Child Injury Lawyer Blog

By Will Brown, Attorney & David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

Alisha Schlagenhauser, a 27-year-old woman, was charged with assaulting an autistic child in Wildwater Kingdom in Aurora, Ohio. Witnesses said Schlagenhauser was drunk when she was seen yelling and hitting the child. She was also seen dragging him by his harness through the park so forcefully that she caused him injury.

Schlagenhauser was also caring for the child’s 7-year-old brother along with two other children when the alleged abuse occurred. Law enforcement officers interviewed Schlagenhauser who purportedly admitted to drinking tequila and beer at the water park. Cops also found marijuana and a pipe on Schlagenhauser. She is being charged with child endangering, drug possession, and assault.

It is important for parents to ensure their children are being cared for by responsible and trustworthy people. Parents must closely observe the behaviors and actions of the people they entrust to care for their children. If there is ever any sign of abuse or alcohol or drug related activities, parents should terminate the employment of these caretakers and find a more responsible person to care for and supervise their children.

For more information, see Drunk babysitter charged after assaulting four-year-old autistic boy at water park.

By Sara Powell, Attorney & David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

Quest Alliance, a day care center for special needs children located in Phoenix, Arizona, is charged with negligence for the second time after 6-year-old Tanner was left in a hot van, in the middle of the day, for more than an hour.

In 2007, Quest Alliance was charged with negligence after Jason Allan, who was an autistic 8-year-old, wandered away from the facility and was later found dead in a nearby canal. Allan had drowned.

The incident involving Tanner is now the second incident of negligence from this day care center. Luckily, Tanner was rushed to the hospital after his mother, Tracy Roberts arrived at the day care center and found her boy strapped and locked in the car. At the hospital, Tanner was pumped with fluids and later sent home.

It is unfathomable that this negligence not only happened once, but also happened twice. Although Quest Alliance took immediate action after the 2007 incident by devising a corrective plan to attempt to avoid future incidents from taking place. Clearly, something went wrong again. Employees working at day care centers especially need to be more aware of their surroundings and the children under their care, supervision, and guidance. There is no excuse for children wandering off, or children being locked in day care vans. Parents need to make sure that the day care centers they leave their children with are well equipped with precautionary measures, rules, and protocols.

For more information on this incident, see “Arizona Day Care Under Investigation After Boy Left in Sweltering Van.”

By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

A 15-year-old sophomore has been charged with cyberstalking and using false information for an alleged Facebook posting that occurred in November 2010. According to an affidavit, the student at Smithfield High School used a fake account to harass a freshman who, because of a birth deformity, is missing part of her foot. The sophomore allegedly used the fake account to pose as the freshman. The account also had a picture of a bloody severed foot and included the freshman's last name and birthdate. John Reis, an anti-bullying educator, is concerned that people are not taking the incident seriously, thinking of it as a practical joke instead. Reis is concerned that other students are not appreciate the inherent meanness of the phony account. Also according to the affidavit, the sophomore's father was rude to police and seemed annoyed when police came knocking on the family's door. Reis says that parents need to be proactive instead of running for cover. Parents should take responsibility themselves as well as let their children take responsibility for their actions. When a child behaves inappropriately there should be consequences, children should and accept those consequences and learn from their behavior. The Rhode Island State Police cyber crimes units confiscated 3 computers from the sophomore's home. To read more on this story please see Rhode Island sophomore accused of cyber bullying on popular social networking site.

Bullying has traditionally been a downplayed form of conduct, sometimes bullying has not even been considered a crime. However, in recent years state legislatures have enforced harsher punishments towards those who engage in bullying conduct. Bullying has also increased with the advent of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Parents should teach their children core, moral values to not bully or other harass their peers.

By Robert Chaiken, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

A Texas state inspection revealed that in April 2008, staff workers at Daystar, a center for distressed children 30 miles south of Houston, provoked seven developmentally disabled girls into a fight. The staged fight resulted in biting and bruising as the staff members laughed and cheered on the spectacle. If the fight is not disturbing enough, no criminal indictments were sought against the perpetrators nor did Texas lawmakers press a state agency for answers about how this despicable act could have occurred. Instead, two staffers were quietly fired and their names have been kept secret by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS).

Residential treatment centers, like Daystar, are designed to provide treatment for the most troubled or disabled children taken into foster care. Children in these facilities suffer from serious emotional and/or health issues. Residential treatment centers have received more than $300 million to care for these children.

Day care centers and residential treatment centers exist in order to provide care and safety to children. It is a tragedy when abuse or neglect takes place in these facilities. Taking advantage of abused or disabled children is morally repugnant and offenders should face serious consequences. Children who are abused and neglected are likely to suffer from a lifetime emotional and physical trauma.

To read more about this incident and other incidents of day care abuse see Disabled Teens Forced into a Fight at Treatment Center.

