CHARLESTON – A mother says her six-year-old daughter was abused at a Hurricane daycare center.
Alyshia Henry, as parent of A.H., filed her complaint November 20 in Putnam Circuit Court against Abigail Alford, Kelley Matusic and My Family Daycare and Preschool LLC, which is located near CAMC Teays Valley Hospital. Alford is a worker at the facility, and Matusic is the director.
Attorney Michael Cary, who is representing the plaintiffs, has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in recently weeks against a Cross Lanes daycare center with similar allegations.
Cary
| Courtesy photo
“If standing up for our children, who have been abused at this daycare, is wrong, then I don't want to be right,” Cary told The West Virginia Record. “None of these children asked to be victims of physical abuse, and no parent deserves to endure the pain of knowing their child has suffered.
“For this daycare to attempt to discredit the parents, especially when the abuse is on video, reveals two harsh truths: that abuse is rampant and that the daycare is unwilling to accept responsibility for its actions, choosing instead to deflect blame. They need only to look in the mirror to find the true source of the problem.”
According to the complaint, video footage taken September 24 “reveals a scene of utter chaos.”
“The classroom, overcrowded with more than six children, was being managed solely by a single employee – Ms. Alford,” the complaint states. “This stark imbalance between the number of children and the lone staff member underscores a severe lack of adequate supervision and support, raising concerns about the ability to ensure the safety and proper care of each child in such an understaffed environment.”
The complaint says the footage shows A.H. pushing another child in the classroom. The child then tells Alford, who is sitting in the far corner out of view, about the incident. Alford then yells for A.H. to “come here,” but the girl instead hides under a cabinet or desk before Alford walks toward her.
“As defendant Alford is standing over A.H., she then abruptly and aggressively grabs the minor child under her arms and begins to drag her across the classroom while A.H. cries and struggles to get away from Alford,” the complaint states. “As she is dragging the defenseless child, Alford can be seen forcefully pulling at her arms and dropping her several times.”
The complaint says the force was so severe that Alford left significant bruising on A.H. as well as fingernail marks.
“Alford then drags plaintiff A.H. out of the view of the classroom cameras and continues her abuse of the helpless child while she cries out ‘No,’” the complaint states. “Shortly after defendant Alford can also be heard yelling, ‘Hey, you ain’t going to be like this little girl’ along with screaming at the small child that she was going ‘up front’ and that she would call her mother.”
The defendants are accused of negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, unlawful racial discrimination in violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act.
The complaint says A.H. has suffered emotional distress, humiliation, mental anguish and other damages. The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages for pain and suffering, emotional and mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, indignity, embarrassment, humiliation, annoyance, shame, inconvenience and other damages. They also seek punitive damages and other relief.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Phillip Stowers.
Putnam Circuit Court case number 24-C-219