Personal Injury Case: When An Unsupervised Child Falls At A Daycare
When it comes to our children, we work hard to provide them nutritional meals, a safe place to live, and high quality daycare. Unfortunately, many of our children experience tumbles and falls throughout the course of day as they learn to walk and play their way through the day. Most parents expect their children to fall down and get right back up. After all, that’s part of childhood. However, when children left in a daycare are unsupervised, they may fall or
be pushed down by other children and experience very real injuries.
Different Ages, Different Falling Risks
Infant Falls from a Changing Table
Harried daycare staff should be properly trained and have enough support staff working with them to prevent tragedies from happening. A young daycare worker was in the process of diapering an infant on the changing table. During the task, she noticed that she did not have the necessary supplies at hand.
Instead of picking the baby up to get the supplies, she left the infant on the slick surfaced pad on top of the table for just a minute. That minute away proved disastrous. The baby fell while unattended and fractured her skull.
Toddler Kicked Down By Older Child While Staff Chatted
Recent video surfaced online showing a small toddler at a daycare being repeatedly pushed down while the inattentive staff chatted with each other. Each time the toddler fell, he cried for help while the four-year-old ran away. Hearing him repeatedly cry wasn’t enough to get the daycare workers to pay attention to him. In fact, the young boy became increasingly bold and delivered more powerful strikes as time passed and none of the workers took steps to stop him.
When the parents got home, they were horrified at the number of bruises on their toddler. No mention was made of injuries in the daily report, as is required by law. Fortunately, video was available. The parents contacted the police and pulled their child from the center.
Filing a Slip and Fall Case When Negligence Exists Within a Daycare Facility
Accidents at daycare facilities happen when children are not properly supervised. The most important reason for this lack of supervision is inadequate staffing levels. Poorly trained staff or ineffective measures designed to keep children out of harm’s way are danger points as well.
Filing a slip and fall case when injuries occur due to negligence within a daycare facility is a relatively simple process. Proving negligence can be more difficult. However, since these licensed childcare facilities are regulated, it is easier than you might think.
Proving Negligence
Daycare facilities must have a safety plan in place for all activities done throughout the day. In the case of the infant injured by slipping off of the changing table, the staff failed on several counts.
- The supplies should have been available before the baby was ever put onto the table.
- The provider should not have stepped away, leaving the baby unattended.
- Finally, the slick cover should not have been used. A less slippery pad would have helped to prevent the accident from occurring.
The toddler fell after being repeatedly pushed by the older boy. Over time, additional bruises were sustained when the four-year-old began to kick and hit the younger child. Recorded on video, this case provides the following clear examples of negligence:
- Care givers did not respond to the baby’s cries and chose to remain in conversation with each other.
- No documentation was provided to the parents about the child’s injuries.
- Even after the crying was noticed, the childcare workers only glanced at the toddler and told him to stop crying.
In the unfortunate case that your child is injured while unsupervised at their daycare, we will work with you to file, and win, your slip and fall case in civil court. See here for more information on filing a slip and fall case.