We entrust daycare facilities with the care of our children and they promised to take good care of them. However, every year in Texas we hear about children being injured while at day care. Whether it be from children being left in hot day care bus all day long, or children being physically abused by day care workers, it seems to happen all to often here in Texas. At Guest and Gray, we have helped numerous families who have had their world’s rocked by an injury to their child at a day care. Whether it is by an intentional act of the employee or daycare, or through a negligent act, Guest and Gray is here to help you protect your little one.
As a parent, you should always be mindful of your child when they come home from daycare to make sure that they are being properly cared for while at daycare. A common theme among our children who have been injured while at daycare is that the parents thoroughly believed it couldn’t happen at their daycare. Why? Because the daycare was so highly recommended or popular in the area, or because they are at a faith-based daycare, etc.. Trust us: it can happen anywhere. So, pay attention to your child. If things seem off, or your child is injured and the daycare cannot explain what happened, you need to investigate. Do not just take them at their word and move on.
There are signs to watch for that will help you figure out whether your child is being cared for properly while at daycare. Each child is different, so the signs may be different for your child, but there is a common theme among our daycare injury cases that have happened in the Forney, Rockwall and Dallas areas that will help us to guide you in protecting your child daycare abuse.
Signs of Physical Abuse
Consider the possibility of physical abuse when the child:
- Has unexplained burns, bites, bruises, broken bones, black eyes, cuts, or scrapes
- Has fading bruises or other marks noticeable after an absence from school
- Is shy or pulls away from adults and physical contact
- Reports an injury from a caregiver. This is a big one. If your child says that they are rough or picked your child up by an arm, etc.. that is likely against policy and caregiver standards. Especially in small children. Picking up roughly by a small child’s arm can cause a dislocation or break in the elbow or shoulder joint due to the flexible nature of children’s bones and joints.
- If your child is injured, such as a broken arm or has bruises on their forearms, head, back. These are key indicators of abuse or neglect.
How Can You Protect Your Child?
One easy way to check your child is check the daycare before you send them to any given daycare. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website has a daycare lookup where you can see a particular daycare’s record with the state of Texas to ensure that they have had no instances of abuse in the past. If they have, steer clear. If not, take steps to speak with the management or owners of the facility and ask about staff training and whether each child care provider is licensed with the state of Texas.
You can also ask to speak with each daycare worker who will be providing care to your child. If you are not comfortable with any of the staff or management, do not send your little one there, no matter how desperate you are for daycare service. The health and safety is too important to send your child to just any daycare facility.
What Do I Do If My Child Is Hurt or Neglected While At Daycare?
We need to secure evidence of the abuse before the daycare gets rid of it. Daycares have video cameras all over their facilities and we need to act fast to secure the video and audio before the daycare writes over it or destroys it. Trust us. They do not want that video to make it into court, but we do and we have the ability to secure the video if we act quickly enough. The call is free, and you pay nothing unless we win your case. So, when you find out that your child has been harmed at a daycare, do not wait. Call Guest and Gray today!