The attorneys at Eagan Donohue Attorneys at Law are compassionate and zealous Connecticut daycare center child abuse attorneys and are concerned for the welfare of your child as well as the well-being of all children left in the care of others. Detecting abuse in child daycare centers is serious.
Parents Are Responsible For Daily Child Inspection
As uncomfortable as this may be to think about, detecting abuse in child daycare centers it is up to you, the child’s parent. It’s important to examine your child every day, from the very first day in daycare, to make sure that your child is not being physically, emotionally or sexually abused. Even seemingly caring and compassionate child care workers can be abusive or even sadistic behind the scenes when left unsupervised with your child. Not taking immediate action to identify child care worker child abuse can subject your child to weeks or months of unnecessary suffering. Don’t wait until the signs of abuse like cuts and bruises become obvious before examining your child. If you leave your child in childcare, you need to do a cursory physical inspection of your child from the very first day.
Examining Your Child, Signs to Look For
The first form of daycare child abuse to look for is Shaken Baby Syndrome. Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is not limited to babies and affects all children of any age. SBS can be detected by examining your child’s shoulders for red marks, bruising, swelling or handprints. Abusive daycare workers, babysitters and the like are aware that punching or striking a child can leave detectable bruising and swelling that can call their abusive actions into question. In order to conceal their behavior, they may grab a child with two hands by the shoulders, face to face, and violently and continuously shake them back and forth in order to try to get them to stop crying or to punish them for their behavior. Sometimes shaking a child may cause a child to strike their head against the floor or wall. Since bruises may be covered by their hair, it is advisable to check your child’s head for bumps, abrasions or swelling as well as their shoulders for marks from the first day in daycare. SBS can cause serious, long-term brain damage. SBS can also be a precursor to more obvious forms of abuse like slapping and hitting.
What do you do if you suspect daycare center child abuse?
If you find marks, bumps or bruises on your child’s head or body, and suspect that your daycare provider is abusing your child, the first thing to do is to not go back to them. Do not give them the benefit of the doubt and do not confront them. Instead, call the police and report your allegations and also call our law firm for a consultation to determine the appropriateness of taking legal action, not only for your benefit but for the benefit of the other children that the daycare center may also be abusing. We have dealt with many cases of daycare center child abuse and can advise you of the appropriate course of action to ensure that your child is safe. We are able to secure employee records and other documents to see if the appropriate employee background checks have been undertaken. We can also examine the company and their employees to check whether similar complaints have been made against them in the past.
Childcare abuse is not limited to day care centers and includes anyone that you leave your child with including babysitters, friends or relatives. For a complete list of the physical signs to look for to detect childcare worker abuse, please visit, http://www.babycenter.com/0_child-abuse-how-to-tell-if-somethings-wrong_6210.bc a source of information for this article.