Daycare injury cases are heart-rending to work on. Not only are they almost universally preventable, but they happen to innocent children who are supposed to be under the care of a responsible adult.
Tragically, a high amount of these cases end in the death of a child. Toddlers and other young children are vulnerable and injuries that an adult can recuperate from can permanently harm a child.
In a word, negligence. There may be one adult who is looking after too many kids at once. That’s the fault of the daycare management for allowing a dangerous situation where you have one pair of eyes attempting to track more than a dozen kids that are running around in all directions. There could be 30 kids to one adult, we’ve seen it all.
Even if they have enough staff members on duty, some of those staff members may allow themselves to become distracted. We had a case a few years ago where a child died after he went missing for nearly 15 minutes, and we were able to see the daycare worker had posted on Facebook during that crucial time.
What do daycare injuries look like? A lot of them are broken bones, such as kids climbing on things and tumbling down. There’s a lot of cuts and lacerations, such as kids not being supervised around sharp objects like scissors. Hands caught indoors are also common, which can easily become a permanent injury for small children. All of these hazards are preventable.
Think of every way a kid can get hurt at home, and then multiply the risk factor by 10. That’s what a negligent daycare is like, and unlike at home, they don’t have a Mom or Dad looking after one or two kids. There can be a whole classroom worth of children to watch, and the person watching better be paying attention.
Has one of your children been hurt while at daycare? Give us a call at 617-917-3917 or contact us and we can talk to you about your rights and possible next steps.