Day care is a necessity for many families in Georgia, especially for those that require two incomes to sustain themselves financially. Fortunately, daycare can provide valuable benefits to parents and children, including a head start on socialization, early education, and an improved sense of independence.
Parents put their trust in these facilities to keep their children safe from abuse or accidental injury. When the facility or staff fails to do so and your child is hurt as a result, you have the right to feel betrayed, angry, and distraught. You may also have the right to financial compensation for daycare injuries suffered by your child.
We Have Some of the Best Day Care Injury Lawyers in Norcross
The experienced Norcross daycare injury lawyers at Kevin A. Adamson, P.C. are serious about helping Atlanta parents get the answers and justice they deserve if their child was hurt due to the actions or inaction of daycare management or staff. We are relentless in the pursuit of justice when daycare facilities don’t fulfill their obligations to families in Norcross, Georgia, and Gwinnett County.
While getting financial compensation won’t undo the trauma that your child has experienced, it can be an effective way to make sure that the daycare facility won’t make the same mistake twice. It will also ensure that you won’t have to struggle financially due to their negligence.
To discuss your options with a member of our day care injury legal team, contact us today to schedule a free and completely confidential consultation with a daycare injury attorney.
What Should You Do If Your Child Is Hurt at a Norcross Daycare?
When daycare facilities focus on profit over children’s safety, they may neglect their responsibilities when it comes to hiring competent and qualified staff, supervising of employees and the children in their care, and maintaining a safe facility.
Childcare facilities have a duty to provide a safe environment for the kids who they are being paid to watch. When they fail in this duty, they can be held accountable for their negligence. To protect your rights and the rights of your child, take the following steps after a daycare injury:
- Seek medical care – If your child was injured, it’s possible that the daycare sought medical help in the event of an emergency. However, if your child’s injury didn’t require emergency care, they may not have received any medical attention yet. It is furthermore important to visit a doctor to create an official record of the injury. This will be vitally important when it comes to pursuing a claim.
- Documentation – Gather any documentation that is relevant to the event. Keep your child’s medical records and review the agreement that you signed when you enrolled your child in the facility.
- Collect information – Most facilities have video cameras that parents can access. Looking at a video recording would shed further light on the events that led to your child’s injury. If possible, secure a copy of the tape. It’s also a good idea to collect statements from witnesses and take pictures of your child’s injuries before they have healed.
- Talk to a Lawyer – Reach out to our lawyers to learn how you can pursue the resources that you need in the aftermath of a serious daycare incident.
It is incredibly common for daycare facilities to have parents sign liability waivers when they sign their child up. To be clear, these waivers usually do not release the daycare from responsibility if a child is hurt or killed due to negligence.
If you signed a liability release waiver, you still can and should take legal action on behalf of your family. Our daycare injury attorneys can evaluate any waivers you signed and discuss your options with you. A Norcross daycare injury lawyer can give you advice.
How Can a Norcross Daycare Injury Lawyer Help?
Daycare injuries are an understandably emotional topic for parents or legal guardians. While you have every right to be upset and angry if your child is hurt, remember that legal help is available to you. Our knowledgeable daycare liability lawyer can conduct an investigation into your claim and other potential claims against the facility. We can handle all the legal legwork while you focus on caring for your child.
Once all of the information and evidence are gathered, our seasoned attorneys can determine what action should be taken. By evaluating the specific factors of your case, we will be able to determine whether a claim is possible and how much compensation you can expect. We can negotiate with insurance companies and lawyers on your behalf, refusing lowball settlement offers and advocating for your rights.
Daycare facilities need to be accountable to the families that they serve. Taking legal action can have a powerful impact on how daycares conduct business moving forward. Legal action can help ensure that other children are not victims of the same negligence or abuse at the hands of the facility. Legal punishment and a mark on the daycare’s record will not only give your family the justice that you deserve, but it could protect other children.
What are Common Day Care Injuries in Norcross?
Because children are naturally curious and playful, they need proper supervision which will allow them to have fun safely. When a day care facility fails to provide adequate supervision or is negligent in some other way, your child may be hurt.
Examples of injuries that children suffer at daycares include:
- Abuse – While many injuries are caused by negligence, some may be caused by an intentional act on the part of the staff or other children. Abuse can occur anytime, anywhere, so facilities must make sure to perform extensive criminal background checks, thorough interviews and training, and must supervise employees at all times when they are around children. Abuse can be physical, sexual, or emotional.
- Poor supervision – When children are left without supervision, they could easily hurt themselves and others without an adult nearby to help them. Many children go through a biting phase and will act out and bite their peers. For this, and many other reasons, adults need to be attuned to what is going on to offer suitable protection to the children in their care.
- Dangerous toys – Toys with unsecured, small parts pose a serious choking hazard for children of certain ages. Others may have sharp edges or battery-related issues or may pose a notable risk to the eyes, face, or other sensitive body parts.
- Hazardous playsets – Broken or unsecured playground equipment poses a variety of threats to children. Children who run around on playsets that lack padding or secured parts could easily sustain scratches, head trauma, fall injuries, and a variety of other injuries.
- Falling objects – Unsecured objects on top of tables, bookcases, and other heights can cause head injuries. Many day cares accept extremely young children whose susceptibility to head trauma is even greater than that of toddlers and older kids.
- Burns – Burns can result from heat, friction, and chemicals. Burn injuries in daycares can be caused by scalding water, extremely hot surfaces, or dragging accidents. Employees are often required to double-check that playground equipment is cool enough to play on before allowing children to make contact with it.
If your child was hurt while at daycare, you will only be able to seek compensation if you can prove the four components of negligence: duty, violation of duty, causation, and damages. A lawyer can help you gather the evidence and make the arguments to prove all of these components.