Does This Scare Anyone Else?

[Mom2TLE]

I am following a blog right now about a mom whose baby stopped breathing who was accused of shaking her. It's pretty religious and she is updating what happened week by week but it makes me worry, it could happen to anyone.

http://thebriareffect.blogspot.com/?m=1

[Kabob]

After attending the new SUIDS and AHT classes and hearing the horror stories from other providers...I just have no desire to take infants for a long time if ever. I probably will lose families over it in the future but it's just not worth the stress. Every infant I've dealt with has been difficult due to parents lying about routine, feedings, sleeping, illness, medications, etc. Just not worth it...

[cheerfuldom]

gah. I am possibly starting a newborn end of this summer. That said, I am REALLY careful about safe sleep practices and I only have one child under 12 months at a time....this baby will actually be the only one under about 15 months when/if he starts so I feel like I do have the time and attention to dedicate to him. I also have a small ratio of children.

But yes, the liability scares me. I had one mom put her special needs toddler (wasnt even crawling well yet) face down on a pillow in a pnp in my home. She wanted to put him down for nap and it was a crazy day so I said yes without thinking. checked on him right after she left and ahhhh! scared the crap out of me. I don't understand how a parent thinks putting a giant pillow inside of a pnp and putting their special needs child (fairly severe with physical and mental delays) FACE DOWN on a pillow to sleep. It was bigger than a regular bed pillow too. She grabbed it off my daughters bed. Anyway, yeah the liability is huge and it is stressful to keep kids at all. Anything can happen at any time. I had a daycare child break her arm this year and I feel bad saying it but I was SOOOO relieved it didnt happen here that that relief overwhelmed any pity I had for her upon hearing the news.

[Mom of 4]

There was a provider in the next county over from me who had a baby die from SIDS maybe a year or two ago. The provider was clearly at fault because she napped the baby on a comforter... but what gets me is the parents supposedly knew about the nap issues from the very beginning and apparently were afraid for their child the whole time. The provider left the baby in a water soaked diaper from swimming and the parents picked him up like that and he had a severe rash from it. The parents sued the provider and won, but aren't pursuing the money because the provider has no way to pay it.

The parents are now pushing to pass a law requiring all Kansas providers in my state to carry liability insurance.

I know these two situations are different, but it scares me so much that parents aren't held accountable for their decisions. If a parent feels weird about something I do and feel their child is in danger then they need to be running from me as fast as they can, kwim? Not just waiting to see if something bad happens.

Where I live, if a parent states they felt something off about a caregiver AND continued to bring the child to care, the parent also is at fault and can get their child removed from the home and an investigation, if not taken away for poor judgment. If a parent states they thought things were fine, that's hard to prove that he/she was negligent, but for those parents who KNEW something was wrong, no way.

An old friend of mine who also was a provider won a case. Her DCG fell down and hit her head on an entertainment center corner, needing stitches. The mother said she knew this woman was "unfit provider" and tried to sue her. The judge actually asked the mother why she would leave her child in care with what she perceived as to be an unfit dcp? The mother said "I had no one else" (not a defense, btw). Upon examination of all medical evidence, and the DCP's story, it was ruled an accident and NOT negligence. (The kid simply tripped on something and fell down, could happen to ANYONE). The DCP could have turned around and sued the parents for slander/libel, but she didn't. This was a parent of a child my friend had for YEARS.

After the hearing, the MOM was investigated for neglect since her testimony stated she left her child with someone SHE believed UNFIT because she had no one else. I don't know what happened to her after that, but it goes to show at least our state knows that parents SHOULD be held liable for stuff like that. Even though the DCP was not at fault for anything, the fact was, the state questioned the mother's judgment.

All states should do that.

[llpa]

This exactly.

I had a screamer baby, and termed immediately the day I needed to leave the room to calm down.

I WILL NOT put myself, my family and my career at risk. I have a VERY HIGH liability policy in place, that covers me even IF I am at fault. I do everything I can think of to cover my butt, because accidents happen to the best of parents/providers.

