Suing a Daycare for Negligence: Understanding Your Child’s Legal Rights in Florida

When parents drop their child off at daycare, they do so with a deep sense of trust that the caregivers will provide a safe and nurturing environment for their child. It is a decision made out of necessity, but also with hope and faith that their child will be protected, supervised, and cared for.

When that trust is broken and a child is injured due to negligence, the emotional impact on the family is profound. Fear sets in first: Is my child going to be okay? It is a fear no parent wants to face. Then comes the anger: How could this have happened under someone else’s watch? And often, parents are haunted by guilt, wondering if they missed red flags or should have done something differently. These feelings are real, and they are valid.

The law offers protections for children and families harmed by daycare negligence, and you have the right to seek justice for your child. This article explains what qualifies as daycare negligence, what legal actions parents can take, and how a personal injury attorney can help families navigate the process.

Understanding Daycare Negligence in Florida

When you entrust your child to a daycare center, you expect them to provide a safe, healthy environment and reasonable care. Florida law holds daycare providers to specific standards of care, and when they fail to meet these standards, it can result in a daycare negligence lawsuit.

What the Law Says: Duty of Care and Child Neglect

Daycare negligence occurs when a daycare facility fails to exercise the reasonable care that a prudent childcare provider would use under similar circumstances. Under Florida Statutes 827, "Neglect of a child" is defined as:

1. A caregiver's failure or omission to provide a child with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the child's physical and mental health, including, but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential for the child's well-being.
2. A caregiver's failure to make a reasonable effort to protect a child from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person.

To prove negligence in an injury case against a school, kindergarten, or daycare, your personal injury attorney must establish four key elements. Each element is crucial for building a successful personal injury claim against the facility's insurance company.

• Duty of care: The daycare had a legal responsibility to supervise your child and ensure a safe environment.
• Breach of duty: The daycare failed to meet that responsibility through poor supervision or unsafe conditions.
• Causation: Your child’s injuries were directly caused by the daycare’s failure.
• Damages: Your child suffered real harm, such as injuries, emotional distress, or medical costs.

These four elements work together to form the foundation of daycare negligence cases. Without proving all four, it becomes difficult to hold a daycare provider accountable for a child's injuries.

Common Examples of Negligence and Child Injuries in Daycare

Examples of negligence in child care can range from minor oversights to serious safety violations that result in severe injuries and require immediate medical attention. Understanding these examples helps parents recognize when their child may have been a victim of daycare negligence and when they might have grounds to sue a daycare for negligence.

• Inadequate supervision: Leaving children unattended on the playground, in a classroom, or during high-risk activities at a school or childcare center.
• Unsafe premises: Broken equipment, unsecured chemicals, or poorly maintained, unchildproofed areas.
• Improper staff training: Staff, including teachers and aides, are not trained in safety, first aid, or emergency response.
• Failure to follow policies: Ignoring state rules, safety protocols, or required staff-to-child ratios.
• Neglecting medical needs: Skipping medications, missing illness signs, or delaying medical care.

These examples of negligence in child care demonstrate how daycare providers can fail in their duty to protect children. When such failures result in harm, parents have legal recourse through a daycare negligence lawsuit and can pursue legal action to hold negligent daycare facilities accountable for their child's injuries.

Signs Your Child May Be a Victim of Daycare Center Negligence

Children may not always be able to communicate what happened at daycare, making it essential for parents to watch for physical and behavioral indicators that suggest a daycare accident or improper supervision:

• Physical injuries: Unexplained bruises, cuts, or scratches that school staff or daycare workers cannot adequately explain.
• Behavioral changes: Fear of daycare, sudden aggression, withdrawal, developmental regression, or reluctance to talk about daycare.
• Emotional distress: Nightmares, anxiety, or other signs that your child’s well-being has been affected after attending their care facility.
• Physical neglect: Complaints of hunger, unchanged diapers, or lack of basic care in the childcare setting.
• Concerning reports: Your child mentions inappropriate behavior, unsafe conditions, or unreported incidents at the daycare.

