There are a thousand reasons why parents feel trepidation sending their children out into the world — even to day care or preschool. What if they’re not ready to leave us? What if we're not ready to leave them? And among the more sinister, what if someone mistreats our child?
Although that last fear can take our minds down some dark and often unrealistic alleyways, the reality of our world is that there are plenty of people who go out of their way to mistreat and abuse children. Sadly, many of these people work in education and child care.
We've heard countless stories of teachers and day care workers harming children. Most recently, we learned of a Mississippi day care employee who has been accused of viciously biting a toddler.
Haley Rozek was arrested after allegedly biting a child in her care.
The 26-year-old Mississippi woman is in jail after she was accused of biting a child at a Laurel day care center last month. Rozek was arrested earlier this week and charged with felony child abuse, according to WDAM. On December 5, a mother, whose name has not been released, took her toddler to Kids Company child care center, and later that night she reportedly noticed marks on her son’s arm.
The child's mother took pictures and video of the injury and sent it to authorities.
The mother spoke to Deputy Priscilla Pitts, who asked her to take video and photos of the toddler’s arm and forward them to her, according to WDAM. The mother believed the marks were the result of an adult bite. She figured it had to be an employee at the day care, so she reached out to the owner of the facility to share her discovery.
Rozek initially denied biting the child.
Later, the day care director, Heather Holifield, told Pitts that Rozek arrived at the center at 11 a.m. Another worker had been in the room until Rozek came in to relieve her. Initially, both employees denied biting the child.
But on December 6, Rozek admitted to Holifield that she had bitten the child. Rozek confessed that she was holding the toddler, trying to calm him down. She blew on his arm in an attempt to do so. The child pulled away from her and Rozek bit him in retaliation, the news outlet reported.
Rozek was terminated immediately.
Holifield immediately fired Rozek, according to the Laurel Leader-Call. Later, Holifield sent copies of Rozek's statement and a report she completed to Pitts.
Holifield did eventually review the security footage but said bad lighting obscured the moment of the bite. Pitts later received the video as well.
Rozek told the unemployment office she accidentally bit a child.
After she was fired, Rozek tried to file for unemployment. She told the unemployment office that she had been fired from her last job because she accidentally bit a child, according to Holifield, who had been been contacted by the office, the Leader-Call reported.
Rozek was eventually booked at Jones County Adult Detention Center. She bonded out on Tuesday, after her first court appearance.
JCSD Investigator Sgt. J.D. Carter told the Leader-Call he appreciated the way Kids Company handled the incident and cooperated with authorities. “There’s no reason to ever bite a child,” Carter stated.
Another child abuse incident at a Mississippi day care went viral last year.
Late last year, CafeMom reported the story of another day care worker who was fired for donning a Scream mask and taunting children with it.
The day care worked bent down to the children’s eye level before screaming in their face with the mask on. The children were terrified and many ran away, screaming in fear. The employee, CeeCee, apologized after the video went viral on social media and claimed she is not a child abuser.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
