Photo: Getty Images
A New Jersey mother is seeking answers after her two-year-old daughter came home from daycare with one of her braids missing.
Photos obtained by ABC 7 show Tamara Hemingway's daughter, Myla, missing a portion of hair after a day at the Growing Kids Academy.
Hemingway said she sent her child to daycare with four braids on the right side of her head. However, when she called to check on her child, a staffer informed her that one braid on the girl's head was missing.
"Then that's when she sent me the picture, and that's when I saw the big bald spot in my child's head with the braid missing," Hemingway recalled.
The daycare said there wasn't any evidence that the braid was pulled from Myla's head. According to Ocean Township Police, the girl's hair looked normal around 11 a.m. Surveillance video showed Myla playing with her braids several times. At around 11:45 a.m., a teacher appeared to take a smock off Myla's head. The girl appeared to put her hand on the right side of her head before authorities noted they no longer saw the braid.
Neither the missing hair nor the barette was found following a search.
"You have to use some type of force to for a braid to be removed. It was a cornrow so it was braided down to her scalp. There's no way that, I don't know who could have done it, but I know for a fact she or kid would not have done that," Hemingway said.
Hemingway said she also has an issue with how the daycare handled the incident.
"They're supposed to notify me. Just to even like give whatever little information you do have about the incident until you look into it further and confirm. But no one even called me to just let me know that little bit of information. I'm very upset, and I'm very frustrated because this is my child. Like she's not able to let me know what happened. And that's the concerning part, the fact that they're just so insensitive. Like no one even called me to check on her, see how she was doing," Hemingway said.
Hemingway noted that she plans to pursue legal action against the daycare, where she has since removed her child.
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