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Our experience holding negligent daycare centers in Texas accountable has shown us a difficult truth: severe daycare injuries are rarely isolated incidents. Often, a child's injury is a glaring red flag pointing to larger, systemic safety problems within the center’s operations.What Hidden Safety Problems Lead to Daycare Injuries?
When we advocate for Texas families after a child suffers a daycare injury, we consistently find that the incident was caused by one of these four violations of the minimum standards:
- Chronic Understaffing: Texas has strict child-to-caregiver ratio requirements. When daycare centers try to save money by understaffing classrooms, caregivers become overwhelmed. One person simply cannot safely monitor 20 children at once, creating an environment ripe for injuries.
- Inadequate Supervision: This is the top cause of daycare injuries. Caregivers may be physically in the room but distracted by their personal smartphones, talking to other staff, or simply not closely watching the children they are responsible for.
- Lack of Caregiver Training: Not everyone is equipped to handle the high-stress environment of a daycare center. Caregivers who are not properly trained in child development, safe sleep practices, or behavioral management are more likely to disregard the minimum standards. This includes using inappropriate discipline tactics that harm children.
- Unsafe Environments: A daycare center has a duty to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children. Broken playground equipment, unlocked cleaning cabinets, unanchored furniture, and unsecured exit doors are all hazards that spur from a lack of maintenance. If a child gets hurt because of the dangerous environment, it means the facility failed to conduct routine safety checks and promptly address those hazards, as required by the minimum standards.
Watch this video to learn more about the common red flags we see at bad daycare centers. We want to emphasize that all these dangers and subsequent injuries to children are easily preventable.
Why Do Repeated Issues Occur at the Same Daycare Center?
Repeated safety issues at a daycare center usually boil down to a daycare center prioritizing profits over child safety. This includes daycare directors who fail to hold caregivers accountable for unsafe practices, ignore complaints from parents, or refuse to invest money in fixing broken equipment.
All of these repeated violations of the minimum standards create a culture of negligence at the daycare center that puts children at risk of getting hurt.
How Can I Tell If My Child's Injury Was Preventable Neglect?
When daycare centers violate the minimum standards, that is considered a breach of duty and endangers children.
You might be dealing with preventable daycare neglect if you notice any of the following red flags:
- Blaming the Child: Caregivers try to shift the blame onto your child, claiming they were being clumsy or acting out, rather than taking responsibility for a lack of supervision.
- Complaints from Other Parents: Speaking with other parents can help you determine if what happened to your child was a one-time safety failure or a systematic issue at the daycare center. These conversations can reveal if other children experienced similar injuries or unexplained incidents with the same caregivers.
- Missing Incident Reports: The daycare fails to provide you with a copy of the incident report, or you notice that the report lacks crucial details like the time, location, and witnesses, in an attempt to cover up what really happened.
- Vague or Shifting Stories: The teacher tells you one version of events, but the director tells you another, and neither matches the injuries on your child's body.
Check out more secret signs of unsafe practices that can lead to preventable daycare injuries in this article.
What Should I Do If I Suspect Ongoing Safety Issues at My Child's Daycare?
When your child is hurt at a daycare center, it is important to look for patterns of unsafe practices rather than taking the account or excuse from your child’s caregiver at face value. In our experience, preventable injuries are not an isolated incident. You can look up previous safety violations at the child’s daycare center with our step-by-step guide here.
If your suspicions are confirmed, take immediate action to protect your family and other children at the center by contacting our team of experienced and compassionate Texas daycare injury lawyers. We will listen to your story and discuss the best path forward to help you hold the responsible parties accountable, so this doesn't happen to another family.
By taking legal action against the negligent daycare center, your family may be entitled to damages that help compensate you for costly bills such as immediate medical expenses, future medical care, and other out-of-pocket expenses to help treat your child’s daycare injury.
Call us at 214-699-4409, email us at intake@buttonlawfirm.com, or fill out a contact form for a free case evaluation. Our legal team works on contingency, meaning we don’t charge you or collect any upfront fees to get started on your case.
More Free Resources About Preventable Daycare Injuries
If you aren’t ready to contact us, we encourage you to explore these free resources to help navigate the aftermath of your child’s daycare injury:
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