I follow Tripp Halstead on facebook. He was playing at daycare and a tree branch fell from a tree and crushed his skull. He survived, but his long term prognosis isn't great. His parents knew it was an accident and did not sue his daycare, in fact, they still keep in touch and visit her/the kids.

Now I have my trees checked and trimmed each spring, just in case. AND we also don't play outside in the back near our trees when it's windy.

I follow Tripp on fb too and it has changed the way we play outside as well.
I do not take infants under 12 mos just because the liability scares me so much.
It's no guarantee tho. Anything can happen no matter how careful you are.

[drseuss]

Stories like this make me think back, and realize how much my thought process has evolved since starting in this profession. Save for a four-year hiatus, I have been providing child care in a professional capacity since 1997. Back then, I honestly never thought that SIDS was something that could happen on MY watch, or even to my own children. I was pregnant for the first time in 1997. When my kids were babies, I didn't worry that much about SIDS. In my early years as a provider, I didn't worry much about SIDS. And I sure the hell didn't think in terms of MY liability. WOW. This is coming from one of the world's biggest worry warts ever. SIDS just wasn't 'on my radar' of things to fret about.

Fast forward a few years, and our state requires classroom training for SIDS prevention. When I took my last course, the instructor told us that SIDS is something that happens far more often than people realize. It happens on the watch of the child care provider more than people hear about. It happens. That discussion was awfully thought-provoking.

The small probability that this could happen in my home is enough to scare the daylights out of me. I do take babies, but I am considering phasing out of that. People around here are so desperate to find good care for their babies, though, and once they are toddlers (2), it becomes much easier to find child care. So for me, anyway, I've got a waiting list with babies/pregnancies on it, and openings for children 2 and over.

Age, experience, etc. has taught me quite a bit about how unfair life is and how people operate when in crisis. All of this scares me. Almost enough to scare me away from what I do. The reason I started and the reason I still do this is that I know how serious the need for quality child care is, and I know how rare it is to find really high quality care. When I studied ECE in college and observed every manner of ECE environment, I knew exactly what I had to do. And that was child care. Scary? Yep. Most important profession ever? Totally yes. Not for sissies.

[KiddieCahoots]

This whole liability discussion is going to keep me up at night.

I find it bad enough that dcp's can file bogus claims that will stay on your record, just filed as, "non findings".

And real accidents unfortunately happen, which is scary enough.

But SIDS.....and hearing from others what can happen

I, like drseuss, have the waiting list with babies only. Now I'll be investing in one or two of those monitors....Snuza?
Does anybody have a specific name brand they recommend? And how long are they good for?

[KidGrind]

Do you ever wonder if parents bring their kids all ready broken.

My friend had a parent try to drop of DCG with a fresh injury. Usually a lagger, that morning he literally handed her the people and left. Seconds later, my friend noticed the injury and called him back immediately.

She believes he was going to try to blame it on her. She termed.

[Second Home]

My sister also runs a daycare . A few years ago she had an infant in her care . The baby went home one night and died in his sleep . It was ruled a sids death , very scary and sad .

[mountainside13]

This exactly.

I had a screamer baby, and termed immediately the day I needed to leave the room to calm down.

I WILL NOT put myself, my family and my career at risk. I have a VERY HIGH liability policy in place, that covers me even IF I am at fault. I do everything I can think of to cover my butt, because accidents happen to the best of parents/providers.

I follow Tripp Halstead on facebook. He was playing at daycare and a tree branch fell from a tree and crushed his skull. He survived, but his long term prognosis isn't great. His parents knew it was an accident and did not sue his daycare, in fact, they still keep in touch and visit her/the kids.

Now I have my trees checked and trimmed each spring, just in case. AND we also don't play outside in the back near our trees when it's windy.

I follow Tripp too!!

The liability is scary! I worry a lot and I am very careful but even so something could happen in just a few seconds.