Minnesota Daycare Child Abuse and Injury Law
Having a child injured while in a daycare facility is every parent’s worst nightmare. Parents need to know that the people entrusted with their children’s care are not abusing that trust. This is especially true in Minnesota, which regularly leads the nation in the proportion of working mothers, with nearly three out of four mothers of preschoolers holding jobs outside the home.
Working parents should expect their children to be monitored, supervised, and safe in day cares that are licensed by the government. Yet the sad truth is that there are many cases of emotional, physical or sexual abuse that occur at daycare centers. As a result, many families are forced to deal with the pain and suffering of their children who have been abused in daycare.
Thankfully, Minnesota law supports that daycare facilities, and those who work in them, owe a legal duty to protect children from harm. In 2005, the Minnesota Court of Appeals made just such a ruling in a case entitled Laska v. Anoka County, 696 N.W,2d 133 (Minn. App. 2005), holding a daycare liable for the failure to supervise a vulnerable infant who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The court reinforced the ruling of the Minnesota Supreme Court from a 1986 case called Andrade v. Ellefson, 391 N.W.2d 836, 842 (Minn. 1986) that “small children in a licensed day care facility are a particular protected class.”
Parents can help to prevent daycare abuse from happening by thoroughly screening prospective daycare facilities and ensuring that daycare providers are trained, qualified and attentive to their children’s needs. Moreover, the Minnesota legislature has licensing requirements for daycare facilities to ensure the safety and well-being of children in day care. See Minn. R. 9502.0325.
But, even despite such vigilance from parents and the government, abuse sometimes still happens. If your child is involved in an abusive daycare environment, remove your child from the environment immediately and contact the police. Do not deal directly with the daycare facility. PritzkerLaw can assist you as you work through the details of the apparent abuse. Please contact our office today to schedule a confidential consultation.
