The Trauma of Seeing Your Child Injured While in the Care of Another Adult

Your top priority as a parent is making sure your child doesn’t get hurt. However hard you try, accidents do happen, but what can you do if your child is injured while in the care of another adult? It is a special kind of grief, because you will never know what truly happened and, if the injuries are severe, you will carry that with you forever. Parent guilt is very real, and trauma is often reported post-incident in the primary caregivers.

Where Do Children Commonly Get Hurt?

Outside of the family home, what are the most common places where children might have an accident or hurt themselves? There are a few options, mainly daycare, school, and other childminders like family or friends. Understandably, if you pick them up and they are hurt or visibly upset, you will want answers. It is your right to pursue anything that you don’t feel comfortable with and seek resolution so that you can avoid the same thing ever happening again.

What Kind of Injuries Should Concern You as a Parent?

It is important to draw the line between what is appropriate to follow up on and what is just part of a regular day for a child. For example, kids get grazes all the time. They constantly bump into things and come out in mystery bruises. This is all normal. The time to take action will be for broken bones, fractures, head injuries, burns, major falls, and fatalities.

Common Daycare Injury Cases

If your child was injured at daycare, there could be a few reasons why it happened. They may be a victim of neglectful practices or abusive ones or have suffered at the hand of another child. There could be faulty equipment or improperly maintained and hazardous play areas. Daycare can be held accountable if an incident takes place under their roof and you have the evidence to prove it was their fault in some way. For example, if your child was hurt by another young one during a play session, and the workers neglected their post or duty of care then you will be able to bring a case forward.

Common School Injuries

School is a different playing field from daycare. Children are older and much less closely supervised. There is a bigger scope for things to go wrong, and while they often don’t, sometimes they do. If your child is hurt during school hours it is likely to be as a result of bullying, slips and falls, playing sports, the bus journey, or a food allergy.

The Dangers of Bullying

Everyone experiences bullying throughout their life. Your child will be no different. It is a sad, but true fact that bullies exist everywhere. You can hold the school responsible if you think they are not doing enough.

The Traumatic Impact on Parents

There will be some level of traumatic impact on your mental health whether it is because your child lost their life or is facing a life-changing injury. Knowing that they got hurt and you weren’t there will impact you severely. That is why, if you are struggling in the aftermath of post-accident life, you should always reach out for support. Trauma is a very real, very serious thing and it cannot ever be ignored. It infiltrates everything from your capacity to engage with the daily agenda to how you perceive yourself as a parent and an individual. There is no moving past it without input, and you should seek therapy at your earliest convenience.

Making a Legal Claim

You can also seek retribution against the party or parties that had a direct hand in causing the injury. Call our team today to get this started, but make sure you are prepared for what’s to come. You are already in a fragile place, and this will get demanding at times. It is worth pursuing because there may be financial consequences as a direct result of the sustained injury, or you might want to just find out who was to blame and what really happened. Bring everything you’ve got to the table, while making sure you are looking after yourself and your family too.

Custodio & Dubey Are Here

When your child is hurt and you need answers, accountability, and a way to move forward, Custodio & Dubey are here. With plenty of experience and legal knowledge, our team is dedicated to representing you and finding some all-important peace of mind.

Do not hesitate to call or drop by our offices. We are available and ready to listen when the time is right.

You can find our offices at 445 S Figueroa Street Suite 2520 Los Angeles, CA 90071.

Call now for a free and confidential consultation on (213) 593-9095.