Trust your instincts as a parent — if something feels wrong, it is worth investigating further with the daycare facility and potentially seeking legal support from an experienced attorney.

What Can You Sue a Daycare for in Florida?

Understanding what you can sue a daycare for helps parents recognize when they have grounds for legal action and what type of financial compensation they might recover.

Physical Injuries from Inadequate Supervision

Physical injuries are one of the leading reasons parents pursue a daycare negligence lawsuit. These injuries often happen when daycare workers fail to provide adequate supervision during playtime, meals, or daily routines. These are some common scenarios where a daycare provider fails to ensure a child’s safety:

• Playground accidents: Falls from swings or slides, or injuries caused by poorly maintained playground equipment and lack of supervision.
• Choking incidents: Accidents that occur during meals or snacks when staff serve unsafe foods or fail to properly monitor young children.
• Injuries from other children: Biting, hitting, scratching, or other aggressive behavior that happens when children are left unsupervised.
• Falls and tumbles: Mishaps around stairs, furniture, or slippery areas that occur due to a lack of safety precautions or inadequate adult supervision.
• Burns or scalds: Injuries from hot food, surfaces, or liquids that should have been kept out of children’s reach.

In many cases, these incidents stem from inadequate staff-to-child ratios. Florida’s Department of Children and Families requires specific ratios based on age groups. When daycare centers fail to meet these standards, the risk of serious harm increases significantly due to inadequate supervision.

Injuries from Unsafe Premises and Equipment

Daycare facilities have a responsibility to maintain safe premises and equipment for the children in their care. When they fail to do so, serious injuries can result, leading to valid grounds for a lawsuit against a daycare.

• Structural hazards: Broken stairs, loose railings, damaged floors, or poor fencing that lets children access unsafe areas.
• Defective equipment: Poorly maintained playground gear, broken cribs or tables, or toys with sharp edges or choking risks.
• Environmental dangers: Exposure to toxins, poor temperature control, unsanitary conditions, or unsecured dangerous items.
• Maintenance failures: Ignoring hazards or skipping regular safety checks of the school or daycare property.

These unsafe conditions can lead to serious injuries like broken bones, head trauma, or poisoning. When a daycare fails to maintain a safe environment, they may be held liable through a personal injury claim.

Abuse and Intentional Harm Cases

Intentional harm and child abuse at daycare are heartbreaking issues. Physical abuse, emotional manipulation, and neglect all fall under this category. These cases are especially sensitive and may involve child protective services, criminal investigations, and civil legal action.

Under Florida’s updated 2025 law (SB 1286), criminal neglect now requires a willful or reckless disregard for a child’s safety. This clarification ensures that truly dangerous and intentional acts by daycare workers — such as abuse or gross neglect — remain prosecutable in both civil court and through criminal charges.

If your child is a victim of daycare abuse, you may be entitled to pursue both a personal injury claim and criminal charges against the responsible daycare workers.

Types of Compensation Available in Florida Daycare Negligence Cases

Florida law allows for various forms of damages in personal injury cases involving children injured at daycare facilities, and the daycare negligence settlement you may receive depends on the specific circumstances of your child's injuries and the daycare's level of responsibility.

• Medical expenses: Covers ER visits, medical bills, therapy, and prescriptions related to your child's injuries.
• Future medical expenses: Compensation for ongoing care like long-term treatment, therapy, or medical equipment.
• Pain and suffering: Payment for the physical and emotional impact your child endured from the daycare incident.
• Lost wages: Reimbursement for time you missed work while caring for your injured child or handling related matters.
• Punitive damages: Extra compensation in cases of extreme negligence or abuse, meant to punish and prevent future harm.

Every case is different, and compensation depends on your child’s injuries and the daycare’s responsibility. An experienced attorney can help you understand what damages may apply to your situation.

How Much Can You Sue a Daycare for Negligence — and Who Pays?

