Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By R. Michael Shickich, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
In Wyoming and other States, parents are often faced with the important decision as to which day care to select for their children while the parents are at work. Most day care and child care providers are conscientious and loving people who truly care about children. On the other hand, there are some day care and child care providers who fail to follow rules and regulations. These day care providers, who cut corners and ignore laws and procedures, often times put children at risk for danger and personal injuries. When evaluating and re-evaluating a Wyoming day care center, it is helpful to have a checklist or guidelines in place to review the day care center and review the various strengths and weaknesses of the day care center. A detailed checklist that should be used by parents searching for and evaluating a day care center is located on the website for the Division of Family Services – Early Childhood Programs Division.
Sara Beth Whited, a former day care center owner in Casper, Wyoming, pled guilty to child endangerment. The charge was pressed against Whited after an infant, 3-month-old Tyler Parker, died in the Wyoming day care center in October 2010. Autopsy reports revealed that Tyler died as a result of suffocation, he was swaddled in a blanket and placed on soft-foam mattress. When Tyler’s mother, Nichole Parker, found her son he was cold and unresponsive. After being discovered, Tyler was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Whited was ordered to serve a year of unsupervised probation and was also given a one-year suspended jail sentence. A local newspaper reported that Whited would no longer be unable to operate her daycare center because her guilty plea barred her from obtaining future licensing. For more read 
A pickup truck, pulling a plow behind the truck, struck 4 children while they were crossing a street in Wyoming. The road is near the children’s elementary school, Godfrey Elementary. The children had a half-day of school on the day of the accident and the crossing guard, who was directing traffic at the crosswalk earlier that day, left about fifteen minutes before the terrible incident occurred.
In Cheyenne, Wyoming, a child is recovery from surgery following a Pit Bull dog attack. The 10 year old boy (William Kunert) was bit by a neighbor’s dog. William was reported to have been bitten by the dog in May 2009 as well. Pit Bull attacks have been reported across the Nation. Dog bite incidents like these raise several issues: