Responsibility for a child’s injury at daycare or school depends on how the injury happened and whose carelessness allowed it. Depending on the facts, the daycare or school itself, an individual staff member, the property owner, an outside company, or even a government agency may be held accountable. Childcare providers and schools take on a duty to supervise the children in their care and to keep their facilities reasonably safe, and when they fall short, your family may have a claim. A Washington, D.C. personal injury attorney at Simeone & Miller, LLP can investigate what went wrong and identify every party that may owe you compensation.
The Duty Daycares and Schools Owe Your Child
When you drop your child off, the provider becomes responsible for keeping that child reasonably safe. Daycares and schools are expected to supervise children appropriately for their age, maintain safe buildings and play areas, hire and train staff with care, and follow basic health and safety rules. A claim usually arises when a provider does not meet that standard of care and a child is hurt as a result.
The level of supervision that counts as reasonable depends on the children’s ages and needs. Infants and toddlers require closer, more constant attention than older students, and a provider that watches a room of two-year-olds the way it would watch teenagers may be acting negligently.
Common examples of negligence include:
- Leaving children unsupervised or understaffing a classroom or playground
- Broken playground equipment, unsafe stairs, or known hazards that were ignored
- Failing to follow a child’s allergy plan, medication schedule, or medical needs
- Releasing a child to an unauthorized adult
- Hiring a worker without a proper background check
- Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse by a staff member
Not every accident is someone’s fault. Children get bumps and bruises even in the safest settings. The real question is whether reasonable care could have prevented the specific injury your child suffered.
Parties That May Be Responsible
More than one party is often responsible for a single injury. Those who may be liable include:
- The daycare center, school, or the company that operates it
- Individual employees whose carelessness caused the harm
- The owner of the property, under premises liability law, when an unsafe condition led to the injury
- An outside party, such as the maker of defective equipment, a bus or rideshare driver on a field trip, or a maintenance contractor
- A government entity, when the injury happened at a public school or a government-run program
Identifying every responsible party matters because each one may carry separate insurance. The more sources of coverage your attorney can reach, the better the chance of fully paying for your child’s medical care and other losses. At Simeone & Miller, we work to pin down everyone at fault so your family can pursue the full compensation available, not just part of it.
Public Schools and Government Programs Add Extra Hurdles
If a public, government-run school or program may be responsible, special rules apply. Government entities often have limited legal immunity, and you usually have to put them on formal notice of a claim within a very short window, often far shorter than the deadline to file a lawsuit.
In the District of Columbia, for example, a claim against the city must be preceded by written notice to the District within six months of the injury. Maryland and Virginia each set their own separate notice deadlines and immunity protections. Whether a charter school, a religious school, or a private daycare even counts as a government entity is not always obvious, and the answer changes which deadlines and rules apply. Missing one of these early deadlines can end an otherwise strong claim before it starts.
How Long You Have to Take Action in DC
Every injury claim is governed by a filing deadline called the statute of limitations. For most personal injury claims, that deadline is three years in the District of Columbia, three years in Maryland, and two years in Virginia.
When the injured person is a child, the deadline to file the lawsuit itself is generally paused. In DC, Maryland, and Virginia, the clock on a child’s own injury claim usually does not start running until the child turns 18. That pause can sound reassuring, but it can also be a trap. It does not automatically extend the short government-notice deadlines that apply to public schools, and other deadlines connected to the injury may not be extended..
Waiting also makes evidence harder to gather and witnesses harder to find. The safest step is to speak with a lawyer soon after the injury.
What to Do if Your Child Was Hurt at Daycare or School
A few early steps protect both your child and any future claim:
- Get medical attention right away, even for injuries that seem minor
- Report the incident to the facility and ask for a written incident report
- Take photos of the injury and of anything that caused it
- Write down what your child and any witnesses describe while it is fresh
- Keep medical records, bills, and your communications with the facility
- Be cautious about signing forms or giving recorded statements to an insurer before you understand your rights
Bringing these records to an early consultation gives your attorney a head start in evaluating what your family is owed.
Talk to Simeone & Miller About Your Child’s Injury
If your child was hurt at a daycare or school in DC, Maryland, or Virginia, our team can help you understand what happened and who should be held accountable. Simeone & Miller has recovered millions of dollars for injured clients across the DMV, and we handle these cases on a contingency fee, so you pay nothing unless we win. Contact us today for a free consultation to talk through your child’s injury with our team.
