Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By David Wolf, AttorneyPublished by Child Injury Lawyer Blog
In New Hampshire and other States, hard working parents rely on day care centers to supervise their children in a safe and nurturing environment. It is well known that children especially toddlers need supervision at all times in all parts of the day care center including the classroom and the playground. If supervision is lacking, a child may end up suffering serious personal injuries or even death while at the day care center. It is important that the supervision provided be in compliance with local and state day care center regulations including the staff to child ratio, background checks, and training. Furthermore, distracted supervision is not the same as supervision. If a teacher or child care provider is present or near the children but otherwise occupied by a mobile phone, tablet, or some other distraction, supervision may be lacking which, in turn, may lead to serious consequences and injuries.In New Hampshire, it was reported that a day care owner was convicted in a criminal proceeding for the death of a 4 year old girl. The incident took place in the backyard of the home day care center located in Enfield, New Hampshire. It was alleged that the day care center owner put the children at risks for the lack of supervision. The child died after a two day hospitalization. The child was found hanging by her coat in the backyard. This was a criminal proceeding involving the conviction of the day care owner. Since the facility was unlicensed, there is a strong probability that there was a lack of liability insurance. Because of this, there were most likely practical financial obstacles to successfully pursuing a civil case AND collecting upon a settlement or judgment. See New Hampshire Day Care Center Owner Convicted in Death of Four Year Old Child.
As parents, the safety of a child is a paramount responsibility and duty. Despite our best efforts, children can be injured by the negligent or careless acts of others. In most every community, there are reported automobile accidents, pedestrian accidents, and bicycle accidents. Many reported accidents are quite common like a rear end collision or bad left turn impeding the right of way of another driver. Other incidents may not be as common but still cause serious personal injuries. For instance, some children are injured when a vehicle drives over a curb and onto a sidewalk. There have also been accidents reported in which a driver crashes into a building or into a school. In most instances, a child is quite safe walking on a sidewalk along the side of a parent or other responsible adults. However, a child can be seriously injured when these not so common accidents take place. Certainly, most of these accidents are neither expected or predictable by the parent. As such, no action on the part of the parent could reasonably avoid the accident or injuries.
In the United States, there has been a debate for years as to the parents right to inflict corporal punishment upon their child. Some parents use corporal punishment because that is the way the parent was raised. Other use it because there is a belief that corporal punishment shows authority and to some love. Yes, some believe that corporal punishment is an act of love that parents show to their children that the parents care. There can be a number of reasons that a parent inflict corporal punishment upon a child. Many safety child advocates believe that corporal punishment is just another mode of domestic violence. Children should not be subjected to injury or harm from corporal punishment. To many, corporal punishment is just a lazy, outdated, and barbaric way to discipline a child. 
The United States Department of Health and Human Resources has a website that has a great reference tool for parents and caregivers with children in day care centers and child care centers. Each state regulates day care centers / child care centers through a state specific administrative code and / or policy manual. Go to 
Sadly, it is difficult to know who is trustworthy and who is not when it comes to bad acts. In California, a former police officer and radio show host was arrested on charges of child pornography and production of child pornography. The facts of this story unraveled like a television movie. Aaron Aldridge, age 42, was a radio personality on WNTK in New London, New Hampshire. A family member became concerned over his disappearance along with the disappearance of his 19 year old daughter. Police were contacted and searched his belongings including a computer. Investigators found pornographic images on the computer. Some of the images / videos appeared to be from Aldridge’s home.