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Who pays for the damage during a babysitter accident?
My child wrote all over my sofa while my babysitter was on a social network website. The sofa cannot be cleaned because it is chenille. What do I do?
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Want to answer more questions in the Domesticity category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Babysitting?
Don't worry children will be children but I feel like since the babysitter left the child un supervised she should have to pay for the damage to your sofa
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Not hire that baby sitter again. And tell your friends not to hire her, either.
And whatever your child used to write on the furniture needs to be taken away as punishment.
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There are many things that have to be taken into consideration here before you decide on a course of action.
First consider if it is possible that your child could have done this while you were at homes. Just because the babysitters attention was on a social network, your attention could be drawn to a thousand different things that you do while at home. It only takes a few minutes or less even for a child to get into this type of mischief.
Should you come to the conclusion that it is possible this would have happened even if you not the baby sitter were watching your child; then do nothing.
It is unfortunate but children do get into mischief no matter how well we watch them. We baby proof our homes to make sure they don't get into anything that will hurt them and then try to watch them as best we can. Fact is they still get into things they shouldn't and unfortunately they occasionally do ruin some of our things.
You are upset and rightfully so, you did not hire the babysitter to spend the night on a computer website. To say the babysitter was negligent is a bit of a stretch just because your couch was ruined. The sitters primary responsibility Wes to the safety and care of your child.
It appears that your child was properly cared for. Meaning that whatever child care you asked for such as feeding, bathing, diaper changing , napping or putting the child to bed for the night was accomplished satisfactory. If so you would be hard pressed to prove negligence on the part of the babysitter.
If this is so to taking the babysitter to court over the damages to your couch would be an effort in futility to my thinking. Remember judges and juries are generally also parents and we know these things can happen even when a child is in our own care.
You can ask the sitter or the sitter and his/her parents to pay the damages or share the damages with you. They are not obligated too.
My advise: Check with a restoration type cleaning service. They may have some chemicals other cleaning services do not use that will remove the writing. Next time you need a babysitter either hire someone else or lock up your computer and tell the babysitter no to bring a laptop.
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It’s not quite cut and dry:
Under the letter of the law, the baby sitter might be found responsible for the damages. But they also may not be.
You could try to take them to court over the damage - in small claims court you'd need to prove that the sitter was negligent - that they should have, at their age, maturity and experience level, known better. It is not vandalism. Vandalism is deliberate. It was damage caused by the sitter's negligence.
And you may very well loose that case, or certainly not get the whole value of the sofa awarded. If your babysitter is a young person it is very likely the judge will turn to you and say "I'm sorry - children damage furniture sometimes and you hired a young and inexperienced sitter – I only find them responsible for a portion of the cost.” Or even none at all.
That’s not uncommon, when an adult sues a minor in this sort of case, for a judge to find the minor is not solely responsible for their negligent actions, but the adults (sometimes the parents, and sometimes the employers) to be partially responsible for having hired the minor in the first place for a job that they, the adults, should have recognized the young person was not qualified for.
If the sitter openly admits to being negligent and not watching the child, then they are certainly responsible – but you would still be better, and more reasonable, to first approach the minor and their parents with the problem of the damages, then to take a minor to small claims court.
If this is an older, more experienced professional sitter, you would have a better case in court for them bearing the entire burden of the cost and a simple, straight-forward requirement for them to be responsible for the damages.
You need to take into account the sitter’s age and experience when deciding where responsibility lies – a court will consider this and so should you. There is an element of ‘you get what you pay for’. If you hired an inexpensive young kid to watch your child, they wont necessarily be held to the same standard as an adult.
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If you hired someone to care for a child, It is their responsibility to look after that child.
This babysitter was on the computer during this time while the child was in her care then she should be responsible for the damages that were made while she was babysitting.
This is vandalism and may need to be taken to court.
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