When your child is hurt at school or daycare, the fear and anger arrive at the same time. Our Seattle school injury lawyers can help you sort through both by answering the questions that matter right now: what happened, who allowed it to happen, and what your family's options are for holding them accountable.
Children spend their days in the care of teachers, aides, administrators, and childcare providers who accept a duty to keep them safe. When a school or daycare fails that duty, whether through negligent supervision, unsafe facilities, dangerous playground equipment, or something worse, Washington law gives families the right to pursue compensation for the harm their child suffered.
Pendergast Law represents families across Seattle and King County whose children were injured in the care of others. We understand that this is not just a legal matter. It is your child. Call our Seattle office at (206) 620-0707 for a free consultation in English or Spanish.
Speak to a Lawyer TodayThe Duty Schools and Daycares Owe Your Child Under Washington Law
Schools and licensed childcare providers in Washington operate under legal obligations that go well beyond keeping the doors locked and the lights on. The standard of care they owe your child depends on the type of institution and the child's age, but the underlying principle is the same: when you entrust your child to their care, they accept responsibility for that child's safety.
Public and Private Schools
Both public and private schools owe students a duty of reasonable supervision during school hours, on school grounds, during school-sponsored activities, and during transportation to and from those activities.
Public school districts in Washington may be held liable for injuries caused by negligent supervision, unsafe premises, or the wrongful conduct of their employees. However, claims against public school districts require filing a tort claim notice before a lawsuit may proceed, and specific procedural steps must be followed. For more on how liability works in complex cases, see our guide on liability in commercial vehicle crashes.
Private schools also do not carry sovereign immunity protections and may be sued like any other private entity when their negligence causes a child's injury.
Licensed Daycare and Early Learning Programs
Washington's Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) licenses and regulates childcare providers under WAC Chapter 110-300.
These regulations impose specific requirements that go beyond general negligence standards, including mandatory staff-to-child ratios, active supervision requirements, incident and injury reporting, and facility safety standards.
Under WAC 110-300-0345, licensed providers must actively supervise children at all times and may not substitute baby monitors, video monitors, or mirrors for direct supervision. A daycare that leaves children unattended on a playground, allows a child to wander off premises, or fails to maintain required ratios has violated both its licensing obligations and its duty of care to the children enrolled.
How Children Get Hurt at Schools and Daycares in Seattle
Child injuries in institutional care settings follow patterns that reflect failures in supervision, maintenance, or institutional decision-making. Understanding the type of incident helps clarify who may be liable and what evidence matters most.
Some of the most common injury patterns in Seattle school and daycare claims include:
- Playground and recreational injuries from falls, equipment failures, and collisions during unsupervised recess or outdoor play. Liability may stem from inadequate staff monitoring, defective or poorly maintained equipment, or playground designs that allow younger children access to structures intended for older age groups.
- Slip, trip, and fall injuries inside facilities caused by wet hallway floors, torn carpeting, unsecured rugs, broken stairway railings, and cluttered walkways. Children are smaller, less coordinated, and less able to recognize hazards than adults, which raises the standard of maintenance these facilities owe. If a fall happens on unsafe premises, you can learn more from our analysis of premises liability for hazardous conditions.
- Harm caused by other children when bullying, fights, or aggressive behavior that staff knew about escalates to physical injury. The institution is not automatically liable for every interaction between children, but a failure to intervene or separate a child who posed a known risk may form the basis of a negligent supervision claim.
- Transportation injuries from school bus crashes, loading and unloading incidents, and collisions involving vans or vehicles operated by daycare staff. Washington holds school districts to a common carrier standard of care when transporting students, the highest duty recognized under the law.
- Abuse and misconduct when a child is harmed by a teacher, aide, coach, or childcare worker through physical abuse, sexual abuse, or other wrongful conduct. The institution may be liable if it failed to conduct adequate background checks, ignored warning signs, or created conditions that allowed the abuse to occur.
Each type of incident raises different questions about who bears responsibility, what records exist, and how the claim proceeds. An attorney familiar with child injury cases in Seattle may help identify the right path based on what happened to your child.
