In January 2023, an unqualified daycare bus driver abandoned a young boy in the empty parking lot of his Houston school before the designated arrival time for students. The driver dropped the boy off and pulled away with no adult in sight. The young boy remained alone and locked out of the school building until three teachers arrived and found him unattended.
Upon finding out hours later, the boy’s mom immediately contacted our knowledgeable daycare injury attorneys at The Button Law Firm to hold the facility accountable for its negligence. Our team fought to secure a settlement that compensated the family for the trauma, risk of harm, and psychological injuries that their son experienced when the daycare center ignored safety laws by leaving him unattended.
A Houston Daycare Center’s Safety Failures
This entire incident was 100% preventable. The State of Texas has a strict list of guidelines, known as minimum standards, to keep children at childcare facilities like this one safe. However, the Houston daycare center in this case repeatedly ignored these guidelines, putting the young boy and potentially others at the facility in harm’s way.
The daycare center knowingly hired an unqualified and untrained employee to drive the daycare’s bus. The employee never completed required training before being permitted to transport young children, including the boy in this case. The facility then failed to supervise the driver to ensure he followed specific safety regulations, as outlined by Texas Health and Human Services, including one that states children must be unloaded at the curbside of the vehicle or in a protected parking area.
Compounding the daycare’s failures, the director waited nearly six hours after the boy was abandoned at the closed school to notify his mother of the incident. (State laws require that parents be notified immediately of any situation at a facility that puts a child at risk.) In the conversation, the director falsely assured the boy’s mom that, when he was dropped off, he was released into the care of a teacher at the school. However, surveillance footage at the school revealed the truth: The daycare’s bus driver drove off, abandoning the boy at the school without any adult supervision.
An independent investigation conducted by the state uncovered that this was not the first time this Houston daycare center endangered a child in its care. In fact, the daycare center had received more than 19 citations related to similar issues regarding the facility’s supervision of children, its caregivers’ required training, and its transportation services. All areas had a history of lacking the required minimum standards.
Helping a Houston Family Move Forward After Young Boy Abandoned by Daycare Bus Driver
As a result of being abandoned at the closed school, the young boy suffered a severely high degree of distress that caused him to distrust adults who are responsible for his care, including his own mother. His anxiety manifested through a change in his personality—transforming from a calm, good-natured boy to one that acted out and threw tantrums. The boy refused to listen to his mom and had outbursts when he didn’t get his way. Experts advised that the boy’s behaviors were consistent with separation anxiety and abandonment issues from his experience of being left alone by the bus driver.
The Houston daycare injury attorneys at The Button Law Firm fought and held the daycare center accountable for repeated failures that led to this incident that negatively impacted this family. The boy and his mom received compensation to help the boy receive the resources and care he needed to heal from his traumatic experience and to help the family move forward.
How The Button Law Firm Can Help Your Family with a Daycare Negligence Case
If your child was neglected at daycare, contact our knowledgeable Houston daycare injury attorneys at The Button Law Firm. We are experienced in working on cases involving children, like this case where a young boy was abandoned by an unqualified daycare bus driver. Our attorneys will listen to you and your child to assess the situation and determine how a daycare failed to protect your child in its care. Our attorneys 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 281-857-6116 or fill out a contact form below for a free consultation.
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