When parents drop their children off at daycare, they should be able to trust that their children will be safe. Both the state of Pennsylvania and city of Philadelphia have laws and requirements that regulate all commercial daycare centers and in-home child care providers to try to ensure the safety of the children. In order to get licensed to watch children, you must have certain education and experience levels and certain safety precautions in the home. Furthermore, the maximum child to staff ratio is clearly defined and depends on the age of the children. For example, if a facility needs more staff to care for fewer infants than ten year-old children.
However, despite these strict regulations, accidents do happen at daycare facilities and sometimes children suffer injury. If your child is injured at a daycare center, you can seek to hold the daycare center responsible for any negligent behavior and seek to be compensated for all of your child’s injury-related medical bills and for any pain and suffering they experienced.
How Is A Daycare Center Negligent?
There are several ways in which a daycare center owner or staff may act negligently. These include:
- Not meeting licensing, staff, or safety requirements, such as having too many children or unqualified staff.
- Not performing proper background checks on staff and allowing someone with a history of child abuse to work at the facility.
- Not properly supervising the children.
- Having dangerous conditions on the premises, such as sharp corners on furniture, poorly maintained playground equipment, uncovered electrical outlets, or unclean facilities.
- Failing to protect children from strangers outside the facility.
- Child or sexual abuse by a staff member.
- Allowing the children to play unsafe games or play with toys that are not appropriate or safe for their age range.
These are only some of the ways in which a daycare center may act negligently.