Parents usually arrive at this page with an explanation they have been given and cannot quite accept. A mark nobody can account for. A child who does not want to go back. An injury described one way by staff and another way by the child.
You do not need certainty to ask a question. Much of what settles these cases is documentation parents did not know they could obtain — and a great deal of it is held by the state rather than by the daycare.
What we are asked about
- Physical abuse, including unexplained bruising, marks and fractures
- Sexual abuse, by staff or by another child where supervision failed
- Neglect and inadequate supervision, including injuries that happened because nobody was watching
- Sleep-related infant deaths and injuries, where safe sleep practice was not followed
- Failure to supervise on playgrounds and during transport
- Medication and allergy errors, including a known allergy not managed
- A child released to an unauthorized person, or leaving the premises unnoticed
- Injuries hidden or reported late, which is often the fact that turns a parent’s worry into a claim
The regulatory trail most parents never ask for
Maryland licenses and inspects childcare providers, and that regime generates records that exist whether or not the provider chooses to share them:
- Inspection reports and citations, including violations found before your child was harmed
- Staff-to-child ratio and group size requirements, and whether they were being met that day
- Background check and clearance requirements for anyone with access to children
- Staff qualification and training records
- Prior complaints made about the same provider
- Enforcement history, including conditions placed on a license
A provider repeatedly cited for being short-staffed, who then has an incident caused by inadequate supervision, is a very different case from an isolated accident. That distinction usually only appears once someone pulls the file.
Mandated reporting, and what failure to report shows
Childcare staff are mandated reporters: where they suspect abuse or neglect, they are required to report it rather than handle it internally. That duty is a significant feature of these cases.
Where a provider knew something and did not report it, that failure is both a breach in its own right and strong evidence about what the organization understood at the time. A delayed or absent report, alongside an incident record created after the fact, is a recurring pattern in the cases we see.
Who can be responsible
- The individual who caused the harm
- The provider or center, for hiring, training, supervision and staffing
- A corporate owner or franchisor, where a chain sets the policies the center follows
- The property owner, where an unsafe premises contributed
- An equipment manufacturer, in playground and equipment failure cases
Claims about abuse are handled confidentially and with the same care as any other abuse claim — see sexual abuse claims and child sexual abuse. We do not name individuals on this website and we do not publish clients’ stories.
What to do now
- See a doctor, and say where the injury happened. The medical record is the most reliable contemporaneous document there is.
- Photograph any injury, with dates.
- Write down what your child said, in their own words, and when. Do not question them repeatedly — that is for professionals, and repeated questioning can make a child’s account harder to rely on later.
- Ask for the incident report in writing, and keep whatever you are given.
- Report it. You can make a report to the authorities and to the licensing agency, and those are separate from any civil claim.
- Ask us early, so the licensing file and any camera footage are requested before footage cycles.
Deadlines
Ordinary injury and neglect claims generally follow Maryland’s three-year limit, and claims brought on behalf of a child follow their own rules that can extend the time available. A publicly operated program can require written notice far sooner.
Sexual abuse is the exception. A civil claim based on sexual abuse of a child has no statute of limitations in Maryland, a rule in force since October 1, 2023 that applies whenever the abuse happened; our Child Victims Act guide explains it. Physical abuse and neglect claims do not share that rule, so the kind of harm decides which clock runs. Ask us, and we will tell you which applies.
