Even when you’re driving carefully and your child is buckled into the correct car seat for his age and size, it’s still possible for a negligent driver to cause an accident and seriously injure your child. When your child’s health and safety are jeopardized in a crash, it’s important that you contact an attorney to help you address your child’s legal and financial needs. 
What to Do Immediately After Your Child Is Hurt in a Car Crash
If you’ve been in a car accident and your child was in your vehicle, it it’s important that you:
- Get your child immediate medical attention. Your child may be too young to accurately describe his injuries. Therefore, even if your child doesn’t complain of pain or other injury symptoms, it is important to make sure that your child sees a doctor as soon as possible.
- Report the accident to the police. The police will likely come to the accident scene to help you and to investigate what happened.
- Take pictures of the accident scene. These pictures may provide important evidence when you pursue a recovery for your child.
- Get contact information from all drivers involved in the crash. Be sure to get every driver’s name, address, phone number, license number, license plate number, and insurance information. This information will help you after you all leave the scene of the accident.
- Get the name and contact information of anyone who witnessed the crash. Eyewitnesses can be important to your child’s claim.
Once you take these steps immediately following the accident, you can turn your attention to your child’s long-term recovery.
Your Child’s Long-Term Recovery After a Car Crash Injury
As you continue to help your child with the trauma of a car accident, there are other things that you can do to help protect your child’s physical and financial recoveries. Specifically, you can:
- Continue to watch for injuries. Some injuries may not be apparent immediately after the crash, but symptoms may develop in the days and weeks following. Make sure that all teachers, daycare providers, babysitters, and relatives know that your child was in an accident and to watch for any unusual behavior or signs of injury.
- Pursue a legal recovery. This does not have to be stressful for you or your child. An experienced lawyer can make sure that all of your child’s rights are protected.
Following a crash, a child has the same right to a recovery as an adult. However, since your child is a minor, he cannot pursue his own recovery until he turns 18. At that time, evidence may be scarce, a fair recovery may be very difficult, and your child may have suffered for many years without the financial recovery he deserves. You can avoid these problems by taking action on your child’s behalf.
Hire an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer
As a parent or guardian, you have legal standing to pursue a car accident case on behalf of your child. However, you don’t have to do it alone. You have the right to work with an experienced attorney who will advise you about your child’s rights and advocate for his fair recovery.
Insurance companies are no more motivated to provide fair recoveries to children than they are to provide fair recoveries to adults. Our Virginia car accident lawyers know the games insurance companies play, we can accurately value your child’s damages, and we will aggressively pursue your child’s full recovery.
You don’t need the additional stress of worrying about how to negotiate with the insurance company or file a claim in court. Instead, you can continue to focus on your child’s emotional and physical needs while we protect your child’s financial needs. We would be pleased to offer you a free, no-obligation consultation, so you can learn more about protecting your child’s rights. To schedule your meeting, simply call us, or reach out to us via this website today.
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