Your Child Needed Stitches After Daycare—Here’s What To Do Next

Top 6 Steps to Take After Your Child Suffers a Deep Cut at a Daycare Center in Texas

If your child’s cut injury is so deep you believe it needs medical care, follow these steps recommended by our team of experienced daycare injury lawyers:

1. Document Your Child’s Injury: It is vital to document your child’s injury by taking multiple pictures of their wound as soon as possible. Sometimes, multiple angles are helpful. Also, continue taking pictures and documenting your child’s healing journey along the way, even after they receive stitches and when the stitches are removed. The pictures can easily be taken with your smartphone to capture the time and date.
2. Seek Medical Attention: Take your child to the nearest emergency room, pediatrician, or urgent care clinic to have their cut examined and treated. It is important to get the wound cleaned and treated as quickly as possible so it does not get infected. The doctor may be able to assess the cause of the injury and document it in your child’s medical records, which can serve as evidence in a future case against the daycare center.
3. Get an Incident Report from the Daycare Center: Per the minimum standards, your child’s daycare center is required to provide you with an incident report detailing a full account of what happened. If the center does not provide this to you automatically, request one from the daycare’s director. In some instances, a daycare center may attempt to cover up the full or real story of the incident involving your child by providing vague information in the report. If this is the case, ask specific follow-up questions to identify which caregivers were responsible for your child at the time of the injury, where your child’s injury occurred, and what your child was doing at that time.
4. Report Your Child’s Daycare Incident to the State: File a report with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) by calling the abuse hotline at 800-252-5400 or reporting it online at txabusehotline.org. Daycare centers are required by law to do this after a child is hurt or endangered, our daycare injury lawyers recommend that parents also file a report to ensure your child’s incident is documented. All reports filed with the state are anonymous and will be investigated, so there’s no need to worry about your child’s daycare center finding out you reported them.
5. Gather Evidence: In addition to taking pictures of your child’s injury and recovery, gather as much evidence as you can about your child’s incident and injuries at the daycare center. This includes getting copies of your child’s medical records and bills, taking screenshots, or printing any text messages or emails discussing the incident with your child’s daycare center or caregivers. Push for all communications to be done via email, but if that is not possible, take detailed notes of any phone or in-person conversations with your child’s caregivers or the daycare director. If your child is old enough, speak to them about what happened at the daycare center when they were hurt and record the conversation. (Follow these tips to have an age-appropriate conversation with your child about their daycare injury.) We also encourage you to speak with other parents to determine if your child’s injury was an isolated incident or a pattern of negligence at the center.
6. Contact Our Daycare Injury Lawyers at The Button Law Firm. Call us at 214-699-4409 or email us at [email protected]. While it may feel extreme to get a lawyer involved, you have the right as a parent to hold the daycare center accountable for your child’s injury that led to them getting stitches. We can serve as an advocate for your child and family and help you navigate the legal process, which can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially when you are worried about your child.

In addition, some daycare centers may push you to settle with their insurance company by offering you money right away. We recommend you do not do this, as you may still be entitled to damages. For example, your child may be traumatized from their injury at the daycare center, and then have to get stitches and the discomfort that comes with that procedure. They may need play therapy sessions or other resources to help them process what happened and move forward. 

Working with experienced daycare injury lawyers like our team at The Button Law Firm can help you get compensation for those treatments, costly medical bills, and other damages caused by the negligent daycare center. To file a daycare lawsuit or complaint, there is a two-year time limit from the date of your child’s injury at the center, so contact us as soon as possible for a free case evaluation.

The following is a list of resources that help provide answers to frequently asked questions we receive from parents after a child’s daycare injury that requires medical treatment like stitches:

• My Child Was Injured While Attending Daycare. What Am I Supposed to Do?
• Do You Handle Cases in All of Texas?
• How Long Does It Take For a Daycare Injury Case Settlement?

Was Your Child Seriously Injured at a Daycare Center? Contact The Button Law Firm.

If your child needed stitches to treat an injury they experienced at a daycare center anywhere in Texas, contact our experienced Texas 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 [email protected], or fill out a contact form for a free case evaluation.