Chicago Daycare Injury Lawyer
If your child was injured or neglected at a daycare in Chicago or the surrounding Cook, DuPage, Will, and Kane County communities, you are likely frightened, angry, and looking for answers — and you deserve them. You trusted these people with your child, and they were supposed to keep your child safe. Ori Law Group is a women-owned boutique firm, and Joe and Kristen Ori personally handle every daycare case from your first call through resolution; you will never be handed off to a junior associate or an intake screen. With more than 40 years of combined trial experience and over $150 million recovered — including $750,000 for a child injured by day-care negligence — we hold daycare centers, owners, and staff accountable when their failures hurt a child.
When a child is hurt at daycare, the hardest part is often not knowing what really happened. You drop your child off in the morning trusting the people there to watch over them, and you get a phone call you never imagined — and the explanation you’re given doesn’t quite fit what you’re seeing. At Ori Law Group, Joe and Kristen Ori start exactly where you are: with the question of what the daycare was supposed to do, and where it fell short. We’re parents as well as attorneys, and we don’t lose sight of the fact that this is your child.
Illinois holds daycares to real standards. The Illinois Child Care Act (225 ILCS 10) and the DCFS rules behind it — 89 Ill. Admin. Code Parts 406 and 407 — set out the staffing ratios, background-check requirements, and safety practices a licensed center must follow. Most daycare injuries trace back to a failure to meet one of those standards: a caregiver watching too many children at once, a hazard left in place, an unsafe sleep setup, or a child released to the wrong person. When we investigate, we pull the center’s licensing file and inspection history, because a pattern of prior violations often shows that what happened to your child was predictable — and preventable.
Two things tend to decide these cases: proving the supervision or safety failure, and preserving the evidence before it’s gone. Daycare camera systems can overwrite footage within a day or two, and incident reports and staffing logs have a way of disappearing once a center realizes a parent is asking questions. That’s why we move on day one to send a spoliation letter and lock down the records that show what the center knew and what it failed to do. Because we’re a two-attorney boutique, Joe and Kristen handle this work personally, across Chicago and the Cook, DuPage, Will, and Kane County suburbs. For more on a property owner’s duty of care, see our Chicago premises liability lawyer page; for the most serious outcomes, our pages on catastrophic injuries and traumatic brain injuries go deeper.
You don’t have to sort through any of this alone, and you don’t have to decide anything today. The consultation is free and confidential, there’s no upfront cost, and we work on a contingency basis — so you pay nothing unless we recover for your family. Call Joe or Kristen at (312) 621-0000 when you’re ready to talk about what happened to your child and what comes next.
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Ori Law Group is responsible for the content of this website.
What to Do After Your Accident
- Get your child medical attention right away, even if the injury looks minor — children often can't describe what they feel, and a prompt exam creates an honest record of what happened.
- Write down everything while it's fresh — what the daycare told you, who you spoke with, the time, and exactly what you observed about your child.
- Photograph any visible injuries, and keep photographing them over the following days as bruising or swelling develops.
- Ask the daycare for a written incident report and a copy of their policies, and save every text, email, app message, and note they send you.
- Report suspected abuse or neglect to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-25-ABUSE (1-800-252-2873).
- Keep the names and numbers of any staff, parents, or witnesses, and talk to an attorney before signing anything or accepting any explanation as final.
Common Causes & Types
- Inadequate supervision — too few staff to watch the children, attention left on a phone, or a child left unwatched long enough to be hurt — the most common cause of daycare injuries.
- Unsafe premises and equipment — broken playground equipment, choking hazards, unsecured furniture, unsafe sleep environments, and unaddressed dangers a careful center would have removed.
- Abuse and neglect — physical, emotional, or sexual abuse by staff, and neglect of a child's basic needs for food, hygiene, and care.
- Improper release — releasing a child to an unauthorized adult, or failing to follow pickup procedures.
- Transportation failures — leaving a child in a hot vehicle, unsafe driving, or failing to account for every child on a field trip or van route.
