Safety Reforms
What Willow's Voice is asking for
These reforms are not about punishment. They are about preventing another child from being injured, overlooked, or sent home without the family receiving complete and timely information.
- 01
Immediate parent notification
Parents should be notified promptly following peer aggression, significant falls, visible distress, loss of movement, guarding of a body part, suspected injury, or unusual withdrawal or fatigue.
- 02
Same-day incident documentation
Serious events should be documented accurately and contemporaneously by the staff member who observed them.
- 03
Supervisor review
Injury reports should be reviewed and signed by responsible clinical and operational leadership.
- 04
Clear staff assignments
Facilities should preserve records showing the child's assigned staff member, coverage changes, staff breaks, supervision transfers, and who witnessed an incident.
- 05
Autism-informed injury recognition
Staff should be trained to recognize that pain may appear as crying, withdrawal, guarding, refusal to move, fatigue, agitation, changes in eating, changes in participation, and limited words such as “ouch” or “hurts.”
- 06
Evidence preservation
Following a serious incident, facilities should preserve video, staffing logs, tablet entries, internal messages, report drafts, email, call records, training records, and supervision notes.
- 07
Independent review
A serious injury should trigger a review that is not controlled solely by the personnel involved.
- 08
Correction of inaccurate records
Parents should have a clear process for submitting a factual addendum, disputing incorrect information, requesting correction, and preserving both the original and corrected versions.
- 09
Accurate agency reporting
Reports to government agencies should contain verified dates, accurate enrollment status, correct injury information, complete factual context, and identification of the source of information.
- 10
Protection from retaliation
Families and employees should be able to raise child-safety concerns without fear that reporting systems, employment actions, or institutional pressure will be used against them.