Texas Injury Lawyers Blog
Daycare centers aren’t always safe environments for young children.
Was Your Child Injured at Daycare? When a Texas Daycare May Be Responsible
When you leave your child at daycare, you should be able to trust that they will be supervised and protected from preventable dangers. Unfortuneately, thats not always the case.
In fiscal year 2022, Texas HHS recorded 678 confirmed serious injuries or fatalities involving children age four and younger at licensed day-care centers.²
That number does not mean every daycare injury was preventable or that every daycare was negligent. Young children can be hurt even when caregivers take reasonable precautions. But when inadequate supervision, unsafe facilities, or preventable care mistakes cause an injury, the daycare may be responsible.
Key Takeaway: A Texas daycare may be responsible when inadequate supervision or unsafe conditions cause a child’s injury. State rules require child-care facilities to provide adequate supervision, but parents must still show that the daycare’s carelessness caused or contributed to the injury.
For a broader overview of a parent’s legal options after a child is injured, read our Complete Guide to Child Injury Claims in Texas.
When May a Daycare Be Responsible for a Child’s Injury?
Texas law requires licensed child-care facilities to ensure children receive adequate supervision from capable, qualified, and healthy personnel.¹ The state’s minimum standards are meant to protect children, but an injury claim still depends on proving negliegence.
The key question is whether the daycare failed to take specific safety measures that could have prevented your child’s injury. The examples below are common examples parents should look for after a daycare accident.
Inadequate Supervision
Daycare staff must keep track of the children in their care and respond when an activity, location, or child requires closer attention. A busy classroom or playground does not excuse a child being left without appropriate supervision.
Parents may have reason to look more closely when:
- A caregiver is distracted and does not notice that a child has wandered away.
- A staff member leaves young children unsupervised on a playground, near water, or in another higher-risk area.
- The daycare has too few caregivers available to supervise the number of children present.
- Staff fail to intervene when one child is hurting, bullying, or repeatedly putting another child in danger.
After an injury, staffing schedules, attendance records, classroom assignments, and witness accounts may help show whether the daycare had enough trained adults supervising children at the time.
Unsafe Facilities or Equipment
Daycares are responsible for addressing hazards in the areas where children play, eat, sleep, and move throughout the day. Texas HHS identified indoor equipment or structures in 226 reported serious-injury causes and outdoor equipment or structures in 192.²
A single injury can involve more than one reported cause, so these figures do not show how many children were injured by equipment alone. Still, they show why it is important to look at the condition of the facility—not only the child’s actions—after an injury.
Examples of unsafe conditions include:
- Damaged, poorly maintained, or age-inappropriate playground equipment.
- Indoor climbing equipment without appropriate safety surfacing or supervision.
- An unsecured gate, pool, broken stair, loose railing, or another known hazard left unaddressed.
- A danger the daycare had previously been warned about but did not repair, block off, or adequately supervise.
Maintenance records, inspection reports, photographs, and video footage may help show whether the daycare knew about the hazard before the injury occurred.
Preventable Care Errors
Daycare safety also depends on staff following each child’s known health and care needs. A mistake during an ordinary part of the day can become serious when staff do not follow instructions, communicate with one another, or keep dangerous substances secured.
Examples include:
- A child is harmed because of a medication or allergy mistake.
- Staff provide food that conflicts with a child’s documented allergy or dietary restriction.
- Cleaning products, chemicals, or other dangerous substances are left within a child’s reach.
- Staff fail to follow a child’s known medical or safety plan.
Learn more about what to do after a child is poisoned at a Texas school or daycare.
When Should You Ask a Lawyer About a Daycare Injury?
Speaking with a lawyer does not automatically mean you need to file a lawsuit, nor is it an overreaction on your part. It helps you understand what happened, preserve important records, and determine whether the daycare may be responsible, so you can decide if legal action is warranted.
You should contact a lawyer ASAP if any of the following apply:
- Your child needs emergency care, surgery, therapy, or ongoing treatment.
- The daycare’s explanation is incomplete or keeps changing.
- Staff waited too long to tell you about the injury.
- You believe your child was left unsupervised or exposed to a known hazard.
- The daycare asks you to sign a release, medical authorization, or insurance document.
- Video footage, staffing schedules, incident reports, or witness accounts may be lost.
Was Your Child Injured at a Texas Daycare? Call Shaw.
After a serious daycare injury, you should not have to investigate the facility, deal with insurance companies, and manage your child’s care alone. Carabin Shaw can take on the legal burden while your family focuses on recovery.
You may be entitled to compensation for:
- Emergency treatment and medical bills
- Therapy, medication, or mobility equipment
- Future medical care
- Pain, suffering, and emotional trauma
- Missed income while caring for an injured child
- And more.
We’ll help you find out for free.
Call Shaw today at 800-862-1260 to set up a free case evaluation with an experienced child injury lawyer in Texas.
We look forward to serving you.