If you believe your child was sexually abused at a preschool or pre-K program in Maryland, you can bring a civil claim on your child's behalf, and there is no time limit on a claim for sexual abuse of a minor. What does have a short deadline is a claim against a public program, which needs written notice first.
The first practical question is not what happened. It is who runs the program. In Maryland, a pre-K class can be part of a county public school system, a licensed private center, a church preschool or a Head Start program, and each one leads to different records, different rules and different deadlines.
Four kinds of preschool, four different cases
Parents often do not know which of these their child's program is, and the building does not always tell you. A pre-K class in a church hall can be publicly funded; a class in a school building can be run by an outside provider.
- Public school pre-K. A pre-K class run by a county school system is part of that school system. The school system is a government body, which brings a written notice requirement and a separate damages cap.
- Private providers in public pre-K. Maryland delivers public pre-K through a mixed system that includes licensed private child care centers, family child care homes and Head Start programs alongside public schools. Public funding alone does not necessarily make a private provider a public body, so the contract and the operator both matter.
- Church and religious preschools. Programs run by religious organizations can operate under a Letter of Compliance from the Maryland State Department of Education's Office of Child Care, rather than an ordinary center license. They still have to meet the same health and safety requirements, and the organization behind them has its own records and its own responsibility.
- Private nursery schools and licensed centers. These are private operators, often with a corporate owner, and are licensed and inspected through the Office of Child Care. Our daycare abuse page explains what that licensing file contains.
Tell us the name of the program and whatever you were given at enrollment. Working out the operator is usually the first thing we do.
Building a case when a child cannot give an account
A preschooler may have a few words for what happened, or none. That is expected, and it does not mean there is no case. At this age, a claim rarely rests on the child's account. It rests on evidence the adults around the child can supply:
- A medical examination by a doctor experienced in examining young children for abuse, ideally soon after you become concerned
- Your own observations, written down with dates: changes in toileting, sleep, eating or behavior, and when they started
- Who had access to your child, and when: toileting help, diaper changes, nap time and early drop-off or late pickup are the usual windows at this age
- The program's own records: sign-in sheets, staff schedules, incident reports and any camera footage
- What other parents noticed, because concerns in a preschool room rarely involve only one family
Do not question your child to get a fuller story. Write down what they said in their own words and when, and leave any interview to trained professionals. Our elementary school abuse page explains why a single structured interview protects both the child and the evidence.
Where preschool programs fail
Preschoolers need physical care that older children do not, and the program's policies around that care are often where a claim is decided:
- Toileting and changing policy: who may help a child, whether a second adult must be present, and whether doors stay open
- Nap time, when staff numbers are often at their lowest and rooms are dark
- Floaters, substitutes and volunteers, who may not have been screened or supervised like regular staff
- Earlier concerns raised by other parents or staff and not acted on
Bringing a claim as a parent
The claim for your child's harm belongs to your child. While your child is a minor, a parent brings it on their behalf. Parents may also have a claim of their own for some costs, such as treatment they have paid for, and that claim can follow different rules. Ask us how both apply before you assume either is closed.
You do not have to decide everything now. Because there is no time limit on the child's sexual abuse claim, some families pursue it now and some leave the choice to their child as an adult. The records, though, will not wait that long.
The notice deadline, and the claim with no deadline
If a public school system ran the pre-K class, a short written notice requirement applies before any lawsuit. It is the same rule explained on our high school abuse page, and it applies here identically. Treat it as urgent even while you are still deciding what to do.
The lawsuit itself has no deadline. Maryland allows a civil claim for sexual abuse of a child to be filed at any time, a rule in force since October 1, 2023, and our Child Victims Act guide explains it. Against the State or a local government, such as a county school system, noneconomic damages are capped at $400,000 per claimant for actions filed on or after June 1, 2025. Claims against private operators have their own cap rules, which the guide also explains.
Physical abuse and neglect claims do not share the no-deadline rule, so the kind of harm decides which clock runs. Ask us which applies.
Reporting, and your family's privacy
You can report to police or the local department of social services, and to the Office of Child Care, which licenses most preschool programs. Those reports run separately from a civil claim. Our guide on how to report sexual abuse walks through the options.
Speaking with us is confidential and does not start a case. We do not name individuals on this website and we do not publish clients' stories. If you want to talk to someone who is not a lawyer, the national sexual assault hotline is 800-656-4673, at any hour. If a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
