Georgia Daycare Injuries: Protecting Your Child

The traditional family model of one parent working full-time and one parent staying home to take care of the children has slowly changed. The economic reality is that most families can no longer make it on a single income, and a 50% divorce rate means that there are lots of single parents who must both raise a child and work full-time. One recent study indicated that as many as six out of every ten children or 13 million children that are not yet school age are enrolled in daycare.

Entrusting others with the care of one's children can be a scary proposition, and even the most diligent research does not guarantee the safety of your child with a daycare provider. If your child is injured or abused while with a daycare provider, it can lead to feelings of guilt, fear, and betrayal. Unfortunately, over thirty thousand children a year are treated in emergency rooms for injuries suffered in daycare. If your child is injured in a daycare center, the compassionate attorneys and staff at Montlick and Associates, Attorneys at Law, can help you obtain the compensation your child is entitled to receive.

Daycare injuries can be the result of negligence, which is essentially lack of care, or intentional acts like physical or sexual abuse. Many times children are unable to articulate what is happening to them or afraid to report the abuse because they are afraid of the consequences. Child care providers, whether in home providers or child care centers, have a legal duty to protect the health and safety of the children in their care. Such childcare providers are subject to regulations and often have their own policies and procedures that go above and beyond the state regulations. Sometimes child care providers will violate state regulations or their own safety procedures, resulting in serious injuries to the children in their care. Serious injuries to children in a daycare setting can result from the following causes:

• Lack of supervision

• Daycare provider negligence

• Violations of health and safety codes

• Sexual or physical abuse

• Dangerous or defective toys

• Playground accidents

• Bus accidents or auto accidents

Daycare providers should possess certain traits including problem-solving skills, child development knowledge, first aid and CPR skills, child rearing and disciplinary skills, teaching skills, and a nurturing and compassionate nature. While daycare facilities are supposed to be licensed and meet certain standards, many providers operate without the appropriate license and do not comply with the minimum requirements. Some daycare facilities also do not run background checks on the caretakers they employ or adhere to guidelines regarding the ratio of children to providers. This can mean that a single child care worker is tasked with watching too many children, so that there is inadequate supervision. A lack of supervision can lead to accidents resulting in injuries, or injuries inflicted on one child by another.

At Montlick and Associates, Attorneys at Law, our Georgia daycare injury attorneys assist families whose children are seriously injured or killed at a daycare facility. We are available to assist clients throughout all of Georgia including, but not limited to, Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Gainesville, Macon, Marietta, Rome, Roswell, Savannah, Smyrna, Valdosta, Warner Robins and all smaller cities and rural towns in the state. Call us today for your free consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333), or visit us on the web at www.montlick.com.  No matter where you are in Georgia or the Southeast, we are just a phone call away.  Montlick & Associates: Caring, Dedication, Experience, Results!