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There are nearly 18,000 licensed and registered childcare providers in New York state. Untold numbers of people offer care without officially registering. Working moms and dads from all walks of life depend on childcare providers to supervise their children so they can put food on the table and keep a roof over their families’ heads. 

Suppose that you trust your child’s safety and well-being to a childcare provider or daycare facility while you’re at work. It can be traumatizing and destabilizing if your child is injured or endangered while in their care. You may have a right to sue the daycare facility, but it is essential that you take the right steps to preserve and exercise this right. 

4 Steps to Successfully Suing a Childcare Provider 

You might first learn of your child’s injury from seeing strange marks or bruises on them after picking them up. Alternatively, you may have received a call from your provider telling you that your child was hurt. Your child may also report their injury to you.  

In all of these scenarios, it’s important that you remain calm and resist the urge to panic. The following four steps will help protect your child’s health and safety and preserve your legal right to compensation against the provider:

Get Medical Attention and Document the Injuries

Your child’s health and safety are paramount. If your child’s injuries are severe or could be more serious than they initially seemed, get your child to a doctor’s office or emergency room immediately. Encourage them to share any information about how their injuries happened with the doctors and nurses. 

If your child’s injuries are minor, you might consider not seeking medical care for them. Even so, you should still document the injuries with photographs and record any information your child gives about how they were hurt. Monitor their condition, and don’t hesitate to seek medical attention for any injuries that worsen or fail to improve.

Obtain a Statement From the Provider

Ask the daycare supervisor to give details about how your child suffered an injury in their care. You should demand answers to the following questions: 

• What happened to your child? 
• What time did this happen, and where was your child when this happened? 
• Who was supervising your child, and what did they see? 
• Were other children around when this accident occurred? 
• What treatment, if any, did the daycare provider give your child? 

If the provider answers your questions, the information given may be sufficient to alleviate your concerns. If the answers prove unsatisfactory, or if the provider does not answer your questions at all, continue on with the next steps without delay.

Contact an Attorney to Discuss Your Options

A daycare provider owes your child a special duty of care. It is not enough that they don’t carelessly harm them. They must also take reasonable steps to prevent any foreseeable harm that might come to them. If this duty is violated, you could recover compensation for your child’s medical bills and other related expenses you incurred. 

Hiring an attorney quickly also allows the lawyer to move and protect any evidence you may need if you file a suit against the provider. Evidence such as video footage, photographs, emails, and other electronic communications can be pivotal in proving that the provider did not meet its legal obligations. 

Even just consulting with an experienced child injury attorney in New York can give you crucial insights. You can learn information about your legal rights, your chances of success in suing the provider, the compensation you could receive if you did so, and ways you can protect your child moving forward.

File a Claim

Once you have an understanding of how your child was injured and the extent of your losses, you can move forward with filing a legal claim against the daycare provider in court. This must be filed within three years from the date your child was hurt. A knowledgeable lawyer can help you prepare your claim and ensure it is filed on time. 

Contact Silberstein & Miklos for a Free Consultation 

At Silberstein & Miklos, our skilled attorneys have spent decades helping injury victims and their families obtain the justice and compensation they are owed. We understand the trauma you may be experiencing if your child was seriously hurt at daycare.  

Contact Silberstein & Miklos to request a free consultation to learn what our firm’s lawyers can do to assist you during this difficult time.