If you have a child enrolled in a daycare facility and they have a pattern of being injured at that facility, you may want to consider whether there is daycare abuse going on. There are some signs that you can look for that will give you some indication that, even if they aren’t being abused outright, the daycare may be negligent in one regard or another. Negligence is not always outright abuse, but it oftentimes leads to injuries, sometimes devastating ones.
Physical Injuries
Abuse in daycare oftentimes results in injuries that would be pretty similar to the types of injuries you would see in adults if they were involved in a physical altercation. They are the types of injuries that you see from someone being pushed or shoved, struck or otherwise assaulted. Not all daycare abuse scenarios involve sexual assault and it’s important to keep an eye out for the signs of a child being physically abused in other ways. For example, a child that has bruises on their upper arms from being pushed and shoved, bruises around their neck, on their bottom from being spanked or in other areas that are classic ones where people tend to strike children should be considered at risk of being abused.
Keep an eye out for playground injuries, as well. It’s normal for children to injure themselves now and then when they’re playing but it’s not normal for to happen over and over again. Provided that there is adequate supervision of the daycare, injuries should be few and far between. One of the things that you want to watch out for if you see a pattern of playground injuries is whether or not the children have adequate supervision.
Psychological Trauma
Unfortunately, some children are extremely mentally tough and they will do a good job of hiding the signs of psychological trauma. This is particularly true if they are being threatened into remaining silent. You may see some of the signs, such as depression, anxiety and, particularly, anxiety about going back to the daycare. Be sure to keep an eye out for such psychological signs.
If your child was abused at a daycare, contact a daycare abuse attorney. After the criminal aspects of the case have been taken care of, the daycare abuse attorney may be able to help you file a lawsuit for negligence against the daycare provider. This can at least help you to recover the financial damages visited upon you by the abuse.