In 2023, the family’s three-year-old son was enrolled at a licensed child-care center in Houston. He was in the center’s care on the day of the incident like any other day.
That day, the center held a foam party on the playground for the children. The foam was piled a few feet high and was completely opaque: thick enough that it was impossible to see the children playing in it or the playground equipment hidden beneath it. A small child moving through foam that conceals everything underfoot cannot see hazards, and neither can the adults who are supposed to be watching.
During the party, the boy suffered a deep gash to his face, near his eye. The injury was serious enough to require stitches to close the open wound. A cut that close to a young child’s eye is exactly the kind of harm a center is supposed to prevent. It is also exactly why an activity that hides the play surface from everyone demands more supervision, not less.
The center is a licensed Texas child-care center serving toddlers, pre-kindergarten, and school-age children. Texas child-care rules require centers to provide a safe environment, supervise children at all times, keep adequate staffing, and meet minimum safety requirements for the activities they run. The petition alleged the center failed to provide a safe environment, failed to keep proper watch over the children, failed to staff the activity adequately, and failed to meet the safety requirements that apply to an activity like this one.
A foam party is not inherently the problem. The problem is running one several feet deep and fully opaque over a hard playground with small children inside it. We examined how the activity was set up, how the children were supervised while the foam hid the ground and the equipment, and how a three-year-old ended up with a deep laceration beside his eye.
We represented the family and brought suit against the operators of the center in Harris County. We pursued claims for negligence and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, including the failure to provide a safe environment, the failure to supervise, the failure to staff the activity properly, and the failure to meet the safety requirements for the foam party.
A daycare does not get to take a family’s money to keep their child safe, then run an activity that hides the entire play surface from the people who are supposed to be watching. We held the center accountable for what happened to this child.
We represented the family and brought suit against the operators of the center in Harris County. We pursued claims for negligence and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, including the failure to provide a safe environment, the failure to supervise, the failure to staff the activity properly, and the failure to meet the safety requirements for the foam party.
A daycare does not get to take a family’s money to keep their child safe, then run an activity that hides the entire play surface from the people who are supposed to be watching. We held the center accountable for what happened to this child.
The matter has been resolved. The terms of the settlement are confidential. As with every case, the result here reflects this family’s specific facts and circumstances, and is not a guarantee or prediction of the outcome of any other matter.
