child safety

Kids Under 2 Require Rear Facing Child Seats in Illinois

April 23, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Effective January 1, 2019, the Illinois legislature amended the law known as the Illinois Child Passenger Protection Act, requiring children under two years old to ride in rear facing child seats unless they weigh more than 40 pounds. This rule change also includes new fines. Violators will be assessed $75 for the first offense, and $200 for each subsequent failure to comply.

Illinois law already required children under 8 to ride in a secure child safety seat. A child’s safety is, of course, the reasoning behind these regulations.

A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 35% of kids under age 12 that died in car crashes in 2016 in this country were not properly restrained. That means, that of the 732 motor vehicle crash deaths in that age group, at least 256 stories may have gone differently. That’s hundreds of families who might have had a different outcome.

Because Illinois law considers the first violation to be a petty offense, a person who has been charged with violating the Illinois Child Passenger Protection Act for the first time may avoid a conviction by successfully completing a child passenger safety instructional course and proving proof in court that they have a proper child safety seat for their vehicle.

Parents or guardians who have questions about how properly install child safety seats should reach out for help. One resource could be your local fire department. There are certified child passenger safety technicians who are available to help at firehouses, police stations, and sometimes hospitals. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration keeps a list that can be found here: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cps/cpsfitting/index.cfm

Chicago residents can find help by phone too:

Chicago Police Department: Dial 311
Chicago Fire Department: 312-747-6691

Is Your Daycare Licensed?

July 17, 2015 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

We’ve talked to our fair share of agitated, frustrated, sad, and angry parents, calling us because their child was injured or mistreated at daycare. This is very troubling, since so many parents today count on daycares. Entrusting our children to daycare employees every morning is certainly not a decision to be made lightly. We have got to trust the daycare will be properly staffed with trained professionals. We have got to trust the daycare’s building and rooms are safe and free from dangers – particularly those hazards that most impact infants and children, like sharp corners and small toys. We have got to make sure our kids are safe – not bullied, abused, left alone, or neglected – and that our children are looked after responsibly, just like a parent would. For those of us who work and have young sons and daughters at home, daycare plays such an integral role in our lives – nothing is more important than caring for our children and providing them with a safe environment.

That is why injuries at daycare need to be taken very seriously. We don’t just have to hope our daycares are trustworthy enough to care for our children. There are laws and regulations that govern the operation of daycares. In some states, including Illinois, daycares have to be licensed. Daycares also should be insured. If your daycare is operated out of a neighbor’s house, not a business location, that is a red flag indicating you may want to ask whether the neighbor is licensed and insured. Another red flag is seeing a large group of children supervised by only one or two staff members at the daycare.

To check if your daycare is licensed, visit this website maintained by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

If you remember, partner Ken Levinson recently obtained a $43 million verdict against an unlicensed daycare operation. That daycare was operated out of a house, and young girl was sexually abused by the homeowner. Just this week, a four-month old infant child died at a daycare in New York City when he was laid down to sleep at the home daycare, and then found unresponsive.

These are two horrible, very serious cases involving unlicensed daycares. Plenty of other disconcerting issues arise, though, such as children injured from falling or being pushed or pulled by other children. Sometimes, a supervisor or staff member should have been paying attention to the children, but wasn’t at the time of injury. Other times, video surveillance of the daycare shows exactly what happened, and who was where, when. If your child was injured at daycare, you may have a legal claim against the daycare. At the very least, it is worth investigating. Call an experienced child injury lawyer to discuss your options.

Will this July 4 be the Most Dangerous?

July 2, 2015 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Happy Independence Day! (Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/afunkydamsel/

NBC News reports this Independence Day holiday may be the deadliest in recent memory. Already, July 4 is a day that sees an above average number of traffic crashes for July (and motor vehicle accidents are more common in the summer, anyway), but coupled with the long weekend, partying, and presumably nice weather, the risk for accidents – fatal and nonfatal – is increased. So, as you and your friends and families pack your bags and get ready to enjoy the celebratory weekend, The National Safety Council reminds drivers to focus on the safety of their family by following these tips:

Buckle Up
Slow Down
No phones while driving – and especially no texting while driving
If you plan to drink, don’t drive – get a designated driver

It goes without saying that staying alert, and driving defensively is especially important over the weekend.

But driving isn’t the only danger that presents itself this time of year. Of course, what makes the Fourth of July celebration unique are the fireworks, sparklers, firecrackers and other loud – and flammable – devices. Just as road safety is a leading cause for concern this holiday season, so is fire safety.

