You probably signed many forms when you registered your child in a daycare center. Was one of them a form stating that you gave up your right to sue the facility on behalf of your child even if  an employee of the facility negligently does something (or does NOT do something) that results in injury to your child? Such forms often use the words “waiver of liability.”  In most states, if you sign such a form you cannot sue the daycare center if your child is injured, regardless of how serious the injury.

In Virginia, such forms are invalid. They are not enforceable. Why? Because Virginia long ago held such pre-injury release form were against its public policy.

Virginia does not believe that people should give up their right to seek compensation BEFORE they suffer personal injuries caused by someone else’s negligence. So, even if you had to sign such a form, if your child is injured at a daycare facility in Virginia, and it was the fault of one of its employees, you should not assume that you are prohibited from making a claim against the facility.

If you signed such a form and have questions, you should contact an experienced Virginia child injury lawyer who can give  you answer your questions.

If your child’s daycare provider does have a handbook, ask to see it.  If you’re told it’s just for the staff, be very careful. Sure, it’s important for the staff to know the rules and schedule, but it’s also important for YOU to know them. I’d walk away as fast as I could from a daycare provider who said, “Sure, we have a handbook, but you can’t see it.” I wouldn’t even ask another question. I’d just leave. That provider is hiding something. It may be that all they’re hiding is lack of preparation, but that’s a big deal.

Unfortunately, I hear about injuries and deaths at daycare centers nearly every day. Children ought not be injured or die while in daycare. A handbook won’t guarantee that a child won’t be hurt while in daycare, but it will go a long way in giving every child a safe environment — and assurance to the parents that their child is in good hands.

I’ve prepared a great example of a daycare handbook. It’s sort of a skeleton, really, for a handbook. Every daycare provider should have a handbook that fits that  provider’s circumstances — number and ages of children, location, philosophy (religious training or not, structured curriculum or not) — so my example is really a general kind of guide. But I believe its value is that it is a minimum of what to look for in a daycare provider handbook.

If you’d like a copy — it’s free if you mention you read about it on Virginia Child Injury Lawyer — just send me an email at Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com, call 703-260-6070 or contact me through our website, www.RohrstaffLaw.com.  Let me know where to send it and it’ll be on its way to you.

Virginia Star Quality Initiative – A voluntary rating system for day care facilities in Virginia.  Includes a list of the highest rated establishments.

State by State codes for child care administration – This site lays out the rules and regulations for day care facilities by state.

National resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education – National organization that helps parents monitor the safety of child care institutions.

The lawsuit was filed by Jeff Rasansky, a Dallas lawyer with special expertise in daycare abuse, on behalf of Marcy Orsorio, the mother of two-year-old Isabella Estep. Isabella picked up a pebble from the playground at her daycare center (Woodbridge Day School) and took it inside with her, where she put it in her mouth and swallowed it. Her teacher Mia Jennings did not notice that she had brought a pebble inside, she did not notice that she had swallowed it, and she did not think anything was unusual about Isabella lying unconscious on the floor of her classroom — even though other children in her class gathered around her and tried to open her eyelids.

Mia Jennings did not have a high school diploma, nor did she have any training in first aid. Both are required by the State of Texas. By the time Jennings noticed what was going on, Isabella’s lips had turned blue. Since she had no idea what to do, Jennings could only carry Isabella down the hall to someone who could help her. It was too late.

The Texas licensing agency investigated and found that the school negligent and responsible for Isabella’s death. Such findings are reported and publicized on the agency’s website for two years — something that’s very bad for daycare center businesses. The owner of the day school, Nyse Hall, and her husband Robert, knew about the loophole:  If they sell the day school soon, all the teachers can keep their job and the daycare center can stay open — because once the daycare center is sold, the incident is erased from the State’s website and the day school can operate with a clean slate. In other words, the daycare center could go on operating as before with the same personnel, without the incident even showing up on the website where parents would go to find information on the safety record of the school.

The tragic events that came together to cause a little girl’s death were horrible enough, but they are compounded by the Texas law loophole that makes it possible for the day school to go on caring for  young children without other parents being able to find out what happened.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued 563 product recalls in 2008, up from 472 the year before and 402 in 2005, including cribs and play yards and and children’s jewelry.  And, did you know that car seats have an expiration date on them?  Materials can deteriorate over time, making them potentially less safe in a crash. 

Toys R Us encourages daycare centers that want to make trade-ins in bulk to call ahead of time to be sure of merchandise availability.

It was reported yesterday that Valerot Wilmot, the owner of Yellow Brick Road, has surrendered her license and shut down her daycare center.

In Richmond, about six weeks ago, a 13-month-old baby was left in a van for over four hours.  He died from heat exposure.  He was left in the van by an employee at his daycare.   The employee, Keishawn Whitfield, picked the baby up at 7:15 am, drove to the daycare center, and forgot about him.  Whitfield, son of the owner of the daycare center (The Yellow Brick Road), was charged with felony child neglect. 

Surprisingly, cases of children being left in cars aren’t all that rare.  The Virginia Department of Social Services, the state agency that licenses daycare facilities, knows that children have been left in vehicles by their daycare providers, because it requires daycare staff to verify that all children have been removed at the end of each trip.  Neverthless, it recorded eleven instances since January 2007 that violated that code requirement — and that was only the cases they discovered during their inspections.  Also, these are violations that were recorded at licensed daycare centers and don’t include home day care, certified preschools, children’s residential facilities or religious-exempt daycare facilities which are covered by other regulations.  Virginia daycare centers are subject to surprise inspections at least twice each year. 

Evidently, that’s not enough.