Dealing with abuse in daycare is one of the most sensitive situations imaginable. If you’re only suspicious but haven’t any hard evidence, it’s natural to not even want to bring it up. After all, accusing someone of abusing a child is accusing them of one of the most deplorable actions imaginable. It’s also putting the daycare worker’s livelihoods at risk since, if they do have an incident and, even if there is no abuse discovered, it casts a cloud over them. Daycare abuse, of course, cannot be allowed to go on, thus the delicacy of the situation.
Daycare abuse can take many forms and each situation will have its own unique characteristics. This means that how you deal with it may well depend upon the specific situation. Some ideas that may help include talking to other parents. You don’t have to be accusatory toward the facility and you don’t have to imply anything. You can simply ask them how they feel about their experience at the facility and how their child likes it. If they need to open up about something, it may take getting to know them a bit first, but knowing other parents who use your daycare is always good.
Take the time to get to know the workers at the daycare facility. Oftentimes, daycare negligence and abuse happen because the employees aren’t qualified to do their jobs. As a customer, you should never be discouraged from meeting the daycare workers and from asking them about what they do. If you have a good facility and there’s no abuse going on, knowing the daycare workers is still of great benefit. Look for signs, however, that they may not know what they’re doing or that they may have a short fuse and tend to get too angry with children.
A daycare abuse law firm can help you with a lawsuit if you decide to file one. These firms have lawyers who know the laws that apply to daycare facilities inside and out and can identify areas where negligence and incompetence may have contributed to an abusive atmosphere. If you’re still debating, you may want to contact such a firm and ask them what the limitations are on time as far as filing these cases goes. There are some situations where you may only have a limited window of opportunity to file such a claim.