A recent investigatory report in South Carolina uncovered a disturbing trend among many home daycare providers: an alarmingly high rate of providers aren’t in compliance with laws requiring health and safety training. Despite there being a law requiring home daycare providers to partake in annual training, the law lacked any enforcement or monitoring mechanism.
The lack of enforcement in South Carolina allowed countless home daycares in several different counties to continue to operate despite being out of compliance with the law requiring home daycare workers to fulfill annual training.
South Carolina’s New Law
Fortunately for individuals in South Carolina that rely upon home daycare providers, a new law not only increases the number of required annual training hours from 2 to 10, but also creates an enforcement and monitoring mechanism. After July 2017, when the new law goes into effect, if a home daycare provider is found to not be in compliance with training requirements, the government will be able shut the provider down.
Oddly though, the new law does not prescribe exactly what type of training is required, nor does it require competencies in first aid or CPR, and leaves each provider to determine what training to provide. However, parents can always request that daycare providers describe what training they provide to their staff.
Daycare Liability
If your child is injured as a result of an accident at a daycare facility, legal action may be possible if the accident was the result of negligence. Generally, a daycare provider has the legal obligation to make sure the facility is safe, and to providing the requisite level of supervision.
If the injury occurs as a result of a failure to maintain a safe facility, or provide adequate supervision, a relatively straightforward negligence claim may be maintained, particularly if state or local ordinances regarding home daycare providers have been violated. If an injury is the result of a failure to provide daycare staff with appropriate or adequate training, then the facility itself could be liable for an injury that results from that failure to train.
Fortunately for parents, if a daycare provider requires parents to sign injury liability waivers, courts have routinely found these to not be enforceable.
Related Resources:
- Injured in an accident? Get matched with a local attorney. (Consumer Injury)
- 3 Most Common Injuries in Daycare (FindLaw’s Injured)
- Daycares Can No Longer Serve French Fries, Frosted Flakes (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
- 3 Daycare Safety Tips for Parents (FindLaw’s Injured)
