Child Protection

On Tuesday, July 8, 2014, a child age 3, Thomas Stephens, while playing unsupervised at Ms. Janna’s Daycare in Alpharetta, Georgia, died by accidentally hanging himself on a piece of twine attached to a slide on the playground equipment at said Daycare.

When we send our children to school in Atlanta, Georgia we expect a safe environment. We are all afraid of another student bullying our children. We know the bullies are out there and some of us may have been bullied ourselves as children by other kids. What happens, however, when it is the teacher that is the bully? Unfortunately, schools can claim sovereign (i.e. state) immunity in cases in which students are harmed at school, and when it comes to a teacher bullying a student, the law doesn’t appear to have much sympathy; yet.

A South Florida jury has awarded more than $5.2 million to a boy who sued a charter school claiming he was bullied and sexually assaulted by an older student; the bullying started when the child was age 7. The jury decided that the school was negligent in failing to stop the assaults. In many cases in Georgia, however, schools claim sovereign (i.e. State) immunity when a child is hurt at the school.

Almost every day in Canton, Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia, and the Entire State of Georgia we hear of a child abuse case, child neglect case, or a child’s death. At the same time, we hear about a sluggish economy and that even highly skilled professionals with advanced education and degrees such as Attorneys can’t get jobs. Well, I have a job for every Attorney who is willing to work, and both offer training and both are desperately needed in our society: Guardian Ad Litems (Attorneys for Children) and Child Welfare Attorneys. I have served as a Guardian Ad Litem in many cases and I have found this to be some of the most rewarding work that I have done in my almost 20 years of practicing law.