Daycare Abuse

Daycare Abuse Lawyers Helping Victims Nationwide and Across Texas including Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio

These days, a vast majority of parents trust daycare providers and other childcare services to care for their children while they work or go to school. As a parent, you should be able to feel secure about your child’s safety with their caregivers.  Although we expect caregivers to provide the highest level of care for our children, that is not always the case.  Unfortunately, there are cases where daycare workers fail to provide the quality of care they are required, resulting in children’s exposure to abuse and neglect.

Every state has licensing requirements for childcare centers.  These licenses are meant to ensure the competency of all daycare workers and the well-being of the children in their care. In Texas, the Department of Family and Protective Services oversees the requirements of all licensed daycares to meet minimum standards for safety, supervision, sanitation, nutrition, and staffing. If a daycare does not properly screen their employees, maintain a safe environment for the children, or leave any child unsupervised, they can be sued for negligence.

If your child has suffered abuse or neglect while in the care of a daycare provider, contact Leger Ketchum & Cohoon, PLLC.  Our daycare abuse lawyers will advocate for you in and out of the courtroom and fight for the compensation and justice that your child deserves. 

How to Recognize Signs of Abuse or Neglect in Your Child

While some cases of daycare abuse and neglect can produce obvious warning signs, others are harder to notice at first.  Pay close attention to any of the following potential signs your child is being mistreated:

• Unexplained cuts and bruises
• Change in your child’s behavior (examples are: aggression, acting out, clinginess, withdrawal, or seeming fearful of daycare or providers)
• Unusual thirst or hunger when picked up at the end of the day
• Frequently coming home with a soiled diaper or a dirty face and hands
• Trouble sleeping and/or having nightmares
• Lethargy (this could be due to neglected nap schedules)
• Sudden, unexplained developmental delays when previously developing normally (such as having accidents when your child has already been potty trained)

Signs of a Potentially Dangerous Daycare

A daycare should be a safe and nurturing environment. Unfortunately, it only takes one person to slip through the cracks and cause harm through abuse and neglect. The following are signs that a daycare or a daycare worker may be providing inadequate care for the children:

• Inadequate caregiver-to-child ratio
• Failure to provide care for special needs children and/or ADA violations
• Providing inadequate nutrition or ignoring known food allergies
• Lack of safety precautions against a child being able to exit the facility
• Swearing and/or yelling at children
• Improper sanitation
• Improper quarantine procedures for sick children
• Poorly stocked First Aid kits
• Surveillance cameras that are constantly broken

Our Daycare Abuse Attorneys are actively pursuing neglectful and abusive childcare professionals and providers. Click below for more information about our current and past daycare abuse cases from the following news sources.