Every day, millions of parents nationwide leave their children in the care of babysitters, daycare centers, teachers, coaches, camp personnel, playground supervisors, or employees of youth organizations. While the employers of many of these individuals require their employees to uphold certain safety, discipline, and care standards, such employees may sometimes fail to meet those standards. When a person in whose care a child has been entrusted fails to properly supervise the child, the child is exposed to a high risk of injury.
If your child has been injured as a result of someone’s failure to properly supervise your child, you may be entitled to compensation from those responsible. Contact failure to supervise lawyer Jeffrey Killino at 877-875-2927 to learn more about your legal options.
Who is Responsible for Proper Supervision of Your Child?
Anyone who has undertaken the responsibility to watch over and care for your child has a duty to properly supervise your child. Many states have State Training and Registry Systems (STARS) requirements for the training of daycare center staff, which includes training related to the adequate supervision of children under a center’s care.
Other examples of individuals whose job it may be to supervise your child include the following:
- Teachers
- Coaches
- Lifeguards or swimming pool managers
- Counselors
- Playground supervisors
Mere presence of an adequate number of supervisors is not enough. Supervisors need to perform their duties with the care and competence necessary to keep children safe under the particular circumstances in which the supervisory duty arises. The failure of a supervisor to properly supervise children under their care may result in liability for injuries suffered by a child as a result of such negligent supervision.
Legal Liability for Children’s Injuries Caused by Failure to Supervise
Adults may be found liable for injuries sustained by a child as a result of the adult’s failure to supervise the child or the adult’s inadequate or inattentive supervision of a child.
Failure to Supervise
A failure to supervise claim may be brought against individuals or entities (such as schools, daycare centers, camps, or playgrounds) when an individual fails to take any action to watch over a child or when an entity fails to require children to be supervised or when an entity’s employees fail to supervise a child. If the failure to supervise is determined to have been a cause of the injuries sustained by a child, the individual or entity responsible for the child’s supervision may be found liable for the damages suffered by the child as a result of those injuries in an action for negligence.
Inadequate Supervision
Children often incur injuries as a result of the inadequate supervision of supervisors rather than from a complete lack of supervision. Inadequate supervision often result from a supervisor’s inattentiveness, which may be due to the carelessness of the individual supervisor or to an employer’s failure to provide enough supervisors for the number of children present, so that the supervisor is unable to adequately supervise each child entrusted to the supervisor’s care even if the supervisor makes the utmost effort to do so.
Failure of Employer to Provide an Adequate Number of Supervisors
If the employer of a supervisor in whose care a child has been entrusted has failed to provide enough supervisors to allow adequate supervision of all children under a particular supervisor’s care, the employer rather than the employee may be determined to be responsible for the inadequate supervision of a child and may be held liable in an action for negligence for the injuries sustained by the child as a result of such inadequate supervision.
Failure of Supervisor to Adequately Supervise
Even when a daycare center, for instance, has provided for an adequate number of supervisors for the number of children present in a center, the inadequate supervision of one or more of those supervisors may result in liability on the part of the supervisors as well as their employer if the inadequate supervision is determined to have been a cause of the child’s injuries.
A supervisor’s employer may be found to be directly or vicariously liable for the supervisor’s inadequate supervision of children. If a supervisor’s employer is determined to have been negligent in the hiring or training of the supervisor, for example, or in failing to provide an adequate number of supervisors for the number of children under supervisory care, the employer may be held directly liable in a negligence action for a child’s resulting injuries.
Even if the direct negligence of an employer was not a cause of injuries to a child resulting from inadequate supervision, the employer may be held vicariously liable, in some case, for the negligence of its employee-supervisor if the supervisor’s negligent supervision is determined to have been a cause of the child’s injuries.
Contact Us
If your child has been injured as a result of negligent supervision, contact failure to supervise lawyer Jeffrey Killino at 877-875-2927 for dedicated and experienced assistance with your case.
