In August 2022, a negligent daycare center in Jefferson City, Missouri, exceeded the permitted child-to-caregiver ratios. Unable to properly supervise all the children in their care, the overwhelmed caregivers allowed a 21-month-old boy to play on a playground on age-inappropriate equipment, including a slide. Sadly, while climbing the ladder of the slide, the young child fell and broke the femur bone in his left leg.
Our daycare injury lawyers teamed up with another firm in Missouri to get justice for the young boy and his family. Together, we held the negligent daycare center accountable for cutting safety corners that seriously injured the child. With the settlement secured, the family was able to cover the boy’s costly medical bills and compensate him for pain and suffering, as well as the disruption to the family’s life.
The Negligence of a Daycare Center in Jefferson City: A Young Boy’s Tragic Experience
Like daycare centers in Texas, Missouri requires all childcare facilities to operate with minimum standards to ensure little ones are protected and in a safe environment while their parents are working. Unfortunately, the daycare center in Jefferson City chose to ignore the standards that could have prevented the incident from seriously endangering the 21-month-old boy’s health and well-being.
The toddler was not properly supervised because the daycare center exceeded child-to-caregiver ratios, making it impossible for a caregiver to watch him and provide the constant care and attention that a child his age requires. Missouri only permits one caregiver for every four infants or toddlers they are charged with.
In addition to exceeding the allowed number of children in the boy’s classroom, caregivers placed him in a group of children of mixed ages, from toddlers to 12-year-olds. Per the minimum standards, the daycare center was required to provide a safe play area for children’s activities and have a dedicated outdoor space for infants and toddlers that is separate from older children. In this case, the toddler was permitted to play on a preschool playground with equipment too high for him to climb.
The state issued four citations to the Jefferson City daycare center for noncompliance with the minimum standards that caused the boy’s injury and placed the facility on a 20-day corrective plan.
Injuries and Damages Suffered by a Young Boy at a Missouri Daycare Center
After the young boy’s serious fall at the daycare center, his mother rushed him to a local hospital to be examined. The toddler was in a lot of pain, and X-rays revealed his left femur showed a spiral fracture mid femur with minimal fragment displacement. He was then transported by ambulance to another children’s hospital to undergo surgery.
The toddler received a closed reduction and single-leg hip spica cast application for the left femoral shaft fracture and was released with his entire left leg in a cast that went up to his torso. The toddler had to keep the cast on for several weeks, making the boy extremely uncomfortable in the summer heat and while he slept. He began to experience muscle spasms in the cast, which forced doctors to remove it earlier than expected. Because of this, the little boy had a limp when he walked.
In addition to the boy’s physical injuries and severe pain, his mother also suffered. She became extremely paranoid about leaving her young son in the care of others while he was healing, forcing her to resign from her job. As a single mom, she struggled financially, mentally, and emotionally during this trying time. She finally had to overcome her fear and enroll her son in another daycare center so that she could return to work.
Thanks to our daycare injury lawyers and those at another law firm in Missouri, the young boy and his mother could move forward. We fought to hold the negligent daycare center accountable for causing the little boy’s broken leg and for committing all the childcare safety infractions issued by the state. The child and his mom were compensated for economic and non-economic damages like medical expenses, pain and suffering, and disruption to their lives.
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