Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Will Brown, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
In Ohio child day care centers, it is vital that children receive adequate and appropriate supervision by responsible adults and caregivers. Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5104 – Child Day Care – Section 5104.011 (B) (3), the child care care center must have at least two adults available at the facility at all times when 7 or more children are in the center. The child day care center must make sure that no child is left alone or unsupervised at the center. The staff ratios required under the Ohio Revised Code varies from age group to age group. For instance, the staff ratio requirement for infants under 1 year old is 1 staff member for every 5 children or 2 staff members for every 12 children. For school age children from kindergarten to children under 11 years old, the staff ratio requirement is 1 staff member for every 18 children. As you can see and it makes sense, Ohio law requires more staffing for younger children especially infants and toddlers. You can read about the other staffing requirements and other regulations and rules regarding Ohio child day care centers at Chapter 5104 – Child Day Care.
It is important for Ohio child day care centers to follow Chapter 5104 – Child Day Care and related rules, regulations and standards. The purpose of these laws is to make sure that children are properly supervised in a safe and clean environment in Ohio’s child day care centers. When child care centers fail to follow these laws or are otherwise inattentive to children, serious child injuries often times result. As such, it is so important for the safety and well being of Ohio children for Ohio child day care centers to follow the law and use common sense. Ohio laws prescribed the minimum standards. As such, just because the laws are being followed does not mean that the needs of the children are being met. Child care center owners need to personally inspect and evaluate their own facilities to make sure that the needs of each child is being met – not only to follow the law which is important but also to protect the child which is most important.