Louisiana Daycare Child Sexual Abuse Lawyers | Help for Parents

When you enroll your child in a Louisiana daycare, not only do you enter into a financial agreement, you also enter an unspoken social contract. You trust the daycare to act as your proxy and protect your child in the hours you can’t. In most cases, they uphold their end of that agreement. In the rare instances they don’t, the results can be devastating.

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, over 60,000 children suffer some form of sexual abuse every year. Hundreds of those cases originate in daycare.

If your child has been sexually abused at the hands of a child care worker, the Louisiana child injury lawyers at Carabin Shaw are ready to fight for the justice your family deserves.

Louisiana defines child care as any facility that provides care to seven or more children for at least 12.5 hours per week. These most commonly include nurseries, daycare centers, churches, and after-school programs.

Data from the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services and the state Department of Education shows just how common child care is in the state:

• Roughly 67% of children age 5 and under have both parents (or their only parent) in the workforce, requiring some form of child care.
• There are over 1,500 licensed child care centers in Louisiana.
• Those centers regularly care for around 125,000 children each year.
• Parents pay an average of $7,500 per year on child care, with some areas of the state reaching as high as $10,000.

So, with such a large number of children cared for outside of the home, how common is Louisiana daycare sexual abuse?

The Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services received over 45,000 reports of child abuse and neglect last year. Around 16,000 of them warranted investigation and over 8,000 were substantiated. A little over 5% of those cases involved sexual abuse.

Currently, only 39 out of 50 states report the scene of abuse and the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim. Louisiana isn’t one of them. However, the national average shows daycare providers to be the perpetrators in 0.3% of all child abuse cases.

At first glance, that might seem like a small number, but it still represents dozens of cases per year in this state. Our Louisiana daycare child sexual abuse lawyers know that any number greater than zero is far too many.

A U.S. Department of Justice study of daycare sexual abuse found that many cases continued for six months or longer because the abuser silenced the victim through fear or coercion. Other studies estimate that 60% of sexual abuse cases go unreported for the same reason.

Therefore, our lawyers suggest you watch out for signs of sexual abuse such as redness or bruising in sensitive areas, imitating sexual acts with toys or using mature sexual language, symptoms of anxiety and depression, night terrors, or a sudden fear of daycare.

Many reputable advocacy groups and government agencies can provide a much more comprehensive list of warning signs. If you notice any of them and suspect your child is the victim of abuse, you should immediately report it through the Louisiana DCFS hotline.

If you think your child is in immediate danger, you should also call the police. Next, contact one of our local child abuse attorneys in Louisiana to discuss a plan of action. An attorney will help you decide the best next move.

If your child is the victim of daycare abuse, the Louisiana child injury lawyers at Carabin Shaw have the knowledge and experience you need to get justice for your family.

Call us toll-free at 800-862-1260 to schedule a free initial consultation. Our English and Spanish-speaking staff are available 24/7.