If your child has suffered an injury while at a daycare facility, you are probably worried, anxious, and wondering how the injuries could have occurred at a facility you believed to be safe. According to the 19th News, following a 2014 mandate that required all daycare facilities to report injuries and deaths, ten years later many states are not even remotely in compliance with that mandate. While the state of Missouri is largely in compliance because they do report deaths, serious injuries, and substantiated abuse, the state does not report the total number of children in childcare programs.
In 2023, Missouri reported there were 4 deaths in daycare facilities across the state, although only one of those occurred in a licensed daycare facility. There were 13 serious injuries reported in licensed daycare facilities in the same year. If you want to know how your child sustained his or her injuries and whether neglect or abuse was involved, you need an experienced Columbia daycare injury attorney from Finney Injury Law.
How We Can Help You
You may be wondering how you can choose the best attorney for your child’s daycare injuries. Some people may ask those close to them for a referral. Friends, family members, or co-workers may refer you to a law firm they’ve used. Otherwise, you may either call the Missouri State Bar Association or look online to find a firm that is near you and seems to be a good fit. At Finney Injury Law, we believe strongly that once you have spoken to an attorney at our firm and experienced our friendly, professional staff, your choice will be clear.
Feeling overwhelmed after such an experience is normal. Your priority should, of course, be your child’s health and well-being. When you choose Finney Injury Law, you will find our extensive experience and skills benefit you at every turn. We will compassionately work on your behalf, advocating at every turn for the most positive outcome to your child’s daycare injuries. Finney Injury Law has many positive Google reviews from past clients. With a free initial consultation, 24/7 availability, and both English and Spanish-speaking staff, we go out of our way to ensure your experience is as comfortable and easy as possible.
We will be your advocate at every turn. We prepare every case comprehensively as though it will go to trial. If a case does need to be litigated, we have an award-winning trial lawyer on staff who will fight for the verdict you deserve. Every member of our team is deeply involved with their communities. This means we have a personal stake in the outcome of your daycare injury case.
Daycare Injuries Finney Injury Law Can Help With
Some daycare injuries are nobody’s “fault,” rather they are simply unavoidable accidents. However, in the daycare setting, the premises must always be safe and free from hazards, the employees must be well-vetted, caring individuals, and there can be no lapses in attention when small children are present. There must also be a good child-to-staff ratio to ensure each child gets the attention they need and deserve. Many different types of daycare accidents can lead to injury, including the following:
- Bites from other children
- Burn injuries from bottle warmers or unsecured chemicals
- Daycare employee abuse
- Choking on a food or other item
- Falls
- Large furniture that falls onto the child
- Crush injuries, particularly to fingers and hands
- Wrongful death because of shaken baby syndrome, suffocation, or other types of abuse or neglect
- Playground injuries
- Poisoning
What Are the Most Common Daycare Injuries?
As every parent knows, minor injuries are a fact of life for children. Skinned elbows and knees, bruises, bumps, and even a twisted ankle are usually accepted as part of childhood. In a daycare setting, children can potentially bite one another, leaving bite marks, or may hit one another or get into a fight. While not all daycare injuries are necessarily suspicious or caused by neglect or abuse, some are.
Daycare injuries that should be taken more seriously include repeated injuries that appear to have no valid explanation, bruises that cover a large area, or bite marks that are larger than those of a child. Emotional signs that abuse or neglect may be occurring at daycare include a child who consistently comes home extremely hungry or thirsty or a child who is reluctant or fearful to go to daycare or to see a specific daycare provider.
If your daycare provider is evasive about an injury, does not tell you about the injury, or refuses to discuss the injury with you, this is a red flag, and you need to consider abuse or neglect of your child. If your child consistently comes home with cuts and bruises, and you see emotional changes, neglect or abuse is likely occurring in the daycare facility.
How is Daycare Negligence Proven?
Depending on the situation, negligence that led to a daycare accident can be challenging. Babies and younger children are unable to speak up for themselves and relay what happened to them, and even older children can have difficulty speaking out against an adult, particularly if that adult has threatened them if they tell. There can be a lack of direct, definitive evidence since the person who can testify about what happened is often the same person who is denying any liability.
There may also be difficulty in establishing a breach of duty of care, which is required when asserting negligence. While the daycare facility must only hire responsible adults and supervise them carefully, proving they did not do so can be difficult. In daycare injury claims, it must be shown that the daycare provider failed to meet the industry standard of care. Unfortunately, this standard of care is ill-defined and can vary significantly from one daycare facility to another.
To win a daycare center injury claim, you must be able to prove that the daycare center’s actions directly caused the injury to your child. If the daycare center failed to properly document your child’s accident and subsequent injury, there may be little evidence to back up your claim of negligence or abuse. In the end, it is doubtful that you can prove daycare negligence or abuse on your own as there are simply too many variables and challenges. What you can do is hire a highly experienced Columbia daycare injury attorney from Finney Injury Law who will ensure the rights and the future of you and your child are properly protected.
Getting the Help You Need from Columbia Daycare Injury Attorney from Finney Injury Law
At Finney Injury Law, we want to use our skills, knowledge, and experience to help you get through this extremely difficult time in your life. While always remaining compassionate to your situation, we will work hard to obtain a just settlement that can help you, your child, and your family members get your lives back on track. Our firm has the resources to handle even the most complex case and we will always keep you informed of the progress of your case from start to finish. If your child was injured while in a daycare facility, contact Finney Injury Law today.