Speak to a Lawyer TodayWhy Seattle Families Trust Pendergast Law With Child Injury Cases
Choosing an attorney after your child has been hurt requires a different kind of trust than hiring someone for a car accident or a property dispute. The stakes feel more personal. The process involves a child's medical records, emotional well-being, and sometimes their willingness to return to a place that was supposed to be safe.
The firm you hire needs to handle all of that with care while still fighting aggressively against the institution that allowed your child to be harmed.
A Firm That Understands What These Cases Demand
Child injury cases against schools and daycares are not straightforward personal injury claims. They involve government tort claim procedures, DCYF licensing standards, institutional insurance structures, and evidence that often lives inside the school or daycare's own records.
Pendergast Law has represented injury victims throughout Washington for over 30 years, recovering well over $100 million in verdicts and settlements across thousands of cases. That experience includes premises liability and negligent supervision claims that raise the same core questions school and daycare injuries do: was the environment maintained safely, was supervision adequate, and did the responsible party know about the danger before someone got hurt? For insights into how fault is evaluated in collisions, read our discussion of fault in rear-end crashes.
Former Insurance Adjusters on Your Side
Our team includes former insurance adjusters and claims analysts who spent years evaluating injury claims from the other side of the table. When a school district's insurer or a daycare's liability carrier pushes back on your child's claim, our team knows the internal playbook they are using and how to counter it with the documentation and framing that moves the file forward.
Communication That Respects What Your Family Is Going Through
We take calls in English and Spanish, offer free consultations, and work on a contingency basis with no upfront costs. Throughout the process, we keep you informed without adding to the stress your family is already carrying. Your child's well-being comes first. The legal process works around that priority, not the other way around.
No Upfront Costs and No Added Burden on Your Family
The last thing your family needs right now is a financial barrier to getting answers. Pendergast Law offers free consultations so you can understand your child's legal options without any obligation or pressure. If we take your case, we work on a contingency basis, meaning there are no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for your family.
We also know that your time and energy are going toward your child's recovery, not toward becoming a legal researcher. Our team handles the procedural requirements, the communication with the school district or daycare's insurer, and the evidence gathering so your family can focus on what matters most.
Call our school and daycare injury attorneys in Seattle at (206) 620-0707 whenever you are ready to talk.
How to File a Child Injury Claim Against a School or Daycare in Seattle
The process for pursuing a claim after your child is injured depends on whether the institution is a public school, a private school, or a licensed daycare. Each follows a different path, and confusing the procedures may cost your family time or, in the worst case, the right to file at all.
Claims Against Public School Districts
Public school districts in Washington are government entities, and claims against them require specific procedural steps before a lawsuit may be filed. The process includes:
- Submitting a tort claim notice to the school district that identifies the claimant, describes the injury, and states the damages sought.
- Sending the notice to the correct office within the district, as filing with the wrong department may not satisfy the requirement.
- Waiting 60 days after filing the notice before proceeding with a lawsuit.
- Meeting any additional claim-filing requirements if a state agency rather than a local district is involved, because Washington law generally requires a claim to be presented before a lawsuit may be filed.
These requirements apply regardless of how serious the child's injury is, and the timeline begins running from the date of the incident. Filing incorrectly or missing the window may delay or bar the claim entirely. For more on filing deadlines, see our detailed guide on Washington's personal injury deadlines.
Claims Against Private Schools
Private schools do not carry the procedural protections that public districts have. A claim against a private school follows the same process as a claim against any other private entity in Washington, with no tort claim notice requirement and no mandatory waiting period before filing suit.
The three-year statute of limitations under RCW 4.16.080 applies, but waiting to act is still risky. Evidence that matters most in these cases has a short shelf life:
- Incident reports filed by teachers or administrators may be revised, archived, or lost over time.
- Surveillance footage from hallways, playgrounds, and parking areas often overwrites within days or weeks.
- Staffing records showing who was on duty and where they were positioned become harder to reconstruct as months pass.
- Witnesses, including other parents, aides, and volunteers, become difficult to locate and less reliable in their recollections.
The sooner an attorney is involved, the stronger the evidence preservation effort.
