HOUSTON – A Houston mother says she enrolled her 3-year-old son at Whiz Children’s Academy, hoping it would help him spend time around other children and give her a few hours each morning to work.
Instead, she says four days later, she picked him up crying, noticed scratches on his face, and later found bruises across his body that sent her rushing him to the emergency room. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has now taken on the investigation.
Lisbeth Morejon told KPRC 2 she chose the daycare because it was close to home, around six minutes away, and seemed like a practical option for her family.
She said her son had been closely attached to her, and she believed daycare would help him slowly adjust to being around other kids while she handled work in the mornings and picked him up later in the day.
Morejon said the first day was emotional, but she told herself that was normal.
She said her son cried at drop-off, something many parents expect during the first days at a new daycare. She also said he was first placed in one room, then moved into a classroom with older children, which made her uncomfortable.
She said one drop-off in particular still stays with her. Her son held onto her and begged her not to leave him there.
“And he told me, ‘Oh mom, help me. I don’t want to be here. Help me,’” she said, describing one of the moments that made her question whether he was adjusting well.
Even then, she said she trusted the daycare because she believed he was in a place where adults were supposed to protect children.
Later that week, Morejon said the daycare called her and asked her to come in and sign paperwork.
She said staff told her her son had left the classroom multiple times without permission and needed correction.
Morejon told KPRC 2 she pushed back, saying it was the daycare’s responsibility to supervise him and keep him safe if he left the room.
She also said she asked whether he had been hurt and was told he was okay.
That is why she says what happened at pickup caught her off guard.
Morejon said when she arrived, she first went through the paperwork discussion. Then she walked into the classroom to get her son.
“When I go inside the classroom where my kid was at to pick him up, my kid runs to me crying. That’s when I noticed two scratches on his face,” she said.
She said the employee who handed her son over was speaking English, and because she wanted to talk with someone in Spanish about what happened, she decided she would return the next morning to ask more questions.
At that point, she told her child’s father she thought maybe he had been scratched while playing with another child.
Morejon said the full extent of the injuries did not become clear until later that evening, when she was helping her son change clothes to use the bathroom.
She said that is when she saw bruises “all over the place,” including on his arms, his back, and his crotch area.
She also described swelling and marks she had not seen before. When she touched one of the bruised spots on his arm, she said her son complained that it hurt. That is when she says she decided she could not wait until the next day.
She took him to the emergency room.
At the hospital, Morejon said doctors first did X-rays and told her those looked normal. But she says a closer physical exam changed the conversation.
She told KPRC 2 the doctor looked deeper at the bruising and concluded the injuries were consistent with harm to a child because of how much bruising there was across his body.
She said the doctor documented that in the report and told her to make a police report.
She also said the doctor advised her to go back to the daycare the next day and find out what had happened, whether another child was involved or whether someone else had hurt him.
Morejon also said the doctor told her her son appeared to be in shock.
She said when medical staff asked him questions, he was not responding the way he normally would. She said the hospital gave him treatment that night and scheduled two follow-up visits.
Morejon said the changes she saw were not only physical.
She told KPRC 2 her son has not seemed like himself since those days at daycare and believes she had already started noticing that two days earlier.
She said he is now afraid to sleep alone and tells her, “Mom, don’t go. Mom, they’re going to hit me.”
She also described him as a calm child who usually stayed close to her and was not aggressive with other children. That is one reason she says she struggles to believe the injuries were the result of ordinary play.
She said her goal in enrolling him had been to help him learn, socialize, and become less dependent on being with her all the time. Instead, she said the experience has left her with a bad feeling and her son with fear.
The next morning, Morejon said she returned to Whiz Children’s Academy with her son’s medical paperwork in hand.
She said she spoke with a Spanish-speaking worker who had helped her before, then tried to get answers from the director.
According to Morejon, the director told her she did not have answers.
Morejon said she asked to see surveillance video, not only from the day she picked him up with scratches, but from every day he had attended.
She said she wanted to know what had happened during the full four days her son was there. She says she was told the cameras could only be viewed live and did not record.
“I told her, even the worst camera in this country, even if it’s 24 hours, has to have some kind of camera record,” Morejon said, describing her frustration with that answer. She said she left without the explanation she had gone there to get.
Morejon also said something else bothered her when she went back to the daycare.
She told KPRC 2 she saw older children, around 7 or 8 years old, sitting and eating in the same general area during pickup time, something she said did not make sense to her because her son was in preschool.
She said it added to her concern about how children were being supervised and separated.
She also said the director told her she would look into the situation and call her back, but Morejon says that call never came.
She said days passed without any real answer.
According to her account, the incident happened on a Thursday and she returned Friday morning expecting a response.
KPRC 2 went to Whiz Children’s Academy to ask about the mother’s allegations. As we approached the building and went to the door, a worker told us off camera the incident “did not happen here,” but refused to speak on camera.
We have repeatedly asked the daycare for an official response and, as of publication, have not heard back.:
Morejon said she has asked “a thousand questions,” but says the answer she still wants is the most basic one: who hurt her son.
She said she does not believe a child should come home bruised like that after only four days in someone else’s care. She also said she plans to keep following up with doctors and seek more support for her son because she believes what happened has affected him physically and emotionally.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
For Morejon, the case is now about more than one difficult day at daycare. She says it is about finding out exactly what happened inside that classroom at Whiz Children’s Academy, and making sure no other child goes through the same thing.