The US Consumer Products Safety Commission just released its annual fireworks report from 2014. In all of that year, approximately 10,500 people went to emergency rooms for firework-related injuries. Check out CPSC’s Fireworks Safety Education Center for more graphics, safety tips, and other useful information about firework safety. There is also a link to the CPSC photo gallery showing how light fireworks, sparklers, and firecrackers can cause clothing to catch fire and result in serious injuries.

As a final point – remember that people are not the only ones celebrating on July 4. Your pets are often along for the ride – whether an actual road trip, a large party, or just a walk to watch fireworks. Check out PetFinder’s infographic for suggestions on keeping your pooch protected. And, if you’re a cat-family, Chicago-based cat rescue Treehouse Humane Society has this primer on how to minimize the scaredy cat in your house. Both resources will help your pets cope with the inevitable loud noises and crowds of people.

With these tips, hopefully you can focus on having a fun and safe July 4th holiday!

Do You Need A Child Injury Lawyer?

February 20, 2015 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A growing percentage of children suffer significant injuries at the hands of their favorite toys, according to the Center for Injury Research and Policy.

Based on a study by the CIRP, several emergency room-related mishaps involving children have jumped a noteworthy 40 percent in the U.S since 1990. Kids under the age of 15 accounted for nearly nine out of ten injuries. This eye-popping rate has some people analyzing the impact of such a dramatic rise.

An estimated 3 billion toys are sold annually in the U.S., most of which prove to be harmless. Some toys, however, pose higher risks than others, a fact that the CIRP was quick to point out with foot-pedal and high-powered motor scooters, a long-time popular commodity for kids.

The report pointed out that scooters helped make categories like “falls” and “collisions” the most common type of injury. The total percentages: 46 percent for falls; 22 percent for collisions. Accidents involving scooters tended to be more severe than any other, which has proven to be the case ever since toys like the Razor scooter became one of the most popular toys on the market at the turn of the Millennium.

In 2000, Razor sold an estimated 5 million scooters in six months. A report in the journal of Clinical Pediatrics reported that nearly 110,000 kids were admitted to the hospital because of scooter-related injuries in 2001, up from 25,000 in 1999. That’s more than 4 times the amount of injuries! Despite these staggering statistics, the popularity of scooters continues to extend all over the world, even as similar injury numbers are reported. Israel banned children from bringing scooters to school earlier in the fall due to a serious scooter-related head injury.

When a child is injured, as a parent your first instinct is to wonder what went wrong. That could mean any number of things: carelessness, negligence, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If it happens to be the result of a defective product, then your next feeling is likely anger, frustrations and a vigilant pledge to get even with the company that allowed a defective product to go unchecked, ultimately inflicting harm upon your child.

What’s important to know is that every child injury case is different. Dealing with a defective product, especially, can be tricky a battle to wage; if the defective toy is the merchandise of a big company, your odds of litigating in a timely, cordial way are almost slim to none. That’s because big companies prepare for – and save money for – cases like this, working with seemingly unlimited legal resources at their disposal. You’ll want to ask yourself some questions:

Can you determine whether the accident was the result of defective equipment?
What were the circumstances of the accident (i.e. who was involved, how did it happen, where did it happen)?
Do state laws protect me in matters like this?
How do I objectively evaluate the situation?

But one of the most important questions you should ask yourself is, “Do I need a lawyer”? Getting answers to the above questions, and any other questions you may have, can help save you time and money, and a lawyer can help you sort out the situation. Our firm offers free consultations for families of child injury victims, and we’re happy to give you the guidance you may need.

Here’s the Internet Slang Parents Should Know

February 9, 2015 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Texting - Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons — Texting – Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Let’s start with a question: Do you know what “GNOC” and “IWSN” stand for? How about “CD9”?

“If it makes you feel any better,” writes Kelly Wallace, CNN digital correspondent and editor-at-large covering family-related issues, “I had no clue, and neither did a number of women I asked about it,” proving that even the most involved parents struggle to keep up with today’s increasingly explicit slang.

Wallace recently unveiled a list of 28 acronyms that parents should know, now that texting and social media have become part of the new normal, and kids can’t seem to put down their cell phones. And this new normal looks more incriminating than parents likely prefer. According to Wallace, the terms on her list—many of them sexually suggestive—elude even the most cautious adults. The issue has drawn attention from experts who say graphic short form slang is just one of the many problems plaguing teens and young adults today, as they increasingly rely on mobile devices as primary modes of communicating.

