How to Tell When a Daycare Incident Needs Further Action

The daycare is an important space where your child explores, learns, grows, and of course, has fun in what is also a supervised environment. Scraped knees? Spilled juice? Stained shirt? All totally normal.

But what if you notice bump after bump appearing? Or a few bruises that your child doesn’t have a good explanation for? Maybe your child all of a sudden starts refusing to go back to daycare?

I’m a parent myself and I know kids can get finicky sometimes. And that’s normal. They can’t wait to go to daycare only to throw a tantrum because they have to go back tomorrow. I also know that a weird bruise here and there can happen and they might not know where it came from. I mean, I find a bruise on myself sometimes and have no idea how it happened.

But I’m not talking about any of these cases; I’m talking about those times when things just feel off and your instincts kick in.

Most of the time, incidents are minor and there’s nothing to worry about. But there’s a fine line between an ouchy and something you need to investigate, so let me show you how to tell the difference.

When Do You Need to Act Right Away?

The short answer would be, when your gut tells you to because parental instincts are usually right. And even if you happen to be mistaken, it’s better to know your child is safe than to risk them getting harmed.

But if you’re hesitant to rely on those instinctual hunches, consider the following situations as ones that require immediate action (and any situation similar to these):

The Behavior of Your Child Changes

From a child full of joy to one that has fears of going to daycare or becoming anxious – these signs very well need to be probed into. Behavioral changes, according to studies, indicate that something nasty is happening to our children.

First, speak to your child and try to see what’s going on. If that leads to nowhere, speak to the staff at daycare to get to the bottom of things.

Poor Hygiene or Other Signs of Neglect

Neglect isn’t always glaringly obvious so you’ll need to pay attention to the small signs. If your child is coming home in dirty clothes or unchanged diapers, it means that the daycare staff isn’t doing their job.

Hygiene is a big part of safety in daycare, not just to stay comfortable, but also to prevent diseases.

Accidents/Injuries Happen (Often)

Toys and playgrounds are meant to be fun. That’s what they were designed for. But it’s different whenever a playground hasn’t been maintained, or safety standards aren’t being followed. For isntance – broken equipment, sharp edges, unsecured areas; all there all disasters on the verge of happening.

During drop-off and pick-up, pay attention to how the environment in the daycare looks and if you spot something that’s off, don’t keep it to yourself; report it to the staff instead.

How To Respond To Serious Incidents

The moment you sense that there is something sinister is going on at the daycare center, you must, for the sake of your child, do the following:

Collect Data

The first thing to do is to ask the staff who witnessed the incident to narrate the details surrounding the events from their perspective. Try to get as much information so that you have the entire story (or at least as close as you can get to it). If the narratives aren’t aligned and the staff has different viewpoints, this might indicate that something serious is going on.

Document Everything

If you need to take further action, you’ll need all the documentation you can get, plus this way, you make sure you won’t forget anything. I don’t mean that the incident necessarily has to turn into a whole big issue, but information never hurt anyone. Probably.

Ask for the Report on the Incident

Daycare centers are supposed to keep records of accidents and injuries that happen while the children are there, so ask for a copy of it. The report should explain what happened and what they did after.

Consult a Legal Expert

Once you’ve taken your child to the doctor and made sure they’re alright, you might need to hire a lawyer. Daycares are overcrowded everywhere, especially if you live in a big city like London, or even if you’re in the U.S., in Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., etc. Here are some data points from the World Population Review that more clearly illustrate how overcrowded some cities/states are compared to others.

As you can see (depending on the age group), some U.S. states are more crowded than others. While Philadelphia and Chicago share the same staff-to-child ratio in the school-age group, Chicago (on average) allows eight more children per one staff member in the preschool group. That’s a significant spike!

Also, places like Austin or Miami would up the ante by 6 and 5, respectively. It’s not hard to imagine how one staff member overseeing such a large number of children could lead to neglect and accidents.

And if an accident happens, it’s (often) accompanied by an injury. What do you then? Simply let it slide? Well no, you definitely shouldn’t. Even if it was an accident, it likely could’ve been prevented by not aiming for profit over safety.

Cities like Miami, Austin, and Chicago are prime examples of how profit from daycare centers can lead to more danger than there needs to be. And such a mentality should be heavily discouraged. And taking legal action is a remedy.

If you’re in the city of Chicago (or in any other city where overcrowding is an issue) and your child suffers an injury while in daycare, be sure to hire a good-quality daycare injury lawyer in Chicago. They’ll help you figure out what to do next.

No matter whether you’re living in cities like Austin, Miami, or Chicago, where everyone complains about overcrowding – your duty is to do everything that’s in your power, which’ll make such the daycare is focused more on safety instead of profits.

Conclusion

Injuries are no joke in general, but when they happen to our kids, we go into full super-parent mode and that’s how it should be. Personally, I don’t react severely to a bruise or a small cut; as long as my child is okay, I’m okay.

But if things start to get concerning or if I feel my instincts telling me something’s wrong, you bet I’m going to take it further – and you should, too. Your child’s well-being is non-negotiable.