Who Can Be Held Liable
- The daycare center or childcare facility itself
- The owner or operator of the center
- Individual employees or caregivers whose conduct caused the harm
- A franchisor that controls how its branded centers operate
- The property owner responsible for an unsafe building or playground
Injuries We Handle
- Traumatic brain injuries and concussions from falls or impacts
- Broken bones and orthopedic injuries
- Lacerations, bruising, and bite wounds
- Choking, suffocation, and unsafe-sleep injuries
- Burns and scalds
- Emotional and psychological trauma
- Catastrophic and permanently disabling injuries
- Wrongful death
Illinois Law & Deadlines
Damages You Can Recover
- Past and future medical and therapy expenses
- Future care and rehabilitation a child will need
- Pain, suffering, and loss of a normal childhood
- Emotional distress and psychological treatment
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Punitive damages in cases of willful and wanton conduct
How the Legal Process Works
- Free, compassionate consultation
We listen to what happened, explain your child's rights and yours, and answer your questions at no cost — there is no pressure and no obligation.
- Investigation & evidence preservation
We pull the center's DCFS licensing and inspection history, request incident reports and staffing records, and send spoliation letters to preserve footage before it's lost.
- Demand & negotiation
We build the claim around the supervision and safety failures that caused the harm and negotiate for the full value of your child's case.
- Litigation, if needed
If the center and its insurer won't be fair, Joe or Kristen files suit and prepares your case for trial in the county where it belongs.
Illinois Licensing Standards Every Daycare Must Meet
Daycare centers in Illinois are not lightly regulated. Under the Illinois Child Care Act of 1969 (225 ILCS 10), the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) licenses childcare facilities and sets the standards they must follow to operate. Those standards are spelled out in detail in the Illinois administrative rules — 89 Ill. Admin. Code Part 407 for day care centers and Part 406 for day care homes — and they cover the things that keep children safe.
Among the most important are the staff-to-child ratios. The rules set a maximum number of children one caregiver may supervise, and the ratio is stricter for infants and toddlers than for older children. When a center is understaffed, or staff are stretched across more children than the rules allow, supervision breaks down — and that is when children get hurt. The same rules govern background-check requirements for staff, safe-sleep practices, playground and equipment safety, and how a center must respond to and report an injury.
When a child is injured, one of the first things we do is pull the center's DCFS licensing file and inspection history. A pattern of prior violations — ratio failures, staffing problems, missed background checks — is powerful evidence that the harm to your child was not a freak accident but the predictable result of a center cutting corners.
How Daycare Negligence Is Proven
A daycare owes your child a duty of care — a legal obligation to supervise, protect, and provide for the children entrusted to it the way a reasonably careful provider would. When a center breaches that duty and your child is hurt as a result, the center can be held responsible. The most common breach is negligent supervision: a child left unwatched, a ratio quietly exceeded, a hazard ignored, or a known risk left in place.
Proving the case usually means showing what the center should have done and didn't. We compare the center's conduct against the DCFS standards it was licensed under, its own written policies, and what a careful provider would have done in the same situation. Negligence can also reach the center's hiring and supervision of its own people — a center that failed to run required background checks, or kept a caregiver on after warning signs, may be liable for negligent hiring and retention.
Illinois also treats daycare staff as mandated reporters. Under state law, childcare workers who suspect abuse or neglect are legally required to report it to DCFS. A center that ignored signs of abuse, or stayed silent when its staff were required to speak up, has failed a duty the law places squarely on it.
Where Daycare Harm Comes From
Most daycare injuries trace back to one of a handful of failures — and nearly all of them are preventable.
- Inadequate supervision — the leading cause of daycare injuries — too few staff, distracted caregivers, or a child left unwatched at the wrong moment.
- Unsafe premises and equipment — broken playground equipment, choking hazards, unsecured furniture, and unsafe sleep environments.
- Abuse and neglect — physical, emotional, or sexual abuse by staff, and neglect of a child's basic needs.
