Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Stephanie F. Brown, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
School bus drivers and teachers have a duty to provide for the education and safety of children. When a person takes a job of such importance and responsibility, it is vital that the person is mature, ethical, and has common sense. The purpose of these supervisory jobs is to watch or care for children not date them. In various States including Georgia, there have been reports of teachers and other school employees have inappropriate relationships / sexual relationships with students. In Georgia, the age of consent for sexual intercourse is 16 years old; however, there are exceptions to the law if an adult has a supervisory position like a teacher or bus driver over the student. In Union County, Georgia, Jacqueline Connally, age 22, was recently arrested for having an alleged inappropriate relationship with a student according to a story posted in the Atlanta Journal Constitution Newspaper website. At the time of the incident(s), the student was 16 years old. Another student had reported the relationship to authorities. The news story did not report what evidence other than this testimony would be presented to support the charges. In other cases throughout the nation, valuable evidence was presented after obtaining records from mobile phones an Internet Service Providers as well as from sites like Facebook. There are often times an electronic trail of evidence to support these crimes / inappropriate relationships. Teachers and other school district employees should focus on their jobs and date or avoid inappropriate relationships or the appearance of inappropriate relationships with students.
Consumer Watchdog has filed a lawsuit alleging that California state insurance regulators allow insurance companies to deny necessary treatment to autistic children in violation of state law. The lawsuit seeks to compel the California Department of Managed Health Care to order health plans in the state to cover applied behavioral analysis (ABA) for autistic children if it is deemed medically necessary and is appropriately administered. A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, James Chalfant, has ruled that the case may proceed to trial.
Diane Stephenson, a Pfizer researcher, has two nephews and a niece who suffer from Autism. Her colleague, Howie Mayer, has two children of his own with Autism. The two have worked together at Pfizer to create a research unit that focuses on curing the disease. Stephenson believes that recent advances in genetic studies of Autism have made this the opportune time to start the research unit. They were given permission to start the unit despite the fact that Pfizer has been downsizing of late.
In June of 2009, Mattel and its subsidiary Fisher-Price, were accused by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission of knowingly selling millions of children’s toys that were contaminated with lead paint, exposing children to lead poisoning. Mattel and Fisher-Price agreed to pay a $2.3 million civil penalty.
Chesnee, South Carolina daycare operator, Gena Lynn Grigg, was arrested by officers of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office after police said she abused a child in her care. She has been charged with unlawful neglect of a helpless person.
When Julie Powell picked up her children, Carter (18 months) and Konnor (3), from the Toddler Escape Drop-In Child Care in Billings, Montana, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It wasn’t until she received a call from Billings police later that night that she found out what had happened to Carter earlier that day. A passing motorist on busy Central Avenue had spotted the child wandering around in the street and returned him to the daycare center.
Troy Helms, an 11-year-old from Grove, Oklahoma was attending the Strut Your Mutt dog walk sponsored by the Humane Society of Grove and Grand Lake when he accidentally fell on the ground. A Great Dane attacked the child, biting down on his face and neck. The boy received more than 100 stitches.
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:
