By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a division called the CDC Injury Center that has a goal or mission of educating parents, caregivers, and others as to the risks of injury to children. The information distributed by the CDC can be used to help prevent or reduce the incidents of serious personal injuries and death to children. In many instances, simple safety precautions and supervision will help better to protect children in the home and the community.
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning is the agency responsible investigating and fining day care centers in Georgia. This agency is investigating an incident involving a child in the day care program at A Child’s World, Hephzibah, Georgia. DJ Murray, age 6, was left on a day care school bus after being transported to the day care center. He apparently fell alseep while on the ride to the day care center.
In Alabama, parents must considering various factors in selecting a day care center. These factors include: costs, location, staffing, size, programs, credentials of staff, licensing, insurance, history of the facility, and hours of operation. The 
A study reported in the Pediatric Emergency Care Journal has reported that strollers are a common mechanism or cause of injury to children. Many injuries to children during stroller use or stroller occupation can be avoided by some basic safety measures and supervision including the following:
Safe Kids Utah has a great website (
California regulators file a complaint against the YMCA Children’s Station after two toddlers wandered off during an outing and were found on nearby railroad tracks. The day care center took these children and other children enrolled in the day care program to a local park. The two children wandered away but were found by others. Fortunately, the children did not suffer any serious personal injuries. The children were unsupervised and could have been abducted. The fact that the child were not seriously harmed or abducted does not and should distract from the danger that they were put in by the failed supervision. Further investigation by the Department of Social Services revealed that the day care center did not have the proper staff in place and were also deficient in its polices and procedures for signing in and out of the children.
New York legislators passed New York safety restraint / seat belt laws for the safety and protection of all occupants in a vehicle including the smallest and most vulnerable occupants of vehicles – children. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles has a good summary of the New York Occupant Restraint Laws posted to its Official Website at 
The Mobile County Health Department is the only health department in Alabama that has undertaken the task of monitoring and inspecting day care centers. The Alabama Department of Human Resources is the state agency that is responsible for day care licenses, inspection, and the over all regulation of these facilities. The current structure of Alabama law and regulation allows day care centers affiliated with a church or faith based group to operate without a license from the Department of Human Resources. The day care centers that are licensed undergo an inspection every 2 years according to current regulations. Unfortunately, many day care centers that violate the regulations or have an unsafe environment in place go undetected. This, in turn, puts children at risk.
With the start of a new school year, traffic increases for everybody. Parents must rearrange their schedules to meet the demands of their children’s educational needs. In addition, parents must deal with another issue that seems to come up every school year – bullying. Allan L. Beane is the author of “Protect Your Child from Bullying”. Mr. Beane offers the following advice to parents: