Articles Tagged with day care center

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In day care centers in Wisconsin and throughout the rest of the nation, there is a population of children at risk for harm when placed in a day care center – infants. Working parents rely upon day care centers to provide a safe haven for their children. These parents do not have much of a choice due to work, financial, and personal constraints of life. A dedicated and professionally trained nanny would be nice but most people cannot afford such a luxury. While most infants placed in day care centers do just fine, others suffer personal injuries and even death in the very environment where the children are supposed to be safe and well cared for.

A recent tragedy in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin exemplifies the sad reality of these incidents. News reports indicate that a ten-year-old girl attending the same day care as a six-month-old baby boy allegedly abused a child after dropping him while holding him. It was reported that the young girl admitted to stomping on the baby’s head because the baby began to cry after she accidentally dropped the baby. Consequently, the infant sustained serious head trauma and died in the hospital two days later.

At the time of the infant’s tragic death, one adult and two other children were present at the daycare. This raises questions about supervision requirements in childcare facilities and the other safety requirements necessary in such places. The Early Childhood Knowledge and Learning Center recommends active supervision of all children in childcare locations, especially infants. It asserts that an adult should be accessible and supervising all children at all times. In order to achieve this, the Early Childhood Knowledge and Learning Center suggests that childcare facilities plan out staff positioning in rooms, continually scan and count the children in the room, listen for signs of danger, anticipate children’s behavior, and set up an environment conducive to all children remaining in the constant sight of an adult. Childcare centers should also separate children of differing age groups.  See Day Center Supervision Recommendations.

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ABC-Blocks-300x290In Arkansas and other states, parents rely upon day care centers to provide a safe and nurturing learning environment during the workday. For those who choose to own a day care center or work in one, it is important that safety needs of all the children, especially infants and toddlers, are met. Unfortunately for far too many children, injuries and incidents take place that are otherwise avoidable and preventable. In particular, injuries and incidents tend to take place when older children are permitted to play in an area occupied by much younger children. For instance, a 10 year old who has issues with hyperactivity and space issues should not be placed in the same room with an infant or toddler. Most states have rules and regulations in place regarding staff-to-child ratios and the proper supervision and separation of children by age in the day care setting.

Despite these requirements, injuries to children in day care centers still occur. As recently reported in the news of Arkansas, bite injuries are an example of potential harm that can come to children in day care. According to Mayo Clinic, human bite injuries can be even more dangerous than animal bites because of the differing strains of bacteria and viruses contained in human mouths. Correspondingly, children who sustain these types of injuries should seek medical attention because a tetanus shot may be necessary or an infection may arise. See Mayo Clinic – Risks of Infection – Human Bites. Therefore, biting is a potentially serious problem and should be avoided through consistent supervision and the following of the applicable rules and standards for day care centers.

With this in mind, a day care may be liable for a bite injury sustained by a child in its care. Though a day care center is not the absolute insurer of a child’s safety, day cares do owe their charges a duty of reasonable care. This means that day care centers should take reasonable precautions to safeguard the children in their care. Because biting is a common behavior in children, day care centers should take reasonable precautions to prevent it. For example, in the situation out of Arkansas, it was reported that caregivers laid down a 10-month-old baby for tummy time when an older child bit him. Reports also indicate that the older child was not supposed to be in that area and was known to bite. While it would probably be unreasonable to expect that the day care provide one to one supervision for every child, it would likely be reasonable to expect that the day care follow procedures about separating age groups, especially with a child with a known history of biting.

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Toy-Blocks-E-A-300x226Parents rely upon day care centers to provide for a safe and supporting educational environment during the work day. A day care center has a duty to provide reasonable and necessary care and supersion to the children. At times, a day care center can do everything right yet a child is injured at the day care center. It should be noted that a day care center is not an absolute insurer for the safety of the children under the care of or enrolled at the day care center. In other words, just because there is an injury or incident – this does not mean that the day care center is liable. One type of Incident which is commonly reported in the news throughout the nation involves a vehicle that crashes into a day care center. If a day care center is located off of a commercial street or even a residential street, a car accident (single or multiple) can result in the vehicle crashing into the day care center. It is difficult to plan for or prevent vehicles from crashing into a day care center. As stated, a day care center must act reasonably. It may be cost prohibitive to erect a wall or concrete barrier around an entire day care center. If multiple incidents of crashes have taken place, then these circumstances may put the burden or duty on the day care center to erect some barriers around the day care center or move children from the risky part of the day care center to another part of the day care center.

