How To Report Daycare Injury Advice From Daycare Injury and Abuse LawyerYou did all you could to choose a safe daycare for your child, but the daycare let you down. Your child was hurt, and you’re trying to figure out what to do next. Our Texas daycare negligence attorneys walk you through the next steps of making an incident report, and what to do when a daycare won’t make one.

Why Making An Incident Report Matters When Your Child is Hurt at Daycare 

The first and most important step is to ask that the daycare create an incident report. No matter how minor or major the injury is, it’s important that the daycare injury is reported in a detailed report of what happened when it happened, how it happened, and which teacher was caring for your child. It’s better to get this incident report as soon as possible while the event is fresh in everyone’s mind.

Another important reason to request an incident report is that daycare centers tend to downplay the situation to protect themselves. If a case were to arise from the injury and they were to change their story on what happened months after, the incident report will (hopefully) have the truth. This happens way too often.

Making a report on a daycare facility is not only limited to injuries. A teacher’s reckless behavior at a facility should always be reported. This is most often swept under the rug because of the daycare center trying to cover themselves or the child simply can not express themselves or is afraid to come forward. Bringing awareness to these issues is the only way change will happen and can be essential to our children's psychological growth. If all our kids see at daycare is aggression, anger, and annoyance from their teacher, that’s what they will emulate at home. Check out our article on everything you need to know about reporting daycare injuries for more guidance.

What If the Daycare Won’t Make a Report For My Child's Injury?

There have been instances where parents want to do an incident report and the daycare tells them that they only do incident reports on serious injuries. This is not good or safe. Every incident should be recorded as the parents have the right to know.

If the daycare does not want to give you an incident report, make one yourself:

  1. Take a piece of paper, write out the date and what happened (to your best understanding), when it happened (time) and where (daycare facility and exactly what part of the daycare facility).
  2. Include details you were told and how the staff acted.guide for parents dealing with daycare injuries
  3. Include details of how you found out.
  4. Sign it, make a copy and hand them a copy, but you keep the original. This is to ensure them that you know it exists. If you do this but give the daycare facility your only copy, it may not exist later on.
  5. Write down the name of the person that you handed it to first and last name
  6. It’s very important that you ask for a copy of the incident report. Daycare Centers are supposed to keep copies but oftentimes don’t. Another reason to keep the incident report is if you are planning on taking your child out, they will not have the record in hand when a lawyer gets involved.

We have a full guide for parents who need to report a daycare injury. You can request your free e-version copy of A Five-Step Guide For Parents Dealing With A Daycare Injury.

You also have the option to request a free paper copy to be sent to your home. We created this guide so parents can be informed of their rights and know what correct steps to take when dealing with a daycare injury. We hope it is helpful to you and your family.

Get your free downloadable e-version or paper copy of A Five-Step Guide For Parents Dealing With A Daycare Injury.

When Will I Get The Incident Report From The Daycare?

You will typically receive the incident report anywhere from 15 to 45 days. Once it’s finished, the family will receive a letter in the mail. In that letter, the family has the option to do an open record request to receive the investigation materials to see what caused an injury to their child.

You can also find more information on Incident Reports in our article, Lessons Learned About Making Incident Reports At Texas Daycare Centers.

Dallas Daycare Negligence Attorney Warns Against Common Daycare Defense

When an injury does occur, teachers and caregivers like to say “kids will be kids,” and sometimes don’t even let parents know that their child was injured. They do this to avoid getting into trouble with their facility. No one has the right to keep that important information from the child’s parents of the event that happened. Many bad daycare centers are still up and running because no one wants to speak up about an injury, fearing that their jobs would be in jeopardy. Until they are held accountable, the most common daycare injuries will continue to happen, and we need to see it stop.

When a child is injured while at daycare, it is not just “kids will be kids.” Not only is the daycare center's motto wrong, but it is an excuse to cover up negligent behavior and not take full responsibility for themselves. Unfortunately, Texas minimum standards are not always enough, and many daycare facilities do this and are still up and running with no consequences. They will continue to get away with it until they are held accountable.

Check out our article on Why Daycare Centers Try To Cover Up Their System Failures to learn more.

How Our Team of Daycare Negligence Attorneys Can Help

As a Daycare Negligence Attorney, I feel for anyone whose child has been hurt while attending a Dallas daycare. It’s not fair to your child, and it’s not fair to you. You researched your options when you were choosing a daycare and trusted the facility to hire qualified daycare employees and to prevent anything from happening to your child. They let you down.

I started my Texas daycare injury law firm to help keep kids safe at daycare and to ensure that negligent daycares are held accountable, and my team of daycare negligence attorneys and I are here to help guide you through this process.

Each case is different, and the injuries affect each child and their family differently. We make sure to independently analyze each injury and the effect it has on the family.

Care for your child can go well beyond a trip to the emergency room, and the following damages are allowed under a daycare case:

●      Medical expenses from the past and the future

●      Lost work for the parents to care for the child

●      Mental anguish for the child and physical impairment of their daily activities

If your child is injured at daycare and receives medical treatment, who pays the medical bills is a question that might come up often. You may have to pay the medical providers back or reimburse them under the law for injuries caused by a third party.

If you have health insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare that covers your child’s injuries, they will need to be paid back for what was paid out for injuries related to the case, which is also called subrogation or reimbursement. We handle this as it is complex and can be time-consuming as there are a lot of hoops to jump through. 

If you are currently dealing with an injury to your child due to the daycare's negligence, please give our Texas daycare injury law firm a call at 214-699-4409. You can also fill out our Contact Us form. Our team is here for you and your family.

Russell Button
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Dallas, Houston, and Midland Texas trial and personal injury lawyer dedicated to securing justice for clients.