Facebook group bashes toddler and baby photos

A FOX 10 EXCLUSIVE

PHOENIX -- It's bullying of a different kind -- not by teens, but by mothers and their targets are little toddlers and babies.

This is outrageous.

A Facebook group of grown women is taking part in what some are calling "toddler bashing."

The group was taking photos of children, from other Facebook accounts without the owner's knowledge, then posting them to make fun of the kids.

We're told this web site was supposed to be private, but as we know, nothing is ever private online.

A secret Facebook group is secret no more.

Photos were sent to us from what we're told is a private Facebook group where women, some mothers themselves, post pictures of other people's children to make fun of them.

"Oh, it just makes me really sad," said Kristina Young.

Under one photo of a baby, a woman wrote, "It's hideous." Another woman commented, "You can absolutely not fix ugly." Another wrote, "An ugly baby thread.. I have died and gone to heaven. Why can't you guys live near me so we can do this over cocktails?"

"They're comparing this little girl to the mean little boy in 'Toy Story," said Nicole Harris.

We showed the posts to valley mothers.

"Wow. People are just that.. shows just how shallow people are.. how low they are if they're going to stoop to making fun of people's children," said Harris.

"It's like bullying mothers bullying," said Young.

Ellen Veach spoke to us online. She knows all too well the pain this Facebook group has caused. Last week, a friend notified her that her 2-year-old daughter's photo was on the site.

"At first, I was in shock. I couldn't believe it. It was basically just a head shot of one of the pictures I posted in my album and it was next to another picture of a cartoon character basically," she said.

Veach says she didn't realize friends of friends had access to her Facebook photos.

"So I'm posting pictures of my son's first day in kindergarten or Ivy's new outfit or something just naively posting it up there so my friends can see, not realizing there's a group that takes these pictures and targets these children and makes fun of them. Like that's just something I wouldn't even think a mother or grown woman would do."

Veach says some children on the site were disabled. The women know what they're doing is wrong. After a comment, one wrote, "I'm probably going to hell for saying that."

The Facebook page is private. We couldn't find it, but we're told it was taken down. Many of the mothers associated with it have disabled their pages, but others are defending their actions, posting on their Facebook pages that it's their freedom of speech. We tried reaching out to them, but have not heard back.

Veach took the photos of her children off Facebook and now displays the slogan "Stay Strong and Stop Bullying."

"We think out children are beautiful and miracles and have somebody even though you know it's not true to have somebody say something negative or derogatory about your child.. it hurts," she said.

Veach reported the group to Facebook. We contacted Facebook as well. The company says they review all reports and do have community standards that address identity, privacy, bullying and harassment.