Mother Sues Group Home For Shaving Her Daughter’s Hair
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October 25, 2017A Massachusetts mother is suing the state-run Group Home her daughter lives in for shaving the girl’s hair without her consent.
Before and after: this Mom says program SHAVED HER DAUGHTER’S HEAD without permission, told her it would grow back straight @boston25 pic.twitter.com/VniNk4yLw0
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) October 20, 2017
“I am very upset, and I’m not going to stop being upset because I feel like my child was assaulted and violated,” Robinson told NBC Boston.
Her daughter Tru lives at the facility part-time because she has “severe emotional issues,” the station reports. Robinson alleges that a Little Heroes employee attributed the haircut to a hygiene issue, but she insists there was nothing of the sort.
“There was no head lice. There was no bed bugs,” Robinson told NBC Boston. “Her hair was two ponytails on the side on Saturday and it was braided in the ponytails and there was nothing wrong.”
Her attorney Richard Kendell claims that the salon volunteer who gave the haircut said something troubling to Tru as well.
“The volunteer informed this 7-year-old biracial child that by shaving her head, her hair would grow back straight,” Kendell told CBS Boston. “I find that appalling.”
“I’m not afraid to say it and talk about the elephant in the room,” he informed Boston 25 News. “I believe it’s a biracial matter and by shaving her head close they were somehow implying that straighter hair is better than dread, curly hair.”
So… the whole “shave your head and it will grow back straight” is an old wives tale I’ve heard all my life. I actually don’t know if it’s popular in the US… I grew up in Mexico. But it was “common knowledge” that shaving your head would get your hair to grow back the “opposite.”
Hispanics have both straight and curly hair, so I never took it to be a race thing. I have really wavy hair, but as a kid I REALLY wanted straight hair for some reason – so believe me, I looked in to the idea of shaving my head. (When I was like 6… ok? Kids are weird.)
That aside… I’m torn.
The girl lives in a group home… which means at some point a parent needs to relinquish SOME authority over the child when it comes to her day to day care.
I don’t know under what circumstances the child’s head was shaved. The group home is calling it a “hygiene issue.” The mother is alleging this isn’t true, but if the girl lives in the group home, it’s possible they have a better understanding of her hygiene needs than she does.
Of course, I also think parents should have ultimate rights over their children. This girl lives there for “severe emotional issues” … not necessarily because she was taken away from her mother. So, should the mom still have say over every one of these decisions?
The mother says her daughter was “assaulted and violated.”
It’s an ugly haircut…. I think that’s a stretch.
I don’t have kids yet, which may be why I don’t have a strong opinion. There’s a 99.99999% chance that if someone shaved MY little girl’s head, my fists would be flying.
Shaved head or not, this sweet little girl is still PRECIOUS. I hope her mom isn’t losing track of that. The best thing she can do for her daughter is remind her that hair is just that…. hair, and that her beauty – both inside and out – shines through with or without it.
