PD*Poll: Are you afraid to chaperone?
Categories: Teens & tweens, Health & safety, In the news, Alcohol & drugs, Childcare
After a recent verdict, many parents in Maui, Hawaii and elsewhere in the US certainly are. Nearly $700,000 was awarded to the parents of Lauren Crossan, an eighteen-year-old who fell to her death from a Maui hotel room. The teen, who was in town with chaperone Susanne Sadler, Susanne's daughter and another teen, was seen drinking alcohol within hours of reaching the hotel.
An arbitrator ordered Sadler to pay $690,000 to Crossan's family after finding the chaperone partially responsible for the girl's death.
Some schools are so concerned over getting into this kind of trouble that they're going so far as to purchase liability insurance. Some parents are considering it as well. Others feel that it's simply the American way to sue rather than accept responsibility for actions. And some fall in between: A lawyer representing the Crossan family, who has represented many such families whose children have been harmed in the care of other parents, basically said that crappy parenting leads to problems.
What do you think? Is it ridiculous for parents to consider purchasing liability insurance to cover themselves when children who are not their own find their way into their care, or is it just a sign of the times?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Reich 6-19-2008 @ 2:01PM
Why are the only two voting options both blaming someone else? Chaperones have a tremendously hard job. It's tragic when children are injured or die, but sometimes it's no one's fault but junior's.
The lions catch the slowest gazelles, you know. Getting drunk and falling off a balcony is an unpitiable death. (I feel terrible for the family, though).
Even if the question were posed in the context of an elementary student falling in the bear pit at the zoo, I still don't think you can lay a blanket statement about who's to blame. We play the odds when we ask a few adults to watch a whole class of students. Despite what my mom always said, she doesn't actually have eyes in the back of her head. In the case of adult children committing suicide by stupidity there's no question who's at fault.
And unless the school literally kidnaps the students and forces them off school property, why should the school ever be held responsible? You, as a parent, have to ok your child's participation in a trip. It is your, and only your, responsibility to do the due diligence in making sure the trip is to somewhere safe.
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Karen 6-19-2008 @ 4:45PM
Well, I can think of of lots of times it would be either the parents' fault or the fault of the school.
There are true accidents (in which nobody is to blame) and there are poor decisions and negligence.
It is very difficult to get volunteer parents to follow school rules. A good many of them have a "thing" against the school to start with and want to supplant their judgement.
For instance, I know a mom that was chaperoning a high school band trip. She let the kids sneak out of the hotel and cross a 6 lane major highway to get to a fast food joint for some snacks. She thought it was ridiculous for the kids to have to be in their rooms at 9 pm and she helped them sneak out. If one of those kids was hit by a car, IMO she would have been responsible.
If a parent is aware of students and underage drinking, it is their responsibility as an adult to look after that child. At least it should be brought to the attention of the school.
There are true accidents and there are cases where it is nobody's fault. I don't really know the details of this case, but I do know that parent chaperones can be very difficult to work with at times.
Lauren 6-19-2008 @ 4:36PM
Whoa, this was an 18 year old, old enough to vote, move out, drive. Old enough to take responsibility for their own actions. While I can't imagine the pain this family is going through, I think this is the wrong way to work through their grief.
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Jenni 6-19-2008 @ 10:47PM
Exactly my thought. She was 18, not 8. On top of that, my child wouldn't be taking a trip like this without me being present because of situations like these. It's not that I wouldn't trust my child (I would like to think that by this age I could) but that there are way too many crazy, inappropriate things going on during these trips. It's tought to be trustworthy at this age, especially when you are away from home with EVERYONE else not being trustworthy.
Brenda 6-19-2008 @ 6:06PM
Neither the parent nor the chaperone should be liable. We're talking about a teenager knowingly broke the rules by drinking. She should have known better. Kids are great at getting things past the adults in charge of them. Unless Sadler provided the booze or knowingly allowed the kids to get plastered, I don't see how this is her fault or the schools. This is just more shift-the-blame nonsense that ensures nobody has to take responsibility for his or her own actions.
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ninainindia 6-19-2008 @ 9:19PM
The third option is missing: no one is liable.
I understand it doesn't fit into the sue happy US society but sometimes things just happen. Because of an accident or stupidity or whatever. Why always look for someone to blame?
This girl, who was an adult, decided to drink too much and fell to her death and now this poor woman has to be in debth for years, maybe the rest of her life for the girls stupidity.
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Jenni 6-20-2008 @ 11:06AM
Exactly! I'm going to go out on a strange limb, but follow me here for a moment;
Maybe the chaperone did try to address the issue with this girl; maybe she even addressed it with the people in charge. What would she have been told? "Yes, but she's 18 and considered an adult; therefore there is nothing we can do about it. We can only control those who are under 18."