Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Will Brown, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
A former day care worker in Cincinnati, Ohio has been convicted for drugging toddlers to get them to fall asleep. Donna Scott, 42, was charged with three counts of endangering children. Scott and her boss were arrested in March 2009 for giving at least four children at the day care facility the natural supplement and sleep aid melatonin. According to the charges, Scott laced the children’s candy and baby formula with melatonin to get the children to fall asleep faster. These children were given the supplement for over a six-month time frame.
Jordan Braden Casey, 19, is facing two Texas criminal indictments, each charging him with aggravated sexual assault of a child. The 19-year-old man use to be an employee at Covenant Child Development Center, a child care program for Covenant employees. Covenant says he worked there for 14 weeks, from February 2009 to June 2009. According to police reports, the indictments appear to arise from allegations of sexual assault against two different boys occurring sometime between 2008 and 2010.
According to local officials Jackie Bennett, a 57-year-old teacher, was suspended with pay after being accused of breaking the arm of a 5-year-old student. According to Bennett, the incident occurred while he was attempting a “therapeutic hold” – a technique used to restrain a student to prevent that student from causing to himself or herself and others. Theresa Perry, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County, North Carolina school system, stated schoold regulations permit teachers to physically restrain students where safety of the students, school employees or volunteers are in jeopardy.
In Dallas, Texas, a 2 year old (Sir Anthony Smith) was left unattended in the van of a day care center (H.H. Banks Learning Center)- in the heat of Texas. As a result of being left unattended in the day care vehicle for hours, the child died. An autopsy will be performed due to the age and circumstances of the death. It is suspected that the child died from hyperthermia. Deaths like these can be wholly avoided with some common sense and by following some very basic safety precautions. Namely, using a simple checklist and making sure that the day care vehicle is checked and double checked to make sure that all children were removed from the vehicle. The heat in Texas overwhelmed this young and innocent child and ended his short life.
In Ohio and other States, child are the unfortunate victims of corporal punishment that is both senseless and excessive. In addition, corporal punishment can and does lead to serious personal injuries to children. In Norwood, Ohio, Fox 19 News reported that a man was arrested when he dragged a six year old boy by a football facemask. The incident was actually witnessed by a police officer according to the news story. The adult, Charles Robinson – age 41, now will be facing a criminal charge of endangering children. See 
Teeny Tiny Tots Day Care of Little Rock, Arkansas is under investigation by the State of Arkansas Department of Human Services due to a police report filed by a mother whose child attends the day care. The mother, Jeanette Mojica filed the police report after she found bite marks all over her 11-month-old daughter, who attended the day care – Mojica is accusing the day care of negligence. After the shocking discovery, Mojica took her toddler to a hospital where doctors counted close to 20 bite marks.
It is called “playing through the pain” and it is a dangerous message that is sent to many young athletes who find themselves injured. Many people view the professional athletes who become injured are that he / she may be “whining and moaning” and need to quit and get back out on the field for the sake of the team. However, this “play through the pain” message is deceptive and dangerous, especially now since many high school athletes are returning from their summer vacation, some facing vicious two-a-days football practices.
Although corporal punishment and spanking of children is banned in 24 countries, it is a common practice all over world, revealed three studies by UNC researchers. Spanking children has decline since 1975, however, it is still common practice, 80%, for preschool children.
City officials stated the director of a Weslaco, Texas day care center was arraigned recently on a charge of injury to a child in connection to an alleged attack upon a 4-year-old boy. Yolanda Rodriguez, 55, the administrator of Happy Days Learning, allegedly assaulted the child for misbehaving. According to police, the boy had bruises on his arms, back and back of his neck.