By Steven Smith, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

Gigi Jordan, a pharmaceutical representative from New York City, recently checked into the Peninsula Hotel in Midtown Manhattan with her eight year old son, Jude Michael Mirra, who has been described as profoundly autistic. While in her hotel room, she allegedly caused her son to overdose on medication, and was herself found unconscious on the floor, surrounded by sheets of paper containing a suicide note and a large amount of prescription medications.

The medical examiner has not yet released an official cause of death for the boy. Ms. Jordan is being held in the hospital and is expected to be arraigned on charges of second degree murder.

According to Ms. Jordan’s friends, she had been consumed with her son’s disorder and had driven herself mad trying to find a cure for him. A self-made millionaire, she apparently flew all over the country trying to find answers from respected research hospitals and universities, to no avail.

Autism activists have denounced Ms. Jordan’s actions, but point out that there is a distinct lack of support for parents with autism, unlike for victims of other diseases. You can read more about this tragic death of an autistic child at Pressures of Raising a Child with Autism Alone Drove Gigi Jordan Mad, Friends Say.

If your child has been injured due to someone else’s negligence, please contact our Jacksonville, Florida law firm for child injury law counsel.

By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

The mother of a special needs child and active blogger has come out with a list of actions parents of special needs kids can take to protect their children from predators. She suggests that parents teach their special needs children the following:

• It is not appropriate for an adult to ask a child for help. Respond to requests with “Let me get my Mom or Dad.”
• Always let a parent or responsible guardian know where you will be and check in frequently.
• Make sure the child knows your home address and contact information. If the child has trouble memorizing this information, a laminated card or metal tag (worn out of sight) may help.
• Think about giving the child a cell phone with your number and any emergency numbers programmed in.
• Make sure the child knows how to dial 911 in an emergency.
• Have a special word that only trusted family members know. Let the child know not to go with anyone who doesn’t know the special word.
• Make sure the child knows not to go near strange cars or strange people.
• If the child is alone, scared or in trouble, teach them to ask for help from a mother with children, even if she is a stranger. This is the safest stranger for him to ask for help.
• Parents should always have a current photo of the child and make a mental note of what they are wearing each day.
• If your child is missing, contact authorities and ask them to enter your child’s information into the National Crime Information Center’s Missing Person File. Then call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

While these guidelines were developed for parents of special needs children, most of them are applicable to any child. The best defense against predators is a good offense – that means teaching your child how to be safe.

You can read more details on these tips at Guidelines For Protecting Special Needs Kids From Predators.

By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

While the total number of children being suspended or expelled has actually dropped in recent years, a study from Great Britain shows that children with special needs, those who qualify for free lunch programs, and those from ethnic minorities are sent home eight times more often than their peers. The study also noted that boys were three times more likely than girls to be suspended or expelled from school.

While this study was done in Great Britain, it would not be surprising to see the same trend in schools in the United States. Children with special needs and those from economically challenged families are often more likely to have disciplinary problems, and schools and teachers that are ill-prepared to handle them often resort to expulsion rather than taking the time and care needed to educate these children.

Find out more about this story at Special needs children excluded eight times more often.

By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

Five families from Great Falls Montana believe that their special needs children were severely abused by the 7th and 8th grade special needs classroom teacher aids at North Middle School. Tragically, the children’s special needs – autism, cerebral palsy and down syndrome – prevented them from reporting the alleged abuse. Julie Parish and Kristina Marie Kallies have been charged with felony assault on a minor and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of children. Ms. Parish has been arrested but police have been unable to find Ms. Kallie.

The children’s parents are both outraged and heartbroken. The parents reported that their children would come home from school with bite marks, burns and welts. Witnesses claim to have seen children water boarded, forced to eat their own vomit, and left sitting in soiled clothing for several hours.

If convicted on these charges, each aid could face up to five and half years in prison. You can read more details of the charges at the Mom Logic Blog, Accused: Special Needs Teachers' Aides Tortured Students.

By David M. Baum, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network

In Dolton, Illinois a special needs child was assaulted by a police officer, at a school. The police officer's actions and abuse were captured on videotape. Apparently the police officer became upset when the special needs child, Marshawn Pitts,15, had his shirt untucked. The fact that this child's shirt was untucked became the reason for this inexcusable assault on a brain damaged child is beyond comprehension.

Both public and private schools should be safe havens for children. This is especially true for young children as well as special needs children. It is important for a child to know that school is a place for learning and nurturing rather than a place for violence, assault, battery or attack.

The police officer ulitmately resigned over this incident. There was a videotape of the assault of this special needs child. Unfortunately, many personal injuries and attacks on children in the Illinois school system are not addressed by the action of removing the attacker from the school. Furthermore, many attacks go unnoticed and are not videotaped. As such, there are a great number of other attacks on school-aged children that school officials, parents, teachers, law enforcement and the community do not learn about.

You can read more about this story at Special Needs Child: An Unfortunate Victim of School Violence at the Hands of a Police Officer.