Child Injury Lawyer Blog
Every year, there are numerous reports of infants or toddlers mistakenly being left in hot cars resulting in their untimely death. Children have mistakenly been left in hot cars usually from their parents forgetting to drop them off by a day care center on their way to work. The temperature inside a vehicle during hot and warm weather months easily escalates to the point that a child dies from extreme heat. One moment of inattention can lead to lifetimes of loss and hurt for families and communities. There are measures that can be taken to reduce hot car deaths; the National Safety Council reported that 51 children nationwide died in 2019 after being left in hot cars. Heat stroke has been named the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle-related deaths in children under the age of 15. Certainly, the overall goal or mission should be an annual report that cites the number of hot car deaths at zero.
In efforts to reduce the number of deaths, Alabama lawmakers are working to pass a bill named after an 11-month-old boy who died last year after being left in the back seat of a car with his sister. The Cash Edwin Jordan Act would require daycares statewide to call a child’s parent or guardian if the child has not been dropped off by 9:30 each morning. This would apply to all daycares in the state, regardless of if they are public or private, and should not be too difficult to implement. The hope is that parents of children who are out for health reasons would give daycares advance notice, making the calling system an easy and efficient solution.
Parents and caregivers can also work to prevent hot car deaths by leaving essential items like cell phones, wallets, or ID cards in the backseat. Adults can also make a habit from checking the back seat of their cars before walking away and by reminding children that cars should not be used for games like hide-and-seek. Car keys should always be out of a child’s reach and cars should be locked at all times. Phone alarms can also be set for a driver’s time of arrival to remind them to check their back seat before leaving.
In Alabama and other States, most day care centers are required to apply for and maintain a license. For the reputable day care centers, background checks are completed to determine if the day care center employee has a criminal history and if the person presents an apparent risk to children. In addition, employment and backgrounds are completed as to the work history of the employee. While it is impossible to weed out or keep out all bad elements from being employed at a day care center, due diligence should be taken to check on the backgrounds and work histories of the day care center workers. When a parent enrolls a child into a day care center, it is reasonable for a parent to ask about and meet the day care center employees working in the facility. It is also reasonable to ask if any other employees or visitors have access to or will be near the children in the day care center. At some day care centers, the owners and / or relatives of the owners present a risk to children in the day care center facility. Background checks are not always completed on relatives living at the home day care center or who may visit the home or commercial day care center. Tragically, children are, at times, abused and molested by day care center employees, day care center owners, family members of owners / employees, or visitors to the day care center.
In Alabama and other States, children will at times misbehave and disobey instructions by parents or guardians. While it is appropriate to punish punish or discipline a child for bad behavior, it is important for parents and caregivers to recognize and understand that physical forms of punishment can lead to serious personal injuries in some instances the unfortunate and tragic death of a child. It was recently reported that a child died as a result of complications from dehydration relating to punishment that was given to the child for eating a candy bar. The child was forced to run for a three hour time period until the child eventually collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration. Law-enforcement officials have arrested two women who were supervising child at time for crimes related to this incident. See 
