According to the Texas Health and Human Services fiscal report, in 2023, there were 872 daycare neglect investigations involving children younger than four years old in Texas that year. As a parent, you always strive to ensure your child's safety, even when they are in the care of others at a daycare center.
Sadly, these instances of daycare negligence are more common than any parent would like to fathom and can lead to children being seriously hurt. Even the highest-rated or most highly regarded facilities can drop the ball.
That is why our Texas daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm are educating parents about daycare negligence to help them get a better understanding of breach of duty, what daycare centers are required to do in order to keep children safe, and how children can be seriously hurt because of a facility’s irresponsible actions.
What Is Breach of Duty in a Daycare Negligence Case?
In Texas, daycare centers are required to keep children safe by complying with state childcare laws, also known as minimum standards. The standards address every aspect of childcare, from caregiver hiring and security to safe sleep practices and supervision guidelines. It is a daycare center’s duty and legal obligation to create a safe environment and comply with the minimum standards to protect your child while in its care.
A breach of duty occurs when a daycare center’s conduct fails to meet the applicable standard of care. This happens when a daycare center cuts corners by not complying with the minimum standards. In our experience of helping families across Texas with daycare negligence cases, we most often see daycare centers breach their duties of care by:
- Hiring unqualified caregivers
- Failing to train caregivers properly or have caregivers meet annual training requirements
- Exceeding mandated child-to-caregiver ratios in classrooms
- Not closely supervising children by maintaining visual proximity and auditory awareness of each child
- Daycare directors or management choosing not to closely monitor caregivers to ensure they are following the minimum standards
- Lacking classroom safety measures such as childproofing the facility with age-appropriate toys and monitored doors, securing heavy furniture, properly storing dangerous cleaning chemicals, and maintaining equipment like playground structures
We dive more into daycare neglect incidents and signs that your child is being neglected at a local daycare center in this video.
How Can Children Get Hurt by Daycare Negligence?
As you can tell from our list of common negligent daycare practices, the primary root cause of most daycare negligence incidents involves unqualified caregivers and a lack of supervision. When daycare centers ignore the minimum standards and fail to fulfill their duty to keep little ones safe, children can suffer severe injuries.
Some examples of injuries that children can experience due to daycare negligence include:
- Being left in daycare vans or buses: Failing to adhere to safety requirements such as face-to-name counts when unloading a daycare van or bus can result in children being abandoned in the vehicle for prolonged periods of time. In extreme Texas temperatures, these incidents can lead to overheating or heatstroke in the summer and hypothermia, frostbite, or amputations on cold days.
- Child abuse that is overlooked by daycare management: Unqualified daycare workers with a short fuse may physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse the children in their care. Often, other caregivers and daycare management are aware of a worker’s unacceptable behaviors and treatment of children but choose to ignore the abuse.
- Experiencing allergic reactions: When caregivers ignore a child’s severe allergies and disregard their allergy plan, their life can be in danger. Anaphylaxis can turn fatal in a matter of minutes if caregivers are not quick to administer an EpiPen or contact 911.
- Falling from a high surface: The lack of supervision can lead to little ones falling from a high chair, changing table, or playground equipment, causing broken bones, brain injuries, or spinal cord injuries.
- Sustaining bottle warmer burns: When caregivers do not properly store bottle warmers or leave toddlers unsupervised near the contraptions, the devices can tip over and cause severe scald burns.
- Wandering: Unsupervised toddlers can wander out of a classroom or a daycare center entirely unnoticed, placing them at risk of serious harm, such as getting hit by a car, drowning in a nearby body of water, or even being kidnapped.
If you suspect that your child was hurt at a local daycare center because the center was negligent and failed to comply with minimum standards, contact our experienced and knowledgeable daycare injury lawyers by calling 214-699-4409, emailing us at [email protected], or filling out a contact form for a free case evaluation.
The Button Law Firm Can Help Your Family with a Daycare Negligence Case
Contact our knowledgeable daycare injury attorneys at The Button Law Firm if your child was seriously hurt because of a daycare center’s negligence and failure to comply with state safety laws. With attorneys in Dallas, Houston, and Midland, we are ready to listen, fight for your family, and help your family move forward. Our attorneys 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.
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