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A mother’s worst nightmare became reality when her infant son’s daycare center called to inform her that her son had gone limp after being picked up from a nap, but he had “fallen back asleep.” While rushing to the center, she received another call from caregivers, this time stating paramedics had been contacted.
Upon her arrival, the mother found her young child pale, limp, and crying softly. He was transported by ambulance to the emergency room, where a CT scan revealed he had a brain bleed. Doctors determined the infant had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), likely the result of blunt force trauma. She reported what happened to her son to the police.
Surveillance footage from the daycare center showed the infant’s caregiver violently mishandling him, forcefully swinging the boy in her arms, bouncing him so aggressively in a baby bouncer that his head and shoulders snapped forward and slammed back into the backrest, and placing her foot on his chest to bounce him harder. At one point, the caregiver slammed the infant down into the bouncer with such force his head appeared to strike the concrete floor. The final moments captured in the video showed the caregiver handing the unresponsive child off to the daycare center’s director.
Our experienced daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm fought to hold the daycare center liable for its failures to protect the infant from suffering such a severe and traumatic injury. We got justice and helped compensate the family for the child’s costly medical bills, ongoing medical treatments, and the other needed resources to treat his daycare brain injury, which will, unfortunately, impact the quality of his life through adulthood.
What Safety Failures at the Daycare Center Caused the Infant’s Brain Injury?
What happened to the infant in this case is considered child abuse under Texas daycare regulations. These laws, also known as minimum standards, clearly address every aspect of childcare to ensure that little ones are protected at licensed daycare centers.
In this case, the daycare center and its caregiver and director violated basic and commonsense minimum standards, including:
- Alerting parents with all the known facts about the incident that caused their child’s injuries and providing them with an incident report
- Ensuring no child is abused at the daycare center
- Immediately reporting any suspected abuse or neglect of a child to the state
- Reporting abusive behavior by caregivers to the local authorities
- Daycare directors and caregivers using good judgment
Unfortunately, this daycare center opted to take several safety shortcuts, including one that continued to endanger the infant. The daycare director knew from the start—when the caregiver handed off the limp child and said she “may have bounced him too hard”—that something was wrong. She checked surveillance footage from the classroom and saw the caregiver’s violent treatment, and that abuse was responsible for harming the infant. Yet, she chose not to report it to the police. She also provided inaccurate information when police arrived at the center the next day. She even gave inaccurate information in her report to state licensing authorities that the incident was a medical emergency. It was only when the police demanded to see the footage that the full extent of the abuse was uncovered.
What happened to the infant in this case was a complete breakdown in the basic duty of care that every child and their family deserves.
How The Button Law Firm Got Justice for the Family in This Daycare Abuse Case
Pediatric trauma specialists diagnosed the infant with a subdural hematoma in the left frontal lobe and hemorrhages in both eyes, all consistent with severe shaking and blunt trauma. The infant’s TBI left him with long-term developmental and cognitive consequences.
After experiencing the unimaginable, the infant’s family turned to our compassionate and experienced daycare injury lawyers for answers and justice. We understood immediately that this case wasn’t just about treating the infant’s physical injuries; it was also about holding the center responsible for failing its duties to keep a child safe, to prevent abuse by a caregiver, and to provide accurate information instead of trying to cover up abuse.
We fought to make the daycare center answer and be held accountable for all its failures that severely harmed the infant, as well as take responsibility for the incident. With our legal team’s help, compensation to cover the infant’s ongoing medical needs will be met for years to come—and the family will be able to secure the appropriate support and resources to aid his healing journey so that they can move forward with peace of mind.
Was Your Child Harmed at a Daycare Center? Contact The Button Law Firm.
If your child was harmed because a daycare center did not comply with Texas childcare safety laws, contact our experienced daycare and child injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. With lawyers in Dallas, Houston, 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.
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