While every case is different, daycare negligence settlements in Florida typically range from $15,000 to over $500,000, depending on the extent of your child’s injuries, any lasting effects, emotional suffering, and the daycare’s degree of fault. More serious cases involving permanent harm, disability, or egregious misconduct can result in even larger awards, especially when punitive damages are involved.

In terms of who pays, the compensation generally comes from the daycare’s liability insurance provider, not individual employees. In 2025, Florida law requires licensed childcare centers to carry liability coverage for precisely these types of situations. However, if the facility is uninsured or underinsured, families may need to pursue compensation directly from the daycare’s owners or operating entity. In rare cases involving criminal wrongdoing, additional civil or restitution processes may apply.

What to Do If Your Child Was Injured at Daycare: A Step-by-Step Guide

Acting quickly after an injury at a school or childcare facility can impact your child’s recovery and legal options.

Get Immediate Medical Care and Documentation

Your child's safety must be the first priority after any daycare injury, regardless of how minor the incident may initially appear. Seeking prompt medical care not only ensures your child receives proper treatment but also creates important documentation linking the injury to the daycare accident.

• Emergency records: ER or urgent care documentation showing the extent of your child’s injuries.
• Doctor’s reports: Medical records and evaluations on the cause and severity of injuries.
• Test results: X-rays or scans confirming physical damage from the daycare incident.
• Treatment notes: Records of surgeries, therapy, or specialist visits.
• Medications: Prescriptions given as a result of the injury.
• Future care: Doctor’s assessments of long-term treatment or recovery needs.

Make sure all injuries and treatments are well-documented. These records are key to proving medical expenses and future care needs in any daycare negligence lawsuit.

Report the Incident to the Daycare in Writing

Contact the daycare immediately to report the incident and request written incident reports documenting what happened. Save all communication, including emails and texts, and note who you spoke with. Focus on gathering facts and ask what steps they are taking to prevent it from happening again.

Know the Legal Time Limits in Florida

Generally, for personal injury cases, Florida’s relatively new statute of limitations is two years from the date of the injury. However, there are exceptions and special rules that may apply to cases involving minors. For injured children, the statute of limitations does not end until two years after their 18th birthday. But parents should not wait this long to contact our experienced attorneys. Acting quickly is necessary because the sooner a skilled lawyer becomes involved, the sooner they can secure evidence, such as witness statements, medical records, photographs, and other important documents.

Consult a Florida Personal Injury Attorney

Daycare negligence cases are complex and often involve pushback from the daycare’s insurance company. An experienced personal injury attorney can investigate the incident, handle all communication, and fight for fair compensation. Most offer a complimentary consultation and work on a contingency basis, so you pay nothing unless they win your case.

How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help

Working with an experienced attorney provides numerous advantages when dealing with daycare negligence cases and the legal complexities they involve. Professional legal support ensures your child's rights are protected throughout the process while maximizing your chances of securing fair compensation:

• Case investigation: Uncovering what happened, who is responsible, and gathering key evidence like witness statements.
• Legal knowledge: Applying Florida daycare laws, negligence rules, and children’s rights.
• Insurance negotiations: Dealing with insurers who may deny or reduce valid claims.
• Expert resources: Bringing in medical and child safety experts to support your case.
• Court representation: Presenting your story clearly and effectively if the case goes to trial.

Do not face serious daycare injury cases alone. Insurance companies have teams of lawyers working to pay you and your child little or nothing at all. You deserve the peace of mind knowing that our aggressive attorneys are using their expert knowledge to protect your family and fight for fair compensation.

Taking Action to Protect Your Child’s Future

When a daycare fails in its duty to protect your child, taking legal action serves a purpose beyond financial compensation. Holding negligent daycare providers accountable helps prevent similar incidents from harming other children and their families.

At Michles & Booth, our personal injury attorneys understand the unique challenges families face. We have extensive experience handling daycare injury cases throughout Florida, and we are committed to fighting for the justice and compensation your family deserves. Contact us today to discuss your legal options and take the first step toward protecting your child's future.