Claims Against Licensed Daycare and Childcare Providers
Licensed daycares are typically private businesses, so claims follow the private-entity process without a tort claim notice requirement. However, daycare injury claims add a regulatory layer that school claims may not have.
The DCYF licenses and inspects childcare providers under WAC Chapter 110-300, and violations of those licensing standards may serve as strong evidence of negligence. Violations that commonly appear in daycare injury claims include:
- Failing to maintain required staff-to-child ratios during the time the injury occurred.
- Substituting baby monitors, video cameras, or mirrors for the active, direct supervision that WAC 110-300-0345 requires.
- Neglecting facility safety requirements including playground maintenance, indoor hazard removal, and secure entry and exit points.
- Failing to file required incident or injury reports with DCYF after the child was harmed.
- Operating with staff who did not complete required background checks or training.
Requesting the daycare's licensing history, inspection reports, and any prior complaints from DCYF creates a documented record of whether the provider had a pattern of noncompliance before your child was injured.
An attorney familiar with all three claim types may help your family identify the correct path from the start and avoid procedural missteps that put the claim at risk. Call our Seattle office at (206) 620-0707 for a free consultation.
Speak to a Lawyer TodayFAQs for Seattle School Injury Attorneys
How do I know if my child's school or daycare was negligent?
Negligence exists when the institution failed to provide the level of supervision or facility safety that a reasonable school or daycare would provide under the same circumstances. A one-time playground scrape from normal play may not rise to the level of negligence. An injury caused by broken equipment the school knew about, a staffing gap that left children unattended, or a hazard that violated licensing requirements likely does. Learn more about negligence standards in our article on negligent security and liability.
What if the school says my child signed a waiver or permission slip?
Waivers signed by parents for field trips or activities may affect some claims, but they do not automatically bar every negligence claim. A permission slip authorizing participation in an activity does not authorize the school to supervise that activity carelessly. An attorney may review the specific language of the waiver and how it applies to your child's situation.
What if my child was injured at an unlicensed childcare facility?
Unlicensed childcare providers who operate without DCYF approval may still be held liable for injuries caused by their negligence. The absence of a license does not shield them from a claim. In fact, operating without required licensing may itself be evidence of negligence, particularly if the lack of licensing meant the facility was not subject to safety inspections, ratio requirements, or background checks.
What compensation may be available after a school or daycare injury?
The compensation available depends on the severity of the harm and how it affects the child's life going forward. Economic damages may include emergency care, surgery, follow-up treatment, ongoing physical or occupational therapy, psychological and behavioral health treatment, and future medical costs when the injury requires care extending into adolescence or adulthood. Washington does not cap non-economic damages in most personal injury cases.
May parents pursue compensation for how the injury has affected their family?
Yes. Parents may have claims for the emotional impact of their child's injury, the costs of providing additional care and support, and the disruption to family life that follows a serious incident. A child who becomes afraid to return to school, withdraws from activities they once enjoyed, or requires behavioral health support creates ripple effects throughout the family that a claim may address.
Does a child injury claim cover psychological harm, not just physical injuries?
Washington law recognizes emotional and psychological harm as compensable damages. When an injury, or the circumstances that caused it, produces anxiety, nightmares, regression, post-traumatic responses, or fear of returning to the school or daycare, the cost of treating those conditions and the impact on the child's wellbeing factor into the claim alongside any physical injuries.
What if my child does not want to talk about what happened?
Children, especially younger ones, may not be able to articulate what happened or may be reluctant to discuss it. An attorney experienced in child injury cases knows how to build a claim using incident reports, witness statements from staff and other parents, facility records, and physical evidence without placing the burden of proof on the child's own account.
Your Child Was Supposed to Be Safe, Pendergast Law Is Ready to Fight for Them
You dropped your child off expecting them to be looked after. Something went wrong, and now your family is dealing with medical appointments, emotional fallout, and questions about whether anyone will be held accountable.
Those feelings are valid, and they deserve more than a form letter from the school district's risk management office.
Pendergast Law represents Seattle families whose children were injured by institutional negligence. Our consultations are free, our team speaks English and Spanish, and there are no fees unless we recover compensation for your family. Call our Seattle office at (206) 620-0707 whenever you are ready to talk.
Speak to a Lawyer Today