Sometimes, the reason that smart laws get passed and enforced is largely due to the activism of the victim(s) of a crime. A Plantation, FL father whose child died in a daycare facility has been working hard to raise awareness of issues in daycare centers since his son died thirteen years ago in a facility that did not give proper care. That child, whose name was Jeremy, has a law named after him that stiffens penalties for daycare providers that lie about the conditions at their facilities.
Finding Out Tragically Late
One of the things that you need to watch out for at daycare facilities are circumstances that do not match what the provider has told you about the facility. For instance, if the administrators or the owners tell you that they have excellent security but you don’t see that in place when you visit, it’s a warning sign. Under Florida’s Jeremy’s Law, such misrepresentation may result in a second-degree felony.
In other cases, capacity is the issue. There are some daycare facilities that will try to work out schedules so that they can have more children than they are supposed to at the facility at any given time. This allows them to buff their profits at the expense of children.
Most daycare facilities are fine establishments staffed by people who care for children and, in most cases, who genuinely love working with children. There are facilities, however, that fail to live up to this to the point of actually lying directly to their clients about how many children they can handle, what kind of care they can deliver and so forth. Sometimes, daycare abuse victim advocates are really the only reasons that legislators step up and deal with the issue by crafting stricter and more appropriate laws.
Negligence
You can still go after a negligent daycare facility in civil court, even if they’ve been charged with a crime. There are lawyers who specialize in these cases and who understand how to establish negligence, how to investigate a situation and how to advocate for the family in court. If you have been defrauded somehow by a daycare facility, be sure to talk to one of these lawyers. Even if your child was not harmed, you may be due compensation for the services that you paid for that were never delivered as promised and a lawyer may be able to help.