Many parents can tell you about discovering a scratch or a bruise on their child after picking them up from daycare and finding no one who can explain what happened. Too many Kentucky parents can speak of more serious injuries that their children have suffered in daycare with no adequate explanation provided. If you find yourself in this position with a significantly injured child, you should contact a daycare injury lawyer.
A child’s injuries in daycare are often due to a lack of adequate supervision or negligence for which the daycare center may be held accountable. Some children are abused and injured while in daycare. When a child suffers a serious injury, it can have a lasting effect on the child and their family. Financial compensation from a personal injury claim can help your family cope with this traumatic experience and pay for the medical care due to the injury.
The Kentucky daycare injury attorneys at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer can help you understand the legal process and your options if your child has been seriously injured at a childcare center. Our experienced attorneys can give your family the courage to demand answers and justice during this difficult time.
Contact us now for your free case evaluation about seeking a daycare injury settlement.
What Should Kentucky Daycare Facilities Do To Protect Your Child?
Daycare centers and childcare providers in Kentucky are subject to numerous regulations meant to ensure that they provide reasonable care and supervision to children placed in their care. Regulations address staff-to-child ratios, hiring procedures, licensing requirements, and how to maintain daycare facilities and equipment.
Any time an accident occurs requiring a child to receive medical treatment, daycare providers are required to notify the parents immediately. Medical treatment refers to care administered by a licensed or certified healthcare professional. It is not first aid administered by staff. Daycare providers are required to report accidents or injuries that require medical care to the state within 24 hours.
Kentucky’s Division of Child Care (DCC) oversees childcare/daycare programs and tracks the results of daycare center inspections and the number of serious injuries in Kentucky childcare centers. For 2023, the DCC reported 620 serious injuries in licensed childcare centers and certified family childcare homes in Kentucky and 47 instances of substantiated negligence or child abuse.
Types of Daycare Injuries in Kentucky
There are many ways a child in daycare can sustain injuries if he or she is not properly supervised or the daycare facility is not properly safeguarded. In child injury cases, our daycare injury lawyers typically see injuries involving:
- Falls down stairs, on playgrounds, from furniture, and onto hard surfaces, which can cause head injuries and broken bones.
- Choking on food or other objects, which can lead to brain damage or wrongful death due to lack of oxygen.
- Burns from hot liquids, steam, prepared foods, or other kitchen items.
- Poisoning from improperly stored household and institutional cleaning supplies or medicines.
- Drowning or near-drowning in bathtubs, sinks, or swimming pools.
- Motor vehicle injuries suffered in accidents involving vans or buses that transport children from school or between the daycare center and offsite activities.
- Young children left in unattended vehicles, leading to heatstroke or hypothermia and death.
- Physical abuse, including hitting, slapping, shaken baby syndrome (a traumatic brain injury), and other blunt-force trauma.
- Sexual abuse, including exposing, touching, or video/photographing genitalia of a child or children in sexual poses/scenarios for self-gratification, financial exploitation, or humiliation of the child.
- Psychological abuse, including trying to scare, shame, humiliate, isolate, or ignore a child.
How A Daycare Injury Lawyer Can Protect Your and Your Child’s Rights
A young child lacks the judgment to recognize dangerous situations and can get hurt if left unsupervised at a childcare center. When you entrust your child’s care to a daycare, you have a right to feel confident that your child is being properly supervised. Such licensed facilities formally act in the place of a parent, which confers a greater legal duty to care for children under their supervision.
If your child has been seriously injured while under the supervision of a daycare center, you may be able to hold the daycare center legally responsible. In most cases, the daycare center as a business and/or its owner will be liable for such negligence and will have insurance to pay any claim.
The daycare injury lawyers at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer would collect evidence to substantiate your claim and carefully evaluate the extent of your and your child’s losses to determine the value of your claim.
To investigate, we would gather any reports filed by the daycare center, emergency response services, or police regarding your child’s injury. We would help you obtain copies of your child’s medical records.
We would also seek witness accounts and video from security cameras at the daycare center. If the daycare center is experiencing problems that might have contributed to a child’s injury, it is likely that some staff members will want to speak out.
Our attorneys will calculate what the accident has cost your child and your family, particularly the cost of medical bills. This includes anticipated future medical costs due to a disabling injury. A growing child may require ongoing care, delayed medical procedures, special education, and assistive devices. A proper calculation of monetary costs also accounts for the time the parents will spend assisting the child.
You may have signed a daycare agreement that included a clause stating that the center and its staff cannot be held liable if your child is hurt while under their care. You should not let this stop you from seeking legal guidance after a daycare injury or suspected daycare abuse in Kentucky. Courts have repeatedly ruled against allowing daycare providers to be relieved of liability when a child has been hurt due to negligence or abuse while in their care.
We will press a personal injury claim on behalf of you and your child with the daycare center and their insurance company. If the insurance provider refuses to agree to a fair settlement, our legal team will pursue a lawsuit in your name and argue your case persuasively in court.
Potential Compensation for Daycare Injuries In Kentucky
When a child has suffered a significant injury, it can be especially important to recover adequate compensation from the responsible party. In typical cases, we would seek the cost of medical care and payment for pain and suffering and the family’s other financial costs and losses.
In cases of long-term, disabling or disfiguring injuries, we would expect to seek compensation for:
- Current and future medical expenses, such as rehabilitation, ongoing treatment and care, and assistive devices.
- Loss of income if the parents must work reduced hours to care for the child or advocate for services.
- Lost earning capacity of a disabled child-turned-adult.
- Pain, suffering, and emotional distress of the child unable to participate in childhood activities and who may face limited opportunities in education and employment.
- Pain, suffering, and emotional distress of the parents whose child’s life will never be what it should have been.
In a wrongful death claim, parents may also seek compensation for:
- Funeral and burial expenses.
- Loss of companionship.
Contact Our Kentucky Daycare Injury Lawyer
If your child was significantly injured while under the care of a daycare center licensed in Kentucky or a certified family childcare home, you should consult with a Kentucky daycare injury attorney to discuss your legal options. We may be able to help you obtain fair compensation on the child’s behalf for the injury and how it has impacted them and your family. Let our experienced legal team help you determine and demand the money your child will need in the future.
Meet with our lawyers to review the situation and evaluate whether a claim against your child’s daycare provider is in order. You should not have to face medical expenses for injuries caused by someone else’s negligence. If we can pursue a case for you, we will fight for full compensation and not charge you a legal fee unless we recover a settlement or jury award. We know how hard it is to think about taking legal action when your focus is on your child and family. Let us deal with the insurance companies so you can focus on your child’s recovery. Contact us for your free consultation now.
