Georgia Daycare Injury Lawyer

Daycares and other childcare facilities are meant to provide a safe place for children when their parents can’t be with them. You expect the daycare to offer appropriate supervision and protect your kids from harm – but if that doesn’t happen, your child could suffer a serious injury.

Some parents brush off their child’s injuries as a typical result of child’s play. To some extent, this is true – kids are often enthusiastic when playing, and even with supervision, a child can fall down and get hurt.

However, sometimes their injuries are the result of a daycare’s negligence. How can you tell the difference? Here are some signs to look out for:

• The staff at your child’s daycare don’t mention an injury when you pick up the child, and you only notice it later.
• You inquire about your child’s injury, and the daycare workers can’t or won’t offer an explanation. They might ignore your question, change the subject, or pretend they don’t know what you’re talking about. Or, they may give you a vague answer and try to downplay the injury.
• Your child repeatedly has bruises, lacerations, or other signs of injury they didn’t get at home. Every child has cuts and scrapes from time to time, but if you notice a pattern of injuries that occur at daycare, there may be a problem.
• You often find that your child is hungry or thirsty when you pick them up.
• Your child acts apprehensive about being dropped off at daycare, or you notice other signs of distress. It’s normal for kids to be nervous when they first start daycare – new experiences can be scary. But if this fear doesn’t go away or appears in a child who previously enjoyed daycare, that could be a sign something is going on at the facility.
• The child has any significant injury or a bruise or cut that seems larger than the typical childhood injury. You should be very concerned if your child suffers a broken bone, needs stitches, or suffers any other substantial injury while at the childcare facility.
• Your child has a sudden change in behavior – regression, moodiness, picking fights with other kids, etc. This can happen for a number of reasons, but if the child is in daycare, it’s important to get to the bottom of what caused the behavioral shift.

Do I Need a Georgia Daycare Injury Attorney if My Child Was Injured at Daycare?

Yes, it’s a good idea to have a consultation with an experienced daycare injury lawyer if your child has suffered a significant injury at a childcare facility. Not every injury is due to the facility’s negligence, but a lawyer can help you determine what happened.

We’ll review the details of your child’s injury, their medical records, and any other evidence you have. We may also assign an investigator to search for further documentation.

What Causes Common Daycare Injuries?

There are many ways a child can get hurt at daycare, especially if the staff has been negligent in taking safety precautions. Here are some common causes of negligent injuries in childcare facilities:

• Lack of supervision or insufficient supervision. When there are too many kids and too few adults, it’s hard to give all the youngsters the attention they need. Georgia has specific regulations regarding staff-to-child ratios and maximum group size, depending on the kids’ ages. If your child was injured and the daycare was in violation of these rules at the time, they may have been negligent.
• Problems with playground equipment or toys. Daycare playgrounds see a lot of use, and different pieces of equipment can become worn down or broken over time. It’s essential that the staff examine the playground equipment regularly so they can identify problems and repair or replace unsafe pieces. They should also stay up-to-date on toy recalls and remove any recalled items that could be dangerous. (That being said, if there was no recall of a dangerous toy at the time your child was hurt, you might have an issue with the manufacturer rather than the daycare.)
• Wet or hazardous floors. Daycare staff often clean frequently, both to reduce the spread of illnesses and to clean up messes that children often make (spilled drinks, paint, broken glass). While hygiene is certainly important, staff members also need to be careful to keep kids away from wet floors or other slip/trip hazards. Because many kids in daycare are too young to read, putting up a “wet floor” sign won’t solve the problem. Instead, staff should direct children around wet areas and warn them to walk slowly.
• More permanent problems that cause trip hazards. For instance, a wet floor will dry out eventually, but a structural problem like crumbling concrete, disintegrating floor tiles, bumps under the carpet, or unstable stairs or doorways will remain an issue until it’s repaired. If you notice a persistent structural concern in your child’s daycare, ask when it will be fixed.
• Cleaning chemicals. Again, cleaning and disinfecting are great – but dangerous chemicals should be kept away from children. Sometimes accidents occur when a child gets into bleach or another harsh cleaning product or consumes a potentially toxic substance like liquid soap.
• Unsafe items left in reach of kids. Scissors or sharp objects should be put up where kids can’t reach them, and daycares should use only the round-edged scissors that pose less of a risk to children. But any item can become dangerous if it falls on a child. This may seem an unlikely occurrence, but it’s not – many small kids are injured when reaching for something on a desk or table. They accidentally knock loose an item near the edge, like a lamp or pencil holder, and then the item falls and hits them. For this reason, daycare workers should keep items away from the edges of desks, shelves, and tables.
• Medication management. If your child needs medication throughout the day, you give it to the daycare with specific instructions. Unfortunately, if the staff members fail to follow those instructions, your child might get too much, not enough, or even another child’s medicine. Some of these situations are merely an inconvenience, but others can result in serious health problems for your child.
• Allergen exposures or mishandling of an allergic reaction. The CDC reports that about 8 percent of children have food allergies, while about 18 percent have any kind of allergy. However, nearly half of severe anaphylactic reactions are attributed to food allergies like peanuts or shellfish. If your daycare accidentally exposes your child to an allergen or fails to follow instructions for using an EpiPen when the child has a reaction, they may have been negligent.
• Negligent hiring. Daycares and other businesses that work with children have a duty to be very careful in hiring employees. If the daycare hired someone with a criminal history, especially one involving any crime against a child, the facility may have been negligent.
• Biting or bullying from other children. Sometimes, kids have disagreements that turn physical, and biting is not uncommon in toddler-aged children. However, if your child is repeatedly bitten or injured by another child at daycare, there is likely a problem with poor supervision.
• Unsafe vehicle situations. Some daycares use vans or other vehicles to take children on outings, to the park, etc. These vehicles must be outfitted with an appropriate car seat for each child, depending on their age and size. The daycare should also check the expiration dates on car seats regularly and replace them as needed. If the car seats are unsuitable or the vehicle itself is unsafe due to lack of maintenance, the daycare facility may be negligent.

