Choosing to put your child in daycare requires trust that the facility will take good care of your child. The Texas Department of Health and Human Services licenses more than 150 childcare operations in Spring. Just driving down Cypresswood Drive and through Spring neighborhoods, you can see dozens of licensed childcare centers and registered childcare homes. It can be hard and overwhelming wading through all of your options and researching the safety of these facilities.
But sometimes the unimaginable can happen: Serious injuries and fatal incidents can occur—even at daycare centers in Spring. It’s difficult to imagine, but in 2022 three children died in licensed daycare centers in Texas as a result of abuse or neglect in Texas according to the Texas Health and Human Service Commission.
As scary as it may be, wrongful deaths can happen at daycare facilities that have never received negative inspection reports or enforcement actions from the state licensing body.
Causes of Wrongful Deaths in Daycares
Wrongful deaths in Spring daycares can stem from many different causes. The Texas Health and Human Service Commission breaks down the top possible causes for serious injuries or fatalities at Texas daycares centers:
- Inappropriate discipline tactics
- Faulty or unmaintained indoor equipment/structures
- Unmaintained playground and other outdoor equipment
- Restraint and seclusion
- Tools/Equipment
- Vehicle incidents such as leaving a child locked in a hot van or bus
Almost half of serious injuries fall under the catchall “Other” category. This means that many wrongful deaths at Texas daycares come from unexpected and varied causes that even the experts didn’t predict.
What If I Signed a Daycare Liability Waiver?
When you enrolled your child in a Spring daycare center, you might have signed a waiver that asked you to release the facility from liability. Even if you signed one of these waivers, you should still contact our daycare injury and wrongful death of a child attorneys at The Button Law Firm to discuss your options. In many cases, courts find these types of documents to be invalid, allowing you to pursue justice for your child’s wrongful death. Regardless of what you signed, daycare centers in Spring are required to meet minimum standards. Failure to meet these safety standards is considered negligence, and may be what caused the wrongful death of a child.
Additionally, there are four elements of a daycare wrongful death case that, when proven, can incur liability for the daycare center, no matter what you signed. These elements are:
- The daycare center was obligated to you and your child to provide a certain duty of care while your child was under their supervision.
- The daycare center breached that duty of care owed to you and your child, which resulted in an injury.
- The breach of reasonable care is the cause of your child’s death.
- Your family has suffered economic and non-economic damages because of your child’s death.
What You Can Do After a Wrongful Death in a Spring Daycare
One of the most terrible things a parent can experience is the death of their child, especially if it was preventable. Our compassionate attorneys at The Button Law Firm have experience working with bereaved parents in the Spring and greater Houston area and understand what you’re going through. No grieving parent should have to deal with figuring out legal complexities to get justice for their child’s wrongful death.
Our experienced attorneys can compassionately guide you through the process to ease that worry in this difficult time. If you want to consider your options after the death of your child while in daycare, it’s important to pursue legal action sooner rather than later. You have a better chance of success in a wrongful death lawsuit the sooner you file the claim. If you believe your child’s death at a Spring daycare facility was wrongful, reach out to us by calling 281-857-6116, emailing us at [email protected], or fill out the contact form below.
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