- Improper release — handing a child to an unauthorized adult or failing to follow pickup procedures.
- Transportation failures — a child left in a hot van, unsafe driving, or a failure to account for every child on a trip.
Local Resources
Why Choose Ori Law Group
Ori Law Group is a women-owned, two-attorney trial firm in Oak Brook. When you call, you reach Joe or Kristen — not a paralegal, not an intake AI, not a rotating cast of junior associates. As parents and as attorneys, we understand what it means to hand your child to someone else's care and trust that they'll be safe. Joe and Kristen bring over 40 years of combined trial experience and more than $150 million recovered, including $750,000 for a child injured by day-care negligence. We know how to read a DCFS licensing file, where the staffing records are kept, and how to prove a supervision failure — and we prepare every case to be tried, not just settled, so the center and its insurer have to take your child's case seriously. Our Oak Brook office is convenient to Chicago and the entire Cook, DuPage, Will, and Kane County region, and your first conversation with us is free and confidential.
Case Results
Recovered for an Illinois resident injured in a parasailing accident out of state.
Recovered for a victim of an elevator malfunction that resulted in a shoulder injury requiring surgery.
Awarded to a minor who suffered head injuries due to day care negligence.
Awarded to a woman injured in a slip and fall at a Chicago office building.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. See more results →
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do we have to file a daycare injury claim in Illinois?
Adults generally have two years from the date of injury under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. But because your child is a minor, the deadline is generally tolled — your child's own claim usually does not begin to run until the child turns 18. That said, evidence like video footage and staffing records disappears quickly, so it's far better to act now than to wait. We can explain exactly how the deadlines apply to your situation.
What should I do if I think my child was abused or neglected at daycare?
Get your child to safety and seek medical care, then report it to the Illinois DCFS Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-25-ABUSE (1-800-252-2873). Write down everything you observed and were told, photograph any injuries, and save every message from the center. Daycare staff are mandated reporters under Illinois law, and a center that ignored signs of abuse may itself be liable. Talk to an attorney before accepting the center's explanation as final.
What does it mean that a daycare has a 'duty of care' to my child?
It means the center has a legal obligation to supervise, protect, and provide for the children in its care the way a reasonably careful provider would — including meeting the DCFS staffing ratios and safety standards it was licensed under (225 ILCS 10; 89 Ill. Admin. Code Parts 406 and 407). When a center falls short of that duty and your child is hurt as a result, it can be held responsible.
Who can be held responsible for my child's daycare injury?
Depending on what happened, responsibility can reach the daycare center itself, its owner or operator, the individual employees whose conduct caused the harm, a franchisor that controls how its branded centers run, and the property owner responsible for an unsafe building or playground. Part of our investigation is identifying every party and insurer who may be accountable.
Can I bring a claim if the daycare says my child caused the injury themselves?
Often yes. "He just fell" or "she did it to herself" is a common first explanation, and it is rarely the full story. Young children are exactly the people daycare staff are supposed to be watching closely, and a supervision failure is the center's responsibility, not the child's. We obtain the incident report, staffing logs, and DCFS file to find out what actually happened.
What does it cost to hire Ori Law Group?
There is no upfront cost. We handle daycare injury cases on a contingency basis — we are paid a percentage of the recovery only if we win or settle your case, and your consultation is free. You pay nothing out of pocket to get started, and there is no obligation to move forward after we talk.
Will Joe or Kristen personally handle our case?
Yes. As a two-attorney boutique firm, Joe and Kristen work directly with your family from the first consultation through resolution. Your calls reach the lawyers actually handling your child's case — never a paralegal or an intake screen.
Legally reviewed by Joseph and Kristen Ori · Last reviewed June 24, 2026. This page is attorney advertising and is for general information only — it is not legal advice and does not create an attorney–client relationship.
Was Your Child Hurt at Daycare? We're Here to Help.
Free, confidential consultation — call (312) 621-0000. No upfront cost, and Joe or Kristen handles your case personally.