Two Ohio volunteer firefighters were placed on leave after a family disagreement led to a complaint and resulting investigations.
Last week the girl’s mother posted on Facebook alleging that the father disciplined their daughter by cutting her previously long hair, showing before and after pictures. The post went viral. Here’s the report from MyFox8:
The mom – Christin Johnson, was appalled when her daughter came home and she saw the haircut. She claims it happened as a punishment for highlights she received at an earlier date. Here’s what the post read:
“This is what my daughter looked like Sunday when I took her home and the other two pics is what happened today before she was brought to me… All over me having highlights put in her hair for her birthday!”
Now local children’s services are involved in the case since an allegation of child abuse has been made. Police Chief Colby Carroll says the complaint states that the girl’s father, who is a firefighter, forced his daughter to get a haircut against her will. The girl’s stepmother is also a firefighter, and now both have been placed on leave in light of the allegations and will remain on leave until it is completed.
“I’ve been doing this since ’92 and I’ve never had a case I would say that’s like this. Mom was upset with how her child was being cared for — lack of better terms,” Carroll told reporters.
No names have been released.
There are still many unanswered questions surrounding this case, but already people are weighing in online and engaging in debates over parental discipline and child abuse. There are a wide range of possibilities and outcomes, including the case being drop altogether, but parents are watching the outcome of cases such as this with a watchful eye, as the definitions of abuse not only range greatly, but also change frequently as well. There is a growing unease about the power the state wields to remove children from homes, so it will be interesting to see how this particular incident plays out.
(h/t CrimeOnline)