Outraged Mother Alleges Daycare Worker Had Inappropriate Relations With 10-Year-Old Son

Grace Shoyelu's deep dive into her child's phone revealed his closeness to a daycare worker.

A Georgia mother is alleging a daycare worker had an inappropriate relationship with her 10-year-old son.

Grace Shoyelu enrolled her young son in an after-school program at the Youth Life Center, located right outside of Atlanta, expecting him to make friends with children his age. However, a deep dive into her child’s phone revealed who was really connecting with him.

Shoyelu first noticed his closeness with a new employee at pick-ups. The concerned mother became outraged after noticing the employee’s picture as the screensaver on her son’s phone. She then uncovered text messages between the two, with the employee’s contact name as “mommy” with accompanying heart emojis.

“I went through his text messages because that was the first thing that I thought, and her name was saved in his phone as mommy,” she explained to WSB-TV reporter Candace McCowan. “It was a bunch of ‘I love you’s’ and ‘What are you wearing.’”

Further scrolling revealed that the daycare worker also sent the child pictures of herself posing in a short skirt.

“That’s not a picture that you send to a 10-year-old. That’s a picture that you send to your man,” expressed Shoyelu.

Law enforcement has yet to charge the unidentified worker, yet Shoyelu believes this stalling is due to sexism.

“Had it been a situation where it had been a little girl and a grown man, they would’ve locked him up on the spot with no questions until he was proven innocent,” said Shoyelu.

Shoyelu also alleges that the woman bought her son expensive gifts, such as clothes and a gold chain. When investigators spoke to the boy, he allegedly disclosed an incident in which the employee also rubbed his leg.

“He did say there was this incident where she was rubbing his leg and it happened on the way back from the field trip,” Shoyelu said.

Authorities and the Department of Family and Children Services are investigating the matter as the mother clamors for justice. The Youth Life Center responded to the news outlet’s request for comment, sharing that they fired the worker.

“We can share that, upon learning of these allegations, we took immediate action by notifying the appropriate authorities and commencing an internal investigation,” explained the center. “While the criminal allegations remain under investigation by the authorities, we have terminated the employee for violations of standard operating procedures. We will continue to cooperate with authorities.”