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Daycare Sexual Abuse Lawyers in Maryland
The majority of working parents rely on daycare for their young children, as they assume it’s a safe, fun place for their kids to spend their day. However, sometimes sexual predators are drawn to jobs at daycare facilities, where they will have access to child victims that they can groom over time. If you believe this is what has happened to your child, or if you have memories of being sexually abused while at a Maryland daycare facility, it’s time to talk to a sexual abuse lawyer about your legal options.
When you hire Andreozzi + Foote, experienced legal professionals will work with you to determine how you should proceed if you plan to seek justice after child sexual abuse has affected your family. Contact our Maryland legal firm for a free consultation with caring lawyers today.
What Should You Know About Sexual Abuse at Daycare Facilities?
When you spend time choosing the right daycare for your child, you might have questions about how safe the property is, what kinds of educational opportunities there are, and what toys and play structures your child will be able to enjoy each day. Overall, you should be able to focus on how much fun your child will have in a safe environment where they get the care they need while you work. You should never have to wonder how many sexual predators may be on the staff or whether there’s enough supervision to prevent child neglect or physical abuse.
But the more you learn about child abuse at daycare centers, the more you’re likely to focus on the potential dangers that include physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by staff members and other children who are left with inadequate supervision. This often comes down to the daycare owner, who is expected to protect children but might instead expose them to sex abuse through poor hiring and training practices.
For example, a daycare owner who doesn’t run background checks to look for criminal charges before hiring someone is putting children at risk. The same goes for someone who doesn’t properly train or staff the daycare center to ensure there is sufficient supervision at all times. As a result, owners of Maryland childcare facilities can be named in sexual abuse lawsuits even if they did not abuse anyone, since they enabled the sexual abuse to occur at their business.
As you consider pursuing justice through a child sexual abuse lawsuit against daycare employees and owners, you should learn what constitutes child sex abuse in Maryland. Any of these would be considered sexual abuse:
- Touching a child’s genitals
- Asking or forcing a child to touch someone else’s genitals
- Taking pictures of a child who is naked or sexually posed
- Putting body parts or objects inside a child’s genitals
- Playing sexual games
- Incest
- Rape
- Sodomy
- Showing pornographic photos or videos to a child
- Watching a child change clothes
- Watching a child use the bathroom
- Sex trafficking
If someone at daycare sexually abused you or your child in any of these ways, you should immediately report the abuse and then contact a Maryland sexual abuse lawyer for assistance in taking legal action. Child sexual abuse lawsuits can help Maryland survivors seek justice and get the compensation they deserve, so call our law firm for guidance through the legal process.
What Are Some Signs of Childhood Sexual Abuse?
In many cases, parents don’t have concrete evidence of child sexual abuse at first, but they might suspect it after observing some odd behavior that their child displays after starting daycare. Some of the most common signs of sexual abuse in children include:
- Bedwetting
- Nightmares
- Redness, swelling, or other evidence of injury to the genitals or pelvis
- Pain while going to the bathroom
- Blood-stained underwear
- Fear of daycare
- Excessive crying for no apparent reason
- Anxiety about undressing for the bath or changing clothes
- Sudden shy, nervous, or withdrawn attitude
- Loss of appetite
- Anger and agitation
- Mood swings
- Knowledge of sexual acts at a young age
- Sudden interest in talking about or drawing sexual acts
If you’ve noticed several of these signs in your child lately, they may have experienced sexual exploitation, sexual assault, or abuse at a Maryland daycare center. Considering the long-term effects sexual abuse can have on victims, it’s essential to investigate the cause of these symptoms and then seek justice if there’s any evidence of abuse.
Of course, you don’t have to look for evidence of abuse on your own, as most parents lack the time and resources to conduct a thorough investigation of possible child sexual abuse. Instead, report your suspicions to the appropriate authorities in your area so they can launch a full investigation into the daycare center.
During this time, you should also reach out to a Maryland sexual abuse lawyer to learn how civil lawsuits work when it comes to holding people accountable for child sexual abuse. We can also provide you with local resources for Maryland survivors, such as Family Crisis Center of Baltimore County, Heartly House, Inc., and HopeWorks of Howard County. Our goal is to help your family heal while seeking justice through civil lawsuits, and we’re confident we can do this for you. Contact our Maryland law firm for a free consultation with compassionate legal professionals today.
Why Should You Seek Compensation from Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrators?
We encourage you to come to us for the legal representation you need in a Maryland sexual abuse civil case. If you’re unsure if you should pursue legal action for childhood sexual abuse, consider how getting monetary compensation can help your family deal with the aftermath of this type of trauma.
If your child was injured due to sexual and physical abuse at daycare, you might still be paying for the medical bills from the medical treatment they needed immediately after the abuse occurred. Whether they had pelvic injuries, a sexually transmitted infection, or other physical trauma, the medical expenses will add up fast. This is why an experienced lawyer will help you pursue economic damages that should include money for medical bills and any lost wages due to time you had to spend away from work. This compensation can also pay for therapy to address the psychological harm that child sex abuse survivors often suffer.
In addition, the legal team you hire will assist you in seeking non-economic damages. These can include pain and suffering, emotional suffering, mental anguish, and more. While non-economic damages can’t eliminate the effects of sexual assault, they can provide enough compensation to afford items and experiences to take your child’s mind off their devastating ordeal for now.
A major reason to seek financial compensation in a sexual assault case is to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions. Punitive damages can make the responsible parties, such as daycare owners and hiring managers, less likely to enable sexual abuse again since doing so cost them money. So, if you want help with the legal process of bringing a claim against the individual perpetrator and their enablers, contact our Maryland law firm to get started on your case.
Should You Call Daycare Sexual Abuse Lawyers in Maryland?
Sexual abuse can inflict long-term physical and emotional harm on child victims, which is why it’s so important to get justice for them through the legal process. Of course, when you’re still reeling from the shock of learning that your child experienced abuse at daycare, it can be hard to focus on how the civil courts in Maryland work and who to hold liable for the abuse.
That’s why we urge you to let us handle your legal needs. When you hire our Maryland law firm, you can trust that your sexual abuse claim is in good hands. We stay up to date on all new laws that could affect your case, including a recent act that removed the statute of limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits. This means that whether the abuse happened decades ago or just last year, we can help ensure the responsible parties are held accountable through your case in civil court.
The well-being of your child is critical to us, which is why we spend so much time and effort pursuing justice for families through sexual abuse cases. We understand that it can be difficult to determine which parties to hold liable for abuse, how much financial compensation to request, what statute of limitations applies to your case, and other details of the legal process.
That’s why we’re here to take care of all these legal elements on your behalf so your family can focus on healing. If you’re ready to talk to a Maryland sexual abuse lawyer, call Andreozzi + Foote at 866-311-8640 for a free and confidential consultation.
