Entrusting a daycare provider to watch over your child and protect their wellbeing can be difficult. Even if you carefully choose a properly licensed daycare provider, they could end up being negligent and violating this trust. If you do find yourself unfortunate enough to have a daycare abuse or injury case, there are still many moving parts to it. Fighting the insurance company and dealing with the court system’s legal standards are at the forefront of most matters. There are also different ways a daycare provider could harm your child that you might not be aware of.
Types of Daycare Negligence Claims
There are different ways a daycare provider can be negligent or harm your child.
1. Medical
There are numerous claims that could arise out of a daycare provider’s treatment of your child. For instance, if your child has special medical or dietary needs, the daycare provider may be negligent if they fail to attend to these needs.
2. Safety
It’s also essential for daycare providers to ensure they’re providing a safe environment and facilities for children. You may have a claim if your child becomes injured because of a hazardous condition at the daycare.
3. Abuse
In some situations, a daycare provider might fail to train or screen their employees properly, which could lead to a claim. There is no type of physical discipline that’s acceptable for daycare providers to use with children. If your child was slapped, spanked or abused in any other way by the daycare provider, you could have a claim.
4. Understaffed
It’s also not uncommon for daycare providers to take on too many children and not have enough staff members to provide sufficient care. This is a form of negligence. You could have a claim if your child has been neglected in any way.
Who Is Held Responsible for Daycare Injuries and Neglect?
Daycare providers are required by state law to obtain their license through the Minnesota Department of Human Services. On top of this, many counties, including Ramsey and Hennepin, also license daycare providers as well as conduct background research.
Daycare providers must carry liability insurance in Minnesota in order to operate. With liability insurance, the facility is financially responsible in cases of negligence, injury or serious illness due to the daycare environment.
Typically, liability insurance covers:
- Pain and suffering
- Medical bills
- Emotional damage
It’s never a fun experience having to file a lawsuit, but you might have to in order to get order back into your life. If you’ve lost sleep, work and incurred expenses, you might require compensation to get your life back to “normal.” This is where the liability insurance will come in. Daycare providers purchase it to cover legal expenses and more if something should go wrong.
How to Sue a Daycare for Abuse, Injury or Negligence
To establish a claim for injury, abuse or negligence, you’ll want to retain a daycare abuse or injury lawyer. They’ll work hard to prove the basis of your lawsuit.
They’ll first prove the daycare provider had a duty of care. After they establish this, they’ll have to then prove the daycare provider breached this duty of care and was the cause of injury to your child.
You’ll need to document your child’s injuries, abuse or negligence and any types of medical or mental health treatment they received. Other therapies required because of their injury should also be documented. Obtain a copy of their medical record and medical bills from their treating doctors. If your child’s injuries require ongoing treatment or therapy, you’ll want to get this in writing too if possible. Injuries can often lead to disability.
Medical reports help document not just your child’s injuries, but also how these injuries or abuse have changed their life. For instance, is your child more aggressive or timid than they were before? Are they now scared of the daycare environment? Certain reactions to trauma will require the need for therapy to assist your child in adjusting to life after their injury or abuse. These types of issues are typically a part of your child’s suffering and pain and are frequently compensated through a lawsuit.
If a daycare provider has abused, mistreated, neglected or injured your child in any way, contact us here at Patterson Dahlberg Injury Lawyers for a consultation. We can help investigate if you have a claim and pursue it if you do.