Wallace makes note of typical phrases: “LOL” (Laugh Out Loud) and “LMK” (Let Me Know), for example. Some not-so-innocent, but common variants among teens include things like “GNOC” (Get Naked on Camera) and “IWSN” (I Want Sex Now). Others like “PIR” (Parent In Room) or “POS” (Parent Over Shoulder) act like secret codes, indicating to would-be texters the appropriate moment to refrain from anything that might get them in trouble. There’s also “A/S/L” (age/sex/location), used to initiate what is likely to be an inappropriate conversation between strangers. Less obvious but equally suggestive terms are “1174’” (Party Meeting Place), “53X” (Sex) and the aforementioned “CD9” (Parents Around/Code 9).

Explicit content isn’t limited to just texts. In recent years, popular apps like Snapchat, Vine, and Kik have come under heavy fire for their surreptitious, unregulated nature. Kik, for example, a free texting app, allows text and pictures to be sent without being logged in the phone history, making it easier for kids to communicate with strangers without anyone’s knowledge.

Wallace’s 28 phrases may seem like a generous number, but by the time you finish reading them, it’s easy to imagine several new, equally suggestive acronyms that have already replaced the old ones. If you’re just waking up to the fact that Generation Next is giving you the runaround, it may be time to learn a bit more about what your teen is (or isn’t) saying these days on mobile devices and web-based apps. See Wallace’s complete list below.

Some of the words on the list seem too ridiculous to be so widely used and accepted. The online world is filled with people pretending to be other people, lying about who they really are. Word choice can give teens – and supervising parents – an idea of the person who’s on the other side of the chat or texting app. The lingo is constantly evolving as new phrases and acronyms become widely accepted, so it is understandable that your eyes might catch some abbreviations that you are unfamiliar with. A quick Google search is sure to help, most likely by sending you to www.urbandictionary.com for more definitions and interpretations.

Even though the way teens communicate is changing, and increasingly hidden from parental view, it is still possible to spot the warning signs that something inappropriate or bad is happening. Recognizing some of these suggestive phrases is a good start.

28 Phrases You Should Know:

1. IWSN – I want sex now

2. GNOC – Get naked on camera

3. NIFOC – Naked in front of computer

4. PIR – Parent in room

5 CU46 – See you for sex

6. 53X – Sex

7. 9 – Parent watching

8. 99 – Parent gone

9. 1174′ – Party meeting place

10. THOT – That hoe over there

11. CID – Acid (the drug)

12. Broken – Hungover from alcohol

13. 420 – Marijuana

14. POS – Parent over shoulder

15. SUGARPIC – Suggestive or erotic photo

16. KOTL – Kiss on the lips

17. (L)MIRL – Let’s meet in real life

18. PRON – Porn

19. TDTM – Talk dirty to me

20. 8 – Oral sex

21. CD9 – Parents around/Code 9

22. IPN – I’m posting naked

23. LH6 – Let’s have sex

24. WTTP – Want to trade pictures?

25. DOC – Drug of choice

26. TWD – Texting while driving

27. GYPO – Get your pants off

28. KPC– Keeping parents clueless

Original Source of 28 Phrases: CNN.com

Levinson’s $43M Day Care Child Abuse Verdict Sends Loud Message – Protect Children & Ensure Safety

December 18, 2014 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

On Monday, Ken Levinson secured a $43,000,000.00 verdict in a day care child abuse case against a day care employee who sexually abused a six year old girl at the day care. Levinson won the verdict in St. Clair county, Illinois, which is near St. Louis, Missouri. A verdict of this size should shed light on day care child abuse while making a loud statement: if day care owners and operators are not going to protect and ensure the safety of the children in their care, they will be held fully accountable for the harms they cause or allow to be caused to children.

Our hope is that the verdict will help make sure daycare owners/operators do complete background checks on anyone who may have contact with children and will properly monitor their employees to protect every child trusted with their care. Let’s make sure that this type of betrayal of trust stops.

In a 2012 report detailing child maltreatment, the Children’s Bureau (Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, noted that four-fifths (78.3%) of child abuse victims were neglected, 18.3 percent were physically abused, 9.3 percent were sexually abused and 8.5 percent were psychologically maltreated. Of the victims who were sexually abused, 26.3 percent were in the age group of 12–14 years and one-third (33.8%) were younger than 9 years.

The historic verdict, although uncollectible, represents vindication for victim and the victim’s family. But who knows – as one juror pointed out during the trial, an incarcerated defendant could win the lottery.

While this was a tragic, troubling, and traumatizing event, hopefully it provides hope for other day care child abuse victims, and sends a strong message to day care centers across the nation.