It is not easy entrusting your child under the supervision of a daycare, and needless to say, doing so entails a lot of expectations in terms of your child’s safety and health while under their care. This is why it is every parent’s nightmare to discover that their child had been injured at a daycare center.
Daycare facilities are expected to exercise due care in order to prevent a likely injury. In the unfortunate event that your child was injured at a daycare center and you are determining whether the daycare center exercised due care or not, there are two main factors to consider:
- First is the cause of injury. How did the injury occur? Was it caused by the negligence of an employee of the daycare center?
- Second is the nature of the child’s injury. Were the circumstances ones that the facility could have prevented? Were the incidents potential and foreseeable, such as falling from a playground facility, bumping or tripping on an object, or getting hurt due to unsanitary conditions?
You discover that your child is injured. What do you do?
- If you have noticed that your child is injured while in the daycare premises, call the attention of the caregiver right away. Ask about what happened and get to know the circumstances that surround the incident. If the caregiver cannot give satisfactory answers, escalate your concerns to the supervisor.
- Take photos. It is important to take photos of the scene of the accident, follow-up photographs of the scene after a few days, your child’s injuries, and the healing process. Also ask for the security footage.
- If you learn about the injury after you have left the daycare facility, immediately make a phone call. Leave a voice message or send an email in case your calls are left unanswered. Indicate in your message that you need feedback as soon as possible.
- Seek medical help for your child. Make sure to keep all records and receipts. Should you pursue litigation, these documents will come in handy in determining the compensation that you are entitled to.
- After getting medical treatment, seek the help of a personal injury lawyer. Your attorney will guide you through the legal action you are taking. Before filing a lawsuit, however, you must present your claim to the daycare facility’s insurance carrier first. Your personal injury lawyer will make sure that you do not end up waiving your child’s rights and remedies in the process. If, in the end, you are not satisfied with the settlement offer, then you can proceed to filing a lawsuit against the facility.
What if you signed a liability waiver?
A liability waiver does not rid the daycare center of accountability. An indemnity clause, or the part of the waiver that releases you from taking legal action against them in the event that your child gets injured under their care, does not bar you from filing a lawsuit to gain compensation. Most daycare centers are aware that their liability waivers hold no validity in court.
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