Sometimes, when parents have to work and are unable to drop off or pick up their child at their school, a daycare center will provide transportation for the child to and from its facility. A daycare center in Houston was responsible for this exact duty, only instead of keeping a child safe, it violated the trust of one family.
The daycare center was responsible for transporting the family’s 6-year-old son to and from his elementary school each day after his parents dropped him off at the center. One day, however, one of the center’s employees failed to ensure that the boy got out of the van at his elementary school. The employee parked the van and left. The 6-year-old boy realized he was alone, forgotten in the van, and tried to find help. He was able to get out of the van and walk across the parking lot of the busy shopping center located next door to the daycare center before he was rescued by a good Samaritan. This person found a patrol sergeant for the police department working security at the Walmart. The patrol sergeant kept the boy safe until the daycare center’s owner identified the boy as being from the center. A phone call was then made to the boy’s parents, who learned their son was found in a parking lot.
To make matters worse, the Houston daycare center lied to the boy’s parents about the incident to cover up its failures. The center claimed the boy was dropped off at his school, but surveillance footage of the school’s parking lot and statements from the principal and the boy’s teacher confirmed he was not.
Fortunately, the boy’s parents contacted our experienced daycare and child injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm to hold the daycare center in Houston accountable for negligently leaving the boy in the van and attempting to cover up the incident. We got justice for this boy and his family by securing a settlement that helped them move forward.
How Did This Houston Daycare Center Fail This Family?
Daycare centers in the state of Texas are required to follow Texas daycare laws, called minimum standards, which are meant to keep children safe. These laws include guidelines such as how caregivers should be trained, how many children can be in the care of one employee, and how often caregivers must routinely take account of the children in their care. In fact, there are even specific laws focused on safety practices when transporting children by van or bus. Specifically, the caregiver or bus driver is expected to:
- Load and unload children at the curbside of the vehicle or in a protected parking area or driveway.
- Not allow a child to cross a street unless the child is accompanied by an adult any time before entering or after leaving a vehicle.
- Account for all children exiting the vehicle before leaving it unattended, including face-to-name checks as each child enters and exits the vehicle.
- Not leave a child unattended in a vehicle by conducting a full check of all seats before exiting and locking the vehicle.
The Houston daycare center did not comply with the standards, and the 6-year-old boy suffered because of it.
The daycare center failed the parents again when it attempted to cover up the incident. As soon as she learned about the incident, the boy’s mother rushed to pick up their son and tried to learn how their son was left alone. Instead of answering truthfully, the Houston daycare center lied. Fortunately, security footage revealed the truth: The Houston daycare center endangered their child’s life by leaving him alone in the van and then able to leave it and roam aimlessly to seek help in a busy parking lot.
The daycare center violated seven specific minimum standards when it:
- Did not ensure the safety of children in its care
- Neglected the boy
- Did not use a tracking system for each child coming and going from the center throughout the day
- Failed to account for all children exiting the van before leaving it unattended
- Left the boy unattended in the daycare van
- Did not properly supervise the boy
- Failed to know which child it was responsible for
When the Department of Family and Protective Services investigated the incident, the state agency cited the Houston daycare center with two violations. The first was to keep children from being abused or neglected, which the daycare center failed to do when they left a young boy alone without care. The second was by leaving a child unattended, specifically in a vehicle, which this van driver did when he neglected to do any checks, which would have found the boy was still in the van.
How Did The Button Law Firm Help This Houston Family Recover?
No parent ever wants to receive an emergency call about their little one, let alone one that reveals the daycare center that they trusted left their child alone and scared in a busy shopping center parking lot. Our team of daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm was able to help this family recover, but the memory of such a traumatic incident will never go away.
Since the 6-year-old boy was left alone in his daycare center’s van, he has suffered significant developmental regressions. He is no longer comfortable being alone and always requires a line of sight with his mom, including at bedtime. He has developed anxiety and suffered from panic attacks following the incident. He frequently wets the bed and reports seeing a scary dark monster in the daycare van that jolts him awake at night.
This young boy deserves to go through elementary school like any other kid, but because of the negligence of the Houston daycare center, he has instead suffered from these developmental setbacks. Our team understands the difficulty of working with young children in child and daycare abuse cases, and this one was no different. With the help of the family, our attorneys were able to reach a settlement that helped their son move on from such a traumatic event.
Was Your Child Harmed Due to Daycare Negligence in Texas? Contact The Button Law Firm.
If your child was physically or emotionally harmed because caregivers did not comply with Texas daycare safety laws, contact our experienced daycare and child injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. With lawyers in Houston, Dallas, and Midland, we are ready to listen, fight for your family, and help your family move forward. Our lawyers at The Button Law Firm are recognized on the prestigious Texas Super Lawyers list, and we can help guide you after a traumatizing incident involving your child. We work on contingency, meaning we don’t charge you or collect any upfront fees to get started on your case. Call us at 214-699-4409, email us at [email protected], or fill out a contact form for a free case evaluation.
.png)
.png)
