Two Oklahoma boys are in the hospital recovering from sunburns they received at a water park after their day care teachers allowed them to play in temperatures of almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit without any sunscreen, their mother claims.
Shaunna Broadway dropped Connor, 7, and Trae, 5, off at 9 a.m. at Happiness is a Learning Center in Vinita, Okla., Friday. When she arrived after work to pick them up, they were crying in pain, she said. The boys had spent the day at a splash park with their shirts off and the day care staff did not provide them with any sunscreen, according to the CW's Los Angeles affiliate KTLA 5.
"I got off work at 5 p.m. and went to pick them up, and they were clearly burned," said Broadway, according to BuzzFeed. "[The employees] were actually making fun of my older son because both boys got sunburns, but he was being a 'baby' and crying about it."
The brothers were taken to three different area hospitals over the weekend as their symptoms grew worse until they were finally flown Sunday to Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas.
The boys' grandfather told CNN Tuesday they were both still in the hospital having the burned skin removed from their backs. Trae suffered from second-degree burns, and Connor will need to remain in a wrap for 72 hours to treat burns that reached the third degree.
Graphic photographs show the extent of the second and third degree sunburns suffered by two little Oklahoma boys after...
Posted by KTLA 5 News on Tuesday, July 28, 2015
The boys asked their mother to stay home from work so they won't have to return to day care. However, according to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, the owner of the day care agreed Monday to stop operations.
The day care has allegedly been cited 19 times over the last year by the the state's Department of Human Services.
Vinita police noted that, while no other children were burned at the water park, they are reviewing surveillance tapes from the facility to verify whether this case should be classified as neglect or child abuse.
"We are investigating the criminal element of neglect with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services," Vinita Police Officer Bobby Floyd told BuzzFeed.
The boys are expected to be in the hospital for the remainder of the week.
