Daycare centers often experience understaffing because finding skilled, experienced workers can be challenging. Low pay and budget concerns often lead to high turnover among staff.
Understaffing can lead to children becoming injured because of overworked, neglectful caregivers. Our Dallas daycare injury attorney details further.
When Daycares Are Liable for Injuries Related to Understaffing
Kids who are of daycare age are typically very active, requiring constant supervision. Texas law has established ratio guidelines for daycare centers that indicate how many children are under the direction of each daycare worker. The maximum number of children per caregiver goes up as the child gets older. For children under 12 months, there can be a maximum of four children per caregiver. For toddlers, the number goes up from 9 to 11. As kids enter their elementary school years, the ratios continue to rise as children can do more for themselves.
Staff-to-child ratios are crucial for the children's health, safety, and overall well-being at a daycare. Any deviation from these ratios is a violation. If your child is injured because there are not enough skilled workers, you have the right to take legal action against the daycare.
How Understaffing at Texas Daycare Centers Can Put Children at Risk
When there are too many children in a classroom, caregivers cannot properly monitor them. This increases the likelihood of an accident happening and a child becoming injured. Working in a childcare environment is hard work that requires substantial alertness and energy to focus on myriad unexpected tasks. Overworked daycare workers can become tired, overlooking routine tasks designed to keep children safe.
Understaffing can be directly harmful to children. Here are some examples:
- Children are not being appropriately supervised on the playground, so a child falls from a piece of playground equipment.
- A child is injured, but there are not enough qualified staff to take care of the injury.
- Broken or defective toys go unnoticed because routines have suffered in light of a staff shortage.
- Cleanliness standards are not upheld, increasing the risk of disease transmission, including colds, flu, gastroenteritis, and other diseases.
- A child wanders from the daycare center because doors are not properly latched or because the staff is not paying attention. This can result in some terrifying minutes of searching for the child. It can also result in serious injuries if a child wanders out near traffic or other dangers.
What to Do if Your Child Is Injured as a Result of Understaffing
You should take three key steps when your child has been injured at daycare due to understaffing.
- Seek medical treatment for your child. This is especially important if your child is too young to tell you what happened. A medical professional can help identify injuries and possible causes.
- File an incident report with the daycare immediately. Depending on the circumstances and the administrator’s actions, you may also want to find an alternative daycare for your child.
- Contact a daycare injury attorney who can guide you through the process. It’s crucial to pursue these cases because there are children at the daycare who are vulnerable to the same kind of abuse or neglect. A lawsuit can hold the daycare accountable and help end this mistreatment.
Our team of experienced and compassionate daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm is dedicated to advocating for you and your family if your child was physically or emotionally harmed at a Texas daycare center. We are ready to listen and fight for your family to get justice and help you move forward. Our legal team at The Button Law Firm is 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. Get a free case evaluation by calling us at 214-699-4409, emailing us at [email protected], or filling out a contact form.
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