department of Health and Human Services, which handles licenses for child care providers.
Within the last three years, there have been 20 reported instances of deficiencies during compliance inspections conducted by DFPS at the center. Five of those deficiencies were categorized as “high,” and generally stemmed from caregivers not knowing how many children were under their care at the time of the inspections. No deficiencies were reported to have involved concerns of physical abuse.
