Can you sue a summer camp for a child’s injury?
Personal Injury - April 20, 2026
Yes, you can sue a summer camp for a child’s injury if the camp or its staff acted negligently, even if you signed a liability waiver. If your child was hurt at camp, you may have legal options to recover compensation. A Chicago personal injury lawyer from Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates can help you understand your legal options if your child is injured at a summer camp.
What duty of care do summer camps owe to children?
Summer camps owe the following duties to children and their parents:
- Clean drinking water and food free of pathogens or pests
- Appropriate supervision by trained employees
- Adequate staff-to-camper ratios
- Regularly inspected and maintained facilities
- Security measures to protect campers
- Proper hiring methods and training programs on first aid and emergency procedures
- Severe weather plans
Summer camps have a responsibility to keep children reasonably safe while they’re under their supervision, often described as acting in loco parentis (in place of a parent). Under the Illinois Premises Liability Act, a camp can be held responsible if it knew or should have known about a dangerous condition and didn’t fix it or warn about it. This applies to camps run through Chicago Park District programs, private camps, and other organized summer activities across the area.
Depending on the situation, that can mean repairing the hazard or keeping kids away from the area. If a camp fails to take these steps and a child gets hurt, it may be held liable for the injury if your case goes to trial.
When is a summer camp liable for a child’s injury?
A camp’s owners, administrators, or employees are liable when a child is injured at summer camp, whenever their actions were negligent or intentional and resulted in harm. A case often comes down to showing the camp knew or should have known about a hazard and failed to fix it or warn about it.
Even if an injury occurs during sports activities or other potentially injurious events, the key factor is whether those in charge took all necessary precautions to prevent harm to the kids.
Do liability waivers prevent you from suing a summer camp?
Like any property owner who allows members of the public to access their facilities, summer camp operators must maintain a clean and hazard-free environment for visitors. Even camps that require parents to sign liability waivers aren’t immune to lawsuits if they engage in negligent behavior for safety and employee training.
A waiver doesn’t automatically protect a camp from liability. Illinois courts often look closely at these agreements, especially when children are involved. If the camp acted negligently or recklessly, the waiver may not hold up.
How do you prove negligence in a summer camp injury case?
You can’t begin to recover compensation until you prove negligence by the other party. To successfully demonstrate negligence, you and your personal injury lawyers must present evidence of the following:
- The camp owed your child a duty of care to prevent harm to your child while staying at their facility.
- The camp engaged in actions or inactions that broke that duty of care.
- Your child experienced injury or illness as a direct result of the camp’s failure to fulfill its duty.
- You have financial and other losses associated with the harm that the camp must repay.
Your attorney can collect photos, videos, witness statements, police reports, medical records, and other evidence to establish each of these elements.
What compensation can be recovered for a child injury?
Your compensation options depend on the types of injuries your child suffered. For example, you may be able to claim all their medical bills, but also your lost income if you were out of work caring for them. If your child experienced trauma, you may be able to seek compensation for their emotional distress. In some cases, parents may also have limited claims depending on the circumstances.
If your child is severely injured and disabled, your personal injury attorney can include compensation for their future treatment and therapy, as well as their diminished quality of life and loss of earning capacity.
Explore your legal options after a summer camp injury in Chicago
Attending summer camp is often a rite of passage for many kids in Illinois, but it also comes with certain risks. At Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates, we work with families in Chicago to take action when a child is hurt because a camp failed to keep them safe. If you believe you have grounds to file a lawsuit, contact us online or call (800) 985-1819 to arrange a free consultation. We’ll walk you through your options and what comes next.
