Inappropriate Touching at a Louisiana Daycare or Child Care Facility

In the state of Louisiana, childcare facilities are required to conduct a background check on all employees to ensure the safety of the children under their care. However, a study by the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services found that multiple childcare facilities throughout the state failed to conduct adequate criminal background checks on employees and staff.

Why should parents and guardians be concerned about this lack of oversight? When child molesters or sex offenders work in daycares, after-school programs, youth groups, sports clubs, tutoring programs, or other childcare facilities, the results can be devastating. Thousands of children have suffered forms of daycare abuse in Louisiana including inappropriate touching, grooming, and sexual abuse.

Even when daycare facilities conduct the required background checks, these offenders may not have a prior criminal record and so can freely exploit their proximity to vulnerable children. If your child has suffered, a qualified Louisiana attorney can help.

It may be difficult for children to articulate that the way their caretaker outside the home has touched them is inappropriate. Certainly, there are many ways that daycare workers interact with children that are appropriate and within the limits of their professional responsibilities. For example, daycare workers may help children use the restroom, change into swimsuits, hold hands to cross the street, or even offer a hug. All of these examples are generally appropriate contact between a child and adult.

Inappropriate touching, however, can include:

• Stimulation of genitals
• Exposing genitals to child
• Contact combined with exposure to pornography
• Spying on child while changing/in the restroom
• Any contact that is made with the intention of sexual stimulation or that makes your child uncomfortable

“Inappropriate touching” can encompass a wide variety of traumatizing contact between your child and their daycare teacher or other childcare staff. What your child has experienced may not match the listed examples; however, if you still feel that the contact your child has experienced was inappropriate in any way, it is important to take action to protect your child from further harm and contact a qualified Louisiana child injury attorney.

While children may suffer physical injury due to inappropriate touching, the most common damages suffered by the victims of daycare sexual abuse are emotional and psychological injuries. Children who have suffered inappropriate touching at the hands of a trusted adult may require years of counseling and develop depression, anxiety, or other manifestations of deep-seated trauma. The need for long-term psychological treatment can come with immense financial costs related to therapy and medications.

If your child has suffered inappropriate touching at a Louisiana daycare or child care, you have the right as their parent or guardian to file a child injury lawsuit against the offending daycare worker and (depending on their level of culpability in the abuse) the daycare or childcare facility itself. Depending on your lawyer’s counsel, you may choose to file criminal charges to seek conviction and/or incarceration or file civil charges to seek financial compensation for your family’s losses.

Are you interested in learning more about your legal options after your child’s sexual abuse at a Louisiana childcare facility? Do you have questions regarding what steps you should take to ensure a successful daycare abuse lawsuit? The team of child injury attorneys at Carabin Shaw are here to help families seek justice for the immense injustice of daycare sexual abuse. For nearly thirty years, we have fought for the rights of victims of sexual trauma and helped them recover millions of dollars in damages.

Our English and Spanish-speaking staff are available 24/7 to help parents and guardians schedule a review of their daycare personal injury case. To schedule your no-cost, no-obligation consultation with the Louisiana personal injury lawyers at Carabin Shaw, call our office toll-free at 800-862-1260.