Certainly, a driver or owner of a vehicle may be liable for crashing into a day care center if it can be established the the driver was negligent or careless in the operation of the motor vehicle. Automobile insurance can provide compensation to children if the injuries resulted from an automobile accident even though the children were not occupying a motor vehicle. Furthermore, the injured children may also qualify for benefits or coverage under a parent’s automobile insurance policy even though the parent’s motor vehicle was not involved in the automobile accident.

It can be a bit complicated and confusing when a child is injured as a result of the negligence of another person, business, or government entity. As such, a parent of an injured child should seek out advice, guidance, and when appropriate legal representation from an experienced Child Injury Lawyer. It is important to know the laws and procedures as to insurance, compensation, and damages.

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Building-Blocks-300x271Working parents rely upon day care center centers to provide care, supervision, and education of their children.  For most children on most days, the time spent at a day care center is uneventful.  Unfortunately and tragically for some children, the neglect, oversight, abuse, or neglect of a child while under the care of a day care center.

It was reported that a 3 year old boy – Elijah Silvera – had food allergies in the form of daily food allergies.  It was reported that a day care center – Seventh Avenue Center for Family Services located in Harlem (New York) was fed a grilled cheese sandwich.  Thereafter, he had a severe allergic reaction.

There is an investigation as to the care and supervision at the day care center and how day care center and medical professional responded to the incident.   The family reported on a Go Fund Me page that it was well known by the day care center staff that the child had food allergies.  It appears that this child died as a result of his dairy allergy.   The simple but dangerous serving of a grilled cheese sandwich to this child resulted in a tragic consequences.  See Grilled Cheese Sandwich Suspected in Death of 3 Year Old. 

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Day-Care-Centr-Blocks-300x194In Texas and other States, children are the unfortunate and tragic victims of day care center abuse, neglect, and carelessness.  When a child is harmed in the form of personal injuries, there may be a case or claim pursued on behalf of the injured child for compensation or damages.  This is commonly referred to as a personal injury insurance claim or civil case. It should be noted that a civil case is different than a criminal case.  

A criminal case is pursued by local law enforcement and the prosecutor or district attorney.  When there is a crime committed whether it is intentional conduct or grossly reckless conduct, the criminal case focuses on the crime committed rather than the ability to collect compensation or monetary damages from the criminal defendant or day care center operator.  The successful pursuit of the criminal case also does not depend on the existence or amount of liability insurance coverage. 

A civil case is pursued by the family of the injured child through the services of a Child Injury Lawyer.  From a legal standpoint, there are four elements to establish in a civil case:

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By David Wolf, Child Injury Lawyer
Crib-and-Nap-Time-Day-Care-Center-276x300Parents rely on day care centers to provide a safe educational environment for their children. Tragically, children suffer serious personal injuries and even fatal injuries at the very place where the children are supposed to be protected – the day care center.  At times, other children in the day care center are violent and unstable.  It is important that day care centers closely monitor all children in the day care center. If a child is exhibiting strange, dangerous, or disturbing behavior, it should be addressed right away.  For the protection and safety of the children enrolled in the day care center, a child, with dangerous tendencies or propensities, can and should be removed from the day care center.  The local licensing agency can also step in if there is a problem with the parents of the “problem child”.  It is vital that the day care center act in a timely manner to prevent injuries at all times possible.  Unfortunately, many day care centers ignore the problem or gloss over the problem rather than take action to protect the children in the day care center.
In Michigan, it was reported that a 14 month old toddler died a day care center by an 8 year old girl with a history of odd behavior.  The toddler (Korey Brown) was crying in his crib.  Then, the 8 year old took him out of the crib, bit him in the face, and kicked the toddler.  The 8 year old girl had a number of issues.  It is suspected by the family of Korey Brown that the day care center knew or should have known about the odd behavior and should have taken action to protect Korey Brown.   At the time of the attack, there were no adults present in the room.  As such, it appears that the 8 year old was left unsupervised in a room with younger children in the room including Korey Brown. You can read more about this story at Girl Kills Toddler at Michigan Day Care Center. 
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By David Wolf, Child Injury Lawyer

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Day care centers are commonly used by families all over the country.  Parents assume that children are being cared for in a supportive learning environment by caring child care providers. Child care workers are expected to be responsible, dependable, and patient.  Training should be completed pursuant to state and local day care regulations for each worker to to being officially employed by the day care center.

