Crowley Daycare Center Faces Consequences in Frequent Biter Case

Just one month after her son began attending a daycare center in Crowley, Texas, a mother noticed that her young son was coming home with bite marks on his body. She notified the daycare center’s director about the bite marks, and the director assured her that the issue would be handled.

However, the biting incidents continued to the point where the boy was bitten at the Crowley daycare center on nine separate occasions. The incidents peaked when the little boy was bitten so hard by another child in his class that the bite broke his skin.

The boy’s parents contacted our Texas daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm to make the Crowley daycare center answer for failing the little boy and his family. With our combined help, the family was able to get justice and move forward.

Are There Childcare Laws That Address Biting Incidents at Daycare Centers?

The short answer is yes. The Crowley daycare center, in this case, had a duty to keep the little boy safe while under the center’s watch, and that includes protecting him from other children, especially a child who was a known biter.  

Per Texas childcare laws, also known as the minimum standards, caregivers at daycare centers should closely supervise children so that they can quickly intervene if they anticipate a child is about to bite another. This can happen when children are teething or frustrated and having difficulty expressing themselves.

Once a child bites another kid at a daycare center, that child should be separated from the rest of the children in the classroom immediately. In addition, the daycare center should clean the other child’s bite wound and seek medical treatment if the bite broke the child’s skin.

In this case, the little boy was bitten at the daycare center in Crowley on nine separate occasions, making it clear that caregivers were not closely supervising the children, nor did they separate the child who was biting from the rest of the children in the class. The state was in the middle of conducting an investigation into eight of the biting incidents, reported by the boy’s mother, when the final bite happened and broke his skin. The state cited the daycare center in that independent investigation for its failures to have caregivers maintain close physical and auditory proximity to each child in their classrooms.

With 22 citations from the state over the course of five years, the daycare center had a history of not following the minimum standards, leaving little ones, like the boy in this case, to suffer the consequences.

How Did the Boy and His Mother Get Justice After the Biting Incidents at the Crowley Daycare Center?

Following the last bite at the Crowley daycare center, the one that broke the boy’s skin, the boy contracted hand, foot, and mouth disease, a very contagious disease that can spread via saliva from a human bite.

In addition, the trauma from the multiple biting incidents at the daycare center took a toll on the young boy. He began to act aggressively and became anxious around people outside of his immediate family. He also developed a sensitivity to being touched on his arms, where he suffered most of his bite injuries at the daycare center. In addition, the child developed night terrors, waking up screaming and crying.

The biting incidents were also hard on the boy’s parents. They lost their trust in other childcare providers and became hypervigilant about any issues or behavioral changes that their son experienced.

Thankfully, our team of daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm was able to get closure for the boy and his family. We secured a settlement to help compensate the family for the boy’s medical expenses to treat the bite injuries and help the family heal from the emotional experience so that they could all move forward.

Contact The Button Law Firm If Your Child Was Injured at a Daycare Center

If your child was physically or emotionally injured at a daycare center anywhere in Texas, contact our experienced daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. With lawyers in Dallas, Houston, and Midland, we are ready to listen, fight for your family, and help your family move forward. Our lawyers at The Button Law Firm are recognized on the prestigious Texas Super Lawyers list, and we can help guide you after a traumatizing incident involving your child. We work on contingency, meaning we don’t charge you or collect any upfront fees to get started on your case. Call us at 214-699-4409, email us at intake@buttonlawfirm.com, or fill out a contact form for a free case evaluation.