Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC can help you if your child has been injured in an accident at their daycare center in Lexington. There’s nothing more upsetting than your child being injured in an accident, but it goes beyond that when it happens at their daycare. It’s something no parent wants to face, but when it does happen, our team will be there to guide and support you and your child through it all. Set up a free consultation today to learn more.
Why a Lawyer Makes Sense After Your Child Has Been Injured at Daycare
When your child gets hurt, it hits you in a way nothing else can. You’d take their place in a second if you could. That’s especially true when they get hurt in a place like daycare, which is supposed to keep that exact kind of thing from happening.
And even though kids can be incredibly resilient, recovery doesn’t always happen overnight. What starts as an ER visit can turn into follow-up appointments, physical therapy, medication, or time away from daycare.
At the same time, the daycare’s insurance company may want to settle things quickly—sometimes before you even know how much care your child will need. That’s where having a lawyer really makes sense. Our team can help you and your child’s situation by:
- Explaining your child’s legal rights in plain language
- Gathering the records and evidence that show what happened
- Looking into how your child was injured and who’s responsible
- Handling the back-and-forth with the daycare and its insurance company
- Preparing your case for court if that’s what it takes
You should be focused on helping your child get better—not arguing with an insurance company or trying to figure out what paperwork means. Having our team by your side gives you the space to focus on your family while we handle the legal side of things.
What Can Cause a Child to Be Injured at a Lexington Daycare?
Kids are kids. They run, climb, play, fall, and sometimes get hurt. But that doesn’t mean every injury at a daycare is just something that couldn’t have been prevented. That’s really worth looking at, because it means your child could get hurt at their daycare because of:
- Poor supervision. Kids, especially younger ones in a daycare, need close attention. When there’s a lack of supervision, it can lead to falls, collisions, or other injuries.
- Unsafe playground equipment. Broken or poorly maintained equipment can turn normal play into a serious accident.
- Falls and other hazards. Wet floors, unsafe stairs, clutter, or other conditions can create a dangerous environment for young children.
- Not enough staff. When there aren’t enough people watching the children, it becomes much easier for something to go wrong.
- Failure to follow safety rules. Daycare policies are there for a reason, and ignoring them can put children at unnecessary risk.
- Unsafe toys or equipment. Broken toys, furniture, cribs, or other equipment can cause injuries if they aren’t properly inspected and maintained.
- Poor training or hiring. The people caring for your child need to know how to safely supervise and respond to young children.
No matter how your child was hurt, you deserve to know what happened. That’s difficult to do when you’re not there, but there’s still a way of getting to the bottom of things. It starts with getting the right information.
Information That Can Help When Your Child is Injured at Daycare
When your child gets hurt at daycare, there’s a good chance you weren’t there when it happened. That makes gathering information a little different than it would be if you had seen the accident yourself. So, there’s really two stages to think about.
First, you need to figure out what happened. As soon as you can, try to get the daycare’s version of events, along with anything else that can help fill in the blanks, like:
- The daycare’s incident report
- The names of the people who were in charge of watching your child or responded to the accident
- Pictures/videos of something unsafe in the room, classroom, playground, or other area. It’s also a good idea to ask whether the daycare has surveillance footage that may show what happened.
This will give you a good starting point, but there’s only so much information you can get quickly if you’re not there. That’s where the second phase kicks in, where you need to keep track of things like:
- Your child’s medical records and anything else connected to the injury
- Your own notes about what the daycare told you, when they contacted you, what your child said, and anything else you remember from those first conversations
- Any pictures/videos of where the accident happened and what it looked like after
- Any surveillance or cell phone video of the accident itself
- Pictures as your child’s injuries heal, especially if there are bruises, swelling, scars, or other changes over time
You don’t have to have all of this figured out right away. The important thing is to start putting the pieces together. Plus, our team can fill in any gaps and start the process of figuring out the legal questions.
Who’s Responsible for My Child’s Injuries at a Lexington Daycare?
Once you know your child has been hurt, the next question is usually pretty simple: how did this happen? Daycare centers are responsible for providing a reasonably safe environment and properly supervising the children in their care. When they don’t, and your child gets hurt as a result, the daycare—more specifically the company that owns or operates it—is legally responsible.
But it’s not always just on the daycare itself. It really depends on the specifics of what happened and who was in charge of the unsafe conditions at the time. As such, that could bring in others like:
- Daycare staff who weren’t properly watching your child
- A property owner or manager who didn’t fix a dangerous condition
- Another company or contractor that created an unsafe condition
- A company that made or sold a defective product or piece of equipment that then caused the injury
Sometimes it’s obvious what went wrong. Other times, it takes a deeper look into the information to figure it out. But the important thing is making sure that your child (and your family) isn’t left paying the price for something they had no control over and shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
How Does a Daycare Injury Claim Work?
This one is pretty obvious, but when your child is injured at their daycare in Lexington, they can’t go through the claims process on their own. But they have the exact same rights as any other person that gets injured in an accident. The only difference is that you, their adult parent or guardian, are the one that files the claim on their behalf.
With that hurdle cleared, the injury claims process works the same way. That means you usually either file:
- An insurance claim outside of court
- A personal injury lawsuit
Every injury is different, but the focus is the same: making sure your child’s injuries, recovery, and future needs are fully accounted for. Some of that can come from insurance, but a lawsuit allows you to go after fuller financial help like:
- Medical bills and ongoing treatment
- Rehabilitation, therapy, and other recovery costs
- Your child’s pain and suffering
- Emotional trauma or changes in behavior
- Permanent injuries or disabilities
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Future medical care and other long-term needs
You may also have expenses of your own, like missed work because you had to stay home with your child or take them to medical appointments. That can be factored in, also. But at the same time, you don’t want to just wait around. Injury claims in Kentucky have to be filed within one year of the date of the accident. And the longer you wait, the more things change.
Get Help After Your Child is Injured at Their Daycare in Lexington
It’s almost unthinkable to go through a situation where your child is injured at their daycare center in Lexington. But it can happen, and when it does, you shouldn’t also have to figure out the legal and financial side of things on your own.
That’s where our Lexington premises liability accident lawyers at Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC can help you and your child move forward. Set up a free consultation today.