Video surveillance at a day care center can help document many incidents that in the past were “swept under the rug” or hidden by the day care center.  Without the benefit of video surveillance, many incidents of child abuse were kept quiet. Day care center workers would claim ignorance, “I do not know what happened.”  Alternatively, the day care center worker would make up a story, “Johnny fell while running on the playground.”

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By, David Wolf, Child Injury Lawyer

Teddy-Bear-300x289In Arkansas and other States, children enrolled in day care centers and other summer programs are at risks for injury and death during transportation and services.  There is a simple way to prevent these hot car deaths and hot van deaths from taking place.  In fact, these injuries and deaths can be avoided with a watch eye, clipboard, attendance list, and a pen.  It is vital that all day center providers and summer camps take roll call whenever the van, bus, or vehicle is loaded or unloaded.  All children must be accounted for at all times.  Furthermore, whenever a bus, van, or other mode of transportation is stopped without supervision onboard and without proper ventilation and air conditioning, there should be a physical and verbal sweep of the bus, van, or vehicle to make sure that all children are off the bus.  What happens when a child is left on a bus, van, or other vehicle during periods of warm or hot weather?  Well, the headlines speak for themselves when there is a report of yet another hot van or hot bus death involving a school, summer camp or day care center.

In West Memphis, Arkansas, it was reported that 5 year boy (Christopher Gardner Junior) died as a result of being left in a day care center van. It was reported that the temperature in the van once the vehicle was turned off reached 141 degrees Fahrenheit.  Tragically, Christopher was left on the van for 8 hours when he was finally located in the afternoon.  Certainly, this was a tragic event and day for Christopher’s family, extended family, friends, neighbors, and the community.  It was also reported that Christopher was signed into the facility in the morning.  It would appear that this was done without truly accounting for Christopher’s whereabouts.  Again, a watchful eye, attentiveness, and the dedicated use of a roll call list whether with pen and paper or an iPad or other electronic device would have avoid the tragic consequences as reported in West Memphis.

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By David A. Wolf, Attorney

Child Injury Lawyer Blog

Baby-Elements-Blue-Icons-copy-300x282In Virginia and other states, many parents rely upon day care centers to watch over their children during the work day.  Many such day care centers are connected to or affiliated with a church or religious institution. Unfortunately in many states, there are limited to no government oversight of religious or church run day care centers because there are loopholes and exemptions in state law that opt a church run or religious day care center out of the applicable day care center regulations.  As such, many day care centers go unregulated and often engage in negligent or dangerous behavior due to the lack of training and government oversight of the facility.  As such, many church run or religious based day care centers may seem safe and well run on the outside are actually riddled with dangers and risks on the inside.
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By David A. Wolf, Attorney – Child Injury Lawyer Blog

Toy Train.001In Utah and other states, day care centers have a duty to provide a reasonably safe educational environment for the children enrolled in the program.  It is important that the day care center follow all licensing requirements and have trained staff in place to meet the needs of the children. Supervision  and attentiveness are vital to the safety and welfare of the children.  The level of supervision will depend on the type of facility, number of children, age of the children, special needs of the children, time of the day, activity and other factors.  There are dangers lurking at all times that an infant or toddler is being cared for in a day care center. It is vital for staff members to be aware of the dangers and remove or prevent all such dangerous situations to the best of the ability and foresight of the day care center.

A recent tragedy was reported in at a West Jordan, Utah day care center.  It as reported that a toddler – Leonardo “Leo” Sanchez – crawled under a bean bag and ultimately suffocated.  A seemingly simple object – a bean bag chair – turned out to be a very dangerous object in a day care center for a small child like Leo Sanchez.  It is well known that small children are curious and will crawl into or go into areas which can be quite dangerous.  Another dangerous situation or object for a toddler or infant in a day care center is an unanchored dresser or TV stand.  There have been a number of reports of children being injured or even dying as a result of a dresser, TV stand, or TV that has fallen over on top of a child.  Sleeping and napping time can also present dangers as well to infants.  A stuffed animal or blanket can cause a child to suffocate during this otherwise seemingly safe part of a day care center.

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