Articles Posted in Day Care Centers and Child Care

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Toys-on-Shelf-297x300When a child is enrolled in a school, day care center, summer camp or other program, it is important that the child be supervised in a safe environment.  While a typical toy does not at first glance appear to be a dangerous object, the wrong toy in the hands or within the reach of a child can lead to serious personal injuries and even the death of the child.

It is important for all child care providers be aware of the risks and dangers of toys.  Furthermore, the child care provider should be on alert and pay attention any time that a child is playing with a toy. Many personal injuries can be avoided with consistent supervision and common sense on the part of child care providers.

Toys Needs to be Age Appropriate.  Small children including those under the age of 5 years old tend to put small pieces or toys into their mouths.  This can present a significant choking hazard to a child.  If a toy has small pieces or is susceptible to being pulled apart into small pieces, there can be a choking hazard to a small child.

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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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Day-Care-Center-School-Transporation-300x207A child may be injured while being transported by a day care center, school, summer camp, after school program, or some other activity.  When a child is injured, there may be a right to compensation to the child for medical bills, pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.  The legal rights of the child will depend on the particular facts and circumstances of the crash, the extent and severity of the personal injuries, and type and amount of liability or automobile insurance coverage.  Whether the accident or crash is the fault of the day care center driver, another driver, or both on a comparative fault basis, there may be a right to seek damages on behalf of the injured child.

There was an accident reported in Charlotte, North Carolina involving a day care center van owned and operated by The Neighborhood Learning Center.  It was reported that the van was transporting children from a school to the day care center.  It was reported that several people including children under the age of 6 years old were transported to the hospital for evaluation and treatment.  You can read more about this accident at Children Injured in North Carolina Day Care Center Motor Vehicle Accident. 

When a child is injured in an automobile accident or day care center van accident, it is important for the child to get appropriate medical care from one or more of the following medical providers:  emergency room, pediatrician, neurologist, orthopedist, physical therapist, and /or other medical providers.  The costs of the medical care may be covered by the automobile insurance of the day care center, the parents, the other driver, and / or health insurance.  It depends on who was at fault for the crash and what insurance coverage was in place for the vehicles / drivers involved in the accident.

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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
Building-Blocks-300x170In day care centers across the nation, parents rely on child care workers to provide a safe and nurturing educational environment for children.  For most children, the day is filled with activities, classes, and all around excellent care.  However, at some facilities, children are unfortunately the victim of abuse, neglect, and molestation.  Some child care workers just lack the training, experience, common sense, and patience to properly supervise children.  The local and state day care regulations should be followed.  Beyond the rules and regulation, common sense can go a long way in the proper care of infants, toddlers, and young children.
In most States, corporal punishment is outlawed or banned in day care centers.  Some day care workers still implement corporal punishment measures to supervise and / or punish children under their care.  Corporal punishment is typically refers to some form of physical punishment, assault, or restraint of a child.  It should be noted that many religious based day care centers are exempt from local and state day care regulations.  As such, corporal punishment tends to be utilized on a regular basis in some exempt facilities.  It should also be noted that if a child is injured as a result of corporal punishment to the point the marks are left or medical care is required – there can still be action taken against the day care center even if the day care center is exempt from the applicable child care rules and regulations.
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By David Wolf, Child Injury Lawyer
Playground-300x188In Oregon and other States, there are dangers in day care centers. Certainly, having a license is a good “sign” for a day care center. That means that the day care center has complied (in most cases) with the State’s minimum mandatory requirements and otherwise has acted in a manner that has enabled the day care center to maintain its license and ability to operate as a facility in good standing.  However, it should be noted that a day care center license does not mean that a day care center is an absolutely safe haven for a child enrolled in the program.  The truth of the matter is that day care centers and its employees have an ongoing duty and responsibility to provide constant and reasonable supervision of the children under the care of the day care center.
It was recently reported by Oregon media sources that there are dangers in Oregon day care centers.  There were a number of examples noted in the article including a day care center that allowed an autistic child to walk out of facility and into the potential harm of traffic, another day care center that allowed a young child to play on a climbing wall with a lanyard on the child both of which presented a significant risks of handling, a fall, and asphyxiation.  There are other examples mentioned in the article as well.  You can read more about the dangers in Oregon day care centers along with comments about the regulations that have become somewhat stagnant at Dangers and Risks of Personal Injuries in Oregon Day Care Centers
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By David Wolf, Child Injury Lawyer

Video-Surveillance-300x300

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

Duct-Tape-300x202In day care centers in Missouri and across the nation, children are unfortunately subjected to various forms of corporal punishment in day care centers.  Most states have a prohibition according to the day care center government regulations against corporal punishment.  Despite these regulations, some day care center workers, for some reason or no reason at all, subject a child to corporal punishment.

In St. Louis, Missouri, there was a lawsuit filed against the Zion Lutheran Church, its daycare, and its employees, for the alleged abuse of a four-year-old girl. It was reported that the teacher at the daycare wrapped the child’s legs in duct tape after saying “I have some shiny red duct tape with your name on it.” The child admitted to running around when she was supposed to be napping, which is said to be the reason the teacher put duct tape on her legs in the first place. After the tape was put on, another member of the staff told her the tape would be removed when she behaved, which shows it was intended as a means of punishment. When the parents addressed the situation to staff, the situation was laughed over, and comments were made about how hyper their daughter can be.  It was reported that the daycare teacher has been said to have used duct tape as a means of controlling a child with two much energy. As a result, this family’s lawsuit alleges false imprisonment and assault, among other things, and is seeking over $25,000 in damages.  It should be noted that many courts have jurisdictional amounts or thresholds. In other words, an action can be pursued in a particular court if the amount in controversy if over a certain amount of money.  As such, in many cases, it is difficult to determine from the pleadings alone the amount that is ultimately being sought by the plaintiff / family of the injured child.

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