What Parents Should Do If a Daycare Center Avoids You After an Injury

Why Would a Daycare Director or Caregiver Avoid Talking to Me After My Child’s Injury? 

With more than a decade of experience helping Texas families after daycare injuries, we can tell you that avoiding a parent after a child is hurt at a center is a sign that the daycare center knows the injury was preventable and shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Often, it means that the center cut a safety corner and violated the minimum standards to keep up with childcare demand. This includes failing to:

• Comply with state-mandated classroom ratios
• Hire and train qualified caregivers
• Oversee its caregivers to ensure they follow the minimum standards
• Properly supervise the children they are responsible for

A compliant, properly managed daycare center has no reason to hide information from you or any other parents, and avoidance should be a major cause for concern. In fact, safe centers recognize that any lapses can be corrected to prevent future incidents from harming children in their care.

Does Avoiding Communication Mean the Daycare Center Is Covering Something Up?

Silence and avoidant behaviors can indicate that the daycare center is trying to cover up their safety failures and hide what truly happened. Caregivers might be worried that revealing the truth will get them in trouble or even fired. Also, directors know that incidents reported to the state will trigger an investigation. They could be concerned about accumulating additional safety violations.

While not every silent daycare center is intentionally covering up an incident involving your child, this reaction from the center’s director and caregivers should raise red flags. 

What Information Is a Daycare Center Legally Required to Share with Me About My Child’s Injury?

All licensed daycare centers in Texas are required to complete an incident report that is submitted to the state. By law, they must also provide parents with a copy. These reports detail what happened at the daycare center, including what caregivers were present, the events leading up to your child’s injury, how your child was injured, and any first aid or medical attention that was administered at the center to treat the injury.

However, we have seen that this doesn’t always happen, especially in cases when the daycare center is evading your calls and questions. This is against the law. 

What Evidence Should I Collect If a Daycare Center Keeps Me in the Dark About an Incident That Harmed My Child?

When you are not getting answers from a daycare center’s director or caregivers, it is important to take matters into your own hands and collect as much evidence about your child’s daycare injury as possible.

This includes:

• Documenting the day and time of all your communication attempts to the daycare center, including phone calls, text messages, messages in the daycare’s app, and in-person conversations
• Making note of your child’s sudden behavioral changes or milestone regressions that could flag a traumatic incident, such as abuse or neglect, at the center
• Recording an age-appropriate conversation with your child to get their account of how they were injured and what happened at the daycare center
• Saving your child’s medical records, including the exam that diagnosed your child’s injury from the daycare center, and any subsequent treatments that were required
• Speaking with potential witnesses, like other caregivers or parents, to see if they saw or heard anything to help you fill in the gaps
• Taking photos and videos of your child’s injuries 

Watch this video to check out additional tips on collecting evidence following your child’s daycare injury.

How Can a Daycare Injury Lawyer Help My Family If a Daycare Center Gives Me The Runaround After My Child Was Hurt?

Working with an experienced daycare injury lawyer like our team at The Button Law Firm can help get your family answers and reveal the truth about the cause of your child’s injuries at a daycare center, even when a daycare center and its caregivers go silent.

In our quest to hold a daycare center accountable for your child’s injuries, we will investigate the incident, interview witnesses, and analyze state incident reports and safety records to identify patterns of negligence.

In Texas, daycare centers are not required to have surveillance cameras installed in classrooms. Even if a daycare has cameras, there are no laws that require them to show you the footage. Our team can use the legal process to preserve this piece of crucial evidence.

We will work with your family every step of the way to help you understand your rights, get answers, and help you move forward. We do all the heavy lifting, including dealing with the insurance companies, so you can focus on your child and their healing journey.

If your child was injured at a daycare center anywhere in Texas, 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.