PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A mother speaking anonymously to WSB said she never suspected a Paulding County daycare owner would hurt her children.

Marie Lipsky, 63, is accused of assaulting at least five children as the owner of Reach For The Sky, an in-home daycare on Mill Creek Lane in Hiram, Ga.

The children allegedly assaulted range in age from 8 months to 3-years-old.

Arrest warrants show children were hit in the head and face with “excessive force.”

They say one child was hit in the face, knocking the child onto the floor.

They describe being hit in the head with a plastic container, “causing him great pain.”

“I never thought a day in my life this woman would touch my kids,” the mother said.

She had her children, a 2-year-old son and a 10-month-old daughter, in the daycare since May of last year.

She said her son was hit by a plastic bin.

“There’s other video of the kids being backhanded in their face,” she said. “It just sucks as a mom because you’re sitting there watching your kid cry out for you, and there’s nothing you can do to help them. I mean, you didn’t know what was going on.”

Paulding County sheriff’s deputies learned of the alleged abuse through an anonymous tip.

They said the assaults happened on Jan. 12 and were captured on video, but the footage has not been publicly released.

“If a kid is sitting there crying for his mother, how do you react?” the mom asked. “How do you not sit there and feel bad for what you just did?”

Lipsky was arrested Jan. 25 but was released from jail on bond.

A neighbor, David Salisbury, said he’s lived next door to the daycare for 11 years and never suspected children were being abused.

“I’ve known her a long time,” he said. “I’ve had no issues with her at all. I’m really surprised to find out what happened.”

Lipsky is charged with one count of aggravated assault, along with two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree and five counts of cruelty to children in the third degree.

She has run the daycare for more than 30 years.

Inspection reports dating to 2018 show the daycare in good standing, the highest rating.

The mother said she was horrified by the charges. “It’s hard to deal with,” she said. “It’s hard to cope. You can’t eat, you can’t sleep. You don’t trust anyone with your kids.”

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