Practice · Child injuries
When someone was supposed to be watching
Parents hand their children to daycares, schools, camps and sitters on the promise of supervision. When a child is hurt because that promise was not kept, Texas law holds the caregiver to the standard it agreed to meet.
Daycare and child care injuries
Licensed care comes with written rules
Licensed child care centers and registered child care homes in Texas operate under minimum standards set by Texas Health and Human Services. Those standards cover staff-to-child ratios, supervision, background checks, safe sleep for infants, medication, transportation, playground surfaces, and how injuries must be reported to parents and the state.
Those standards matter in a claim. A center that was out of ratio, left children unsupervised, put an infant down to sleep on its stomach, or hired someone without the required background check has not just made a mistake; it has departed from rules it was licensed to follow. State inspection reports and prior deficiency citations are public, and they often show the problem was known long before your child was hurt.
Inadequate supervision
Falls, choking, ingestion of chemicals or medication, and children leaving the building unnoticed. Most daycare injuries trace back to too few adults watching too many children.
Infant sleep deaths and injuries
Unsafe sleep positions, soft bedding, and missed sleep checks. These are among the most strictly regulated areas of infant care, and the most devastating when the rules are ignored.
Abuse by staff or other children
Physical or sexual abuse, rough handling, and unexplained bruises or fractures. Claims may reach the center itself for negligent hiring, training, or supervision of its employees.
Transportation and field trips
Children left in vans, unsecured car seats, and injuries away from the facility. A child forgotten in a hot vehicle is a failure of procedures that exist precisely to prevent it.
Beyond daycare
Other places children are hurt
The same questions about supervision and safety apply wherever a child is in someone else's care or on someone else's property.
- Schools and school buses
- Summer camps and after-school programs
- Youth sports and gyms
- Swimming pools and drownings
- Playgrounds and trampoline parks
- Babysitters and nannies
- Dog bites
- Defective toys, cribs and furniture tip-overs
- Car accidents with child passengers
Several of these overlap with other practice areas, such as premises liability, dog bites, product liability, and car accidents. What changes when the injured person is a child is the deadline, who owns the claim, and how any settlement has to be handled.
How child claims differ
Rules that only apply to minors
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Two claims, two deadlines
The child's own claim for pain, impairment and future losses is generally paused until the child turns eighteen. The parents' separate claim for the medical bills they paid usually is not, and typically runs two years from the injury. Waiting until the child is older can quietly forfeit the parents' share.
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Public schools and government entities
Claims against school districts and other public entities are limited by the Texas Tort Claims Act, often to injuries involving a motor vehicle such as a school bus, and require written notice within months, not years. These deadlines are short and strictly enforced.
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Waivers parents signed at enrollment
Daycares, camps and trampoline parks routinely have parents sign releases. A parent's signature before an injury frequently does not bar the child's own claim, and arbitration clauses are worth reading carefully rather than assuming they end the matter.
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Court approval of any settlement
A settlement of a minor's claim generally must be approved by a court, often with a guardian ad litem appointed to protect the child's interests. The money is typically held in a court registry, a structured settlement, or a trust until the child reaches adulthood.
What to do now
Protecting your child and the claim
Get medical care and keep the records
Children often cannot describe what happened or how they feel. A prompt exam documents injuries, especially head injuries, whose symptoms may appear later.
Ask for the incident report in writing
Licensed facilities are required to document and report certain injuries. Request a copy, note who was on duty, and write down what staff told you while it is fresh.
Photograph everything
Injuries as they heal, the location if you can access it, and any equipment involved. Keep the clothing your child was wearing.
Report suspected abuse
If you suspect abuse or neglect, report it to the Texas Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400, or call 911 if a child is in immediate danger.
Facility video is often overwritten within days or weeks. A preservation letter sent early can keep footage, sign-in sheets, staffing schedules and internal reports from disappearing.
General information about Texas law, not advice about your situation. Deadlines and exceptions depend on the facts and on who the claim is against.
Next step
Tell me what happened to your child
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