What Kind of Evidence Is Helpful in a Daycare Injury Case?

Here are some common types of evidence we may search for in these cases:

• Video evidence. Today, many daycares have live feeds parents can tune into to check on their children, and some also allow parents to access recordings. This feature is very desirable when choosing a daycare because, in most situations, it allows you to go back and see exactly what happened if your child was hurt. In some circumstances, these videos have led to arrests, as in the case of two Dekalb daycare workers who were caught on video slamming a toddler to the ground in 2022. If your child has unexplained injuries, we recommend looking at the day’s recording as soon as possible – before it can be deleted to make space. Let your lawyer know if the video is mysteriously missing or has blank spots.
• Records of the minor’s injuries. It’s helpful to take pictures of your child’s injuries and to get them medical attention right away. Even if you don’t think the injury is especially serious, it’s good to have a record that your doctor evaluated the problem. You should also write down the date and what happened any time your child comes home with an injury, even a minor one. This can help show a pattern of problems in some situations.
• Witness statements. If your child is old enough, ask them questions about what happened, and try to find out who else was there when the injury happened. Make a list of potential witnesses, especially any adults who were supervising the kids at the time. You might also ask other parents whose children go to the daycare if they’ve had similar problems in the past. Sometimes we find that multiple parents expressed concern about an issue that was never addressed.
• Other evidence. Depending on the situation, you might take pictures of the area where the accident happened, especially if you suspect there was a defective piece of equipment or a structural problem. For example, if your child was hurt on the stairs, a picture of the crumbling steps might be helpful. 

If you’re unable to get some of these types of evidence, that’s understandable. Often daycare managers get nervous if a child is injured, and they know the daycare might be at fault.

Submit any requests to the daycare in writing, preferably using a method you can track, like an email. Be as specific as possible.

For example, “I would like to see the video of my child’s time at the daycare on May 1, 2023, so I can determine how her injuries happened.

If the daycare ignores or refuses your request, let your attorney know. We may be able to get the needed information through other legal channels.

What Kind of Damages Are Available in a Georgia Daycare Injury Case?

If your child was hurt due to a childcare facility’s negligence, you could seek compensation for the following:

• Any medical bills related to the child’s injury. This includes future medical treatment if the child needs continued care.
• Other out-of-pocket expenses, such as buying mobility aids for the child, travel expenses to see a specialist, etc.
• Your lost income if you had to take off work to care for an injured child.
• Pain and suffering damages for your child’s physical and emotional pain. This includes reduced “quality of life” compensation for any permanent disability or disfigurement, or long-term issues caused by the injury.
• Punitive damages. In cases where the daycare was extremely reckless or careless, or the child suffered extreme abuse at the hands of a daycare worker, sometimes additional punitive damages are approved to punish the defendant.

How Do I Find a Georgia Daycare Injury Lawyer?

If your child has been injured at a childcare facility, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation. We can review your case, seek additional evidence if needed, answer your questions, and explain the options for pursuing compensation.

Our hardworking team can also help you report your child’s injuries to the appropriate authorities if you haven’t done so yet.

Attorney Ali Awad founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm just a few short years ago and quickly grew it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country.

When he’s not fighting for clients in the courtroom or negotiating a settlement with an insurance company, he can be found on social media, offering timely legal advice to over a million followers.

Call us today at 888-307-3792.