What Should Missouri Parents Do If They Suspect Day Care Abuse?

If you suspect that your day care provider is neglecting or abusing your child, the first thing you should do is contact an attorney who has experience with day care abuse.

In Missouri, there are two different agencies to which parents can report their suspicions of day care abuse. The Department of Social Services and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education both have their own websites and reporting portals, and it’s easy for parents to make the wrong decisions when they report their suspicions. Sending your report to the wrong agency can limit any investigation. So can filing a report that fails to address important legal issues. Accordingly, parents who want to ensure that their reporting leads to as thorough an investigation as possible would be wise to work with an attorney.

You Want To Help The Investigators Start Strong

Missouri day care providers must follow a long, strict set of regulations. Still, few parents know the rules set forth by 5-CSR-25-300 and 5-CSR-25-500. This means that few parents know how to file their reports in a language that can steer investigators toward the correct violations.

In fact, some day care providers may have five or six open investigations that the parents won’t even know about. Parents who don’t reference these investigations may accidentally point investigators in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, investigators are human and can sometimes make mistakes. When investigators follow reports that lead them in the wrong direction, they may not find the problem that led to a child’s injuries. They may conclude their investigations with reports that hurt the child’s case with the insurance company.

An experienced attorney can do several things, then, to help the investigators uncover the problems:

• Look up any previous investigations into the day care’s activities
• Cite the proper rules and regulations, using appropriate language from the Code of State Regulations (CSR)
• Send the report to the government agency that can most effectively investigate the matter
• Communicate directly with the day care to preserve any video footage or other evidence

In some ways, filing a report about suspected day care abuse is like filing an employment report with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Anyone can file a complaint. You can file a complaint. But these complaints are not of equal value. Some do a better job of providing investigators with the information and tools they need to help them uncover wrongdoing.

Make Sure Your Child Gets Appropriate Treatment

Day care negligence and abuse can lead to a host of different issues. Some of these may be obvious. If your child suffers a physical injury and ends up with a broken bone or a bloody gash, you’ll know to get your child to medical treatment as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, other injuries are not always obvious. Emotional injuries can often be difficult to unpack, especially with young children who may struggle to articulate themselves.

Indeed, the signs of day care negligence and abuse are not always clear at first. Some of the warning signs may include:

• Sudden, unexplained behavioral changes
• Bite marks or bruises
• Diaper rash
• Fearful behavior

Often, your child’s pediatrician or primary care provider can help you explore these issues when it becomes clear that something’s not normal. This primary care provider might then recommend other providers to help with your child’s recovery.

Holding The Negligent Or Abusive Provider Responsible

Once you’ve helped investigators locate the root problems and pursued the appropriate treatment for your child, you may still deserve compensation for the injuries your child has suffered. Here, an attorney can help you once again.

Attorneys who deal with day care injuries on a regular basis are likely to know things about your child’s day care that you may not. You might not know about the different violations for which they’ve already been cited. If you did, you likely wouldn’t have sent your child to that day care. Experienced attorneys will know about these previous violations. They will also know whether the day care is likely to appear like a sympathetic or unsympathetic defendant if your case goes to trial.

Perhaps most surprising is the fact that your attorney may already know of whistleblowers willing to testify against the day care. A surprising number of cases begin when whistleblowers inform parents about the neglect or abuse that their children suffered in the day care. Our firm has had cases where at least four people reached out and volunteered to serve as witnesses.

Experience Makes A Difference

If you suspect that your child has endured day care abuse or negligence, then you will want to contact an attorney to help you file as strong a report as possible. However, it’s important to understand that, just as your attorney is likely to have more experience with the legal requirements than you are, some attorneys will have more experience than others.

Attorneys who deal with day care abuse and negligence on a routine basis will have a wealth of knowledge and contacts to help you build as strong a case as possible as fast as possible. Personal injury attorneys willing to take your case as a one-off may not have this context or network. You will want to make sure your attorney does.