Thousands of children in Augusta, Georgia are enrolled in daycare facilities. When parents drop their children at a daycare, they presume that their child will be adequately supervised and kept safe. They might have some fears that their child may suffer personal injuries, but for the majority of parents, daycare is supposed to provide a safe and protective environment.
While in most cases this is true, child personal injury is a serious issue as there are times when things can go wrong at the daycare. There have been numerous reports of neglect and abuse of children and toddlers in daycare where the children suffer personal injuries due to child negligence.
There is no doubt that parents make every effort to find a reputable daycare but sometimes the daycare hires staff that are not trained or who have a criminal background. A major problem with personal injuries at daycare is that most children enrolled in these facilities are very young. Even if they are being neglected or mistreated, they would be unable to report it to their parents. Daycare staff can sometimes take advantage of this fact because they know that these children will not be able to vocalize child negligence.
Type of Daycare Child Negligence
The type of abuse and child negligence that can occur at daycare includes:
- Shaking the infant or the child
- Slapping or hitting the child
- Shouting and screaming at the child
- Not properly supervising the child
- Failing to abide by the local state health and safety laws (for e.g., not having a fire alarm or a smoke detector)
- Inadequate supervision at the playground
- Sexual abuse or molestation
- Offering the child defective toys or toys that are not appropriate for age. For example, marbles and other round toys can easily be swallowed by the child resulting in choking or asphyxiating
- Neglecting the child’s personal needs
- Not supervising the staff
Signs of Child Negligence at Daycare
Because children are not vocal about what is happening to them at daycare centers, the onus is on parents to be on the look-out for certain signs and symptoms that could indicate daycare child negligence. These signs could include:
- Recurrent bruises on the child’s body
- The child acting out, irritable, crying or withdrawn (which is different from when they were at home)
- Burns to the body
- Head injury
- Cuts on the skin
- Welts on the body
- Broken bones
- Unexplained injuries occurring repeatedly
- Unresponsive child
- A child afraid for no apparent reason
- A child refusing to go to daycare
- Trauma to the rectum and genital area
How to Deal with Daycare Injuries
If you suspect that your child has been neglected or abused at daycare, the first thing to do is to get your child examined by a child specialist. Armed with a medical report, you should next seek assistance from a personal injury lawyer. All daycares in Augusta, Georgia are liable for harm caused to children under their care, and all daycares have a legal obligation to provide personal care and to ensure the health and safety of the children registered with their daycare.
Daycare facilities in Georgia have to meet certain safety and licensing standards. However, sometimes they cut corners and get a license to run a daycare facility without complying with all the necessary legal requirements. Sometimes the daycare may fail to conduct the necessary background checks on their employee(s). All these elements are critical to prevent child personal injury.
No parent would ever willingly put their child in a place where they are at risk of harm. Parents and guardians put their faith in the management and staff of daycare facilities. When the staff and the management fail to meet these expectations, it is the children who mainly suffer. If your child has demonstrated signs of child negligence and if you believe that this negligence is taking place at their daycare, you need to speak to a personal injury lawyer immediately. It is absolutely critical that you take some kind of action immediately since any delays could result in significant damage to your child.
At Ted A. Greve & Associates, we understand that there is nobody more precious than a child. Anybody who would deliberately hurt a child or who would neglect to supervise a child properly deserves to be penalized. When you take action against such people, you not only protect your child from more personal injuries at daycare, but you also protect other children who might be at risk. Call us today, and our personal injury lawyers will gladly help bring justice to you and your family.
