Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Robert Chaiken, Attorney & David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
In Texas and other States, children are the unfortunate and tragic victims of abuse and neglect a day care centers. While many incidents are reported and investigated by local law enforcement, many such incidents go unreported and are hidden from the parents of the abused and neglected child. With technology and other advances, many day care centers now have video surveillance in the facility. Many day care centers even offer parents a portal during the day so that parents can log in and view the day care center activities and child care. Video surveillance often times is effective in helping the day care center owner and parents monitor the care provided by the day care center employees, staff, and volunteers. One would think that the presence of video surveillance would deter the imposition of unauthorized and abusive corporal punishment and other harmful acts of day care center employees and staff. Even with video surveillance in place, some employees still abuse and neglect children even with a camera pointed at them. It may be that the employee did not know that video surveillance was in place or had forgotten about the presence of video surveillance.
It was reported that a lead teacher at the Becky Gates Children’s Center – Texas A & M University may be facing Texas criminal charges after being filmed on video surveillance harming a 4 year old child enrolled in the day care program. In particular, the day care center employee allegedly grabbed the back of the child’s neck and pulled the child’s hair. There may have been other incidents of physical abuse – neglect of the children involving this particular day care center employee. The district attorney’s office and the Texas A & M Police Department are involved with this criminal investigation and possible prosecution of these crimes against a child. See Teacher Arrested for Injuries to a Child – Texas A & M University.
Children enrolled in a day care center have a right to be supervised in a safe and nurturing educational environment. When a child is abused or neglected in a day care center, action should be taken to protect the child and report any criminal conduct to the local law enforcement and social welfare agencies.
The book titled – The ABCs of Child Injury – Legal Rights of the Injured Child – What Every Parent Should Know – has chapters on Day Care Center Injuries, School Injuries, Medical Treatment / Care, Child Abuse, and other topics. Get this book for free at The ABCs of Child Injury.