Annie

[Anne_Miller]

Can a child care centre legally stop parents from publicly asking questions about specific child care centres and putting up brochures asking for people to come forth and share experiences in each centre. The parents are keen to gather information on parent satisfaction levels and child protection in such centres but one child care centre has threatened to sue for defamation stating the questions suggest they are doing something wrong. However the parents just want to know if people are happy, if there are issues in the centres, and how children are treated etc? Are parents free to do this and can asking questions be defamatory?

 

[Malibu_Barbie]

It appears that the parents are merely attempting to "conduct a survey", which is not illegal, and the child care center has no right to stop this. However, any illegality would depend on how that information is used later on. It's totally legal to ask a parent a question about a particular child center. Answering the question is up to the parent (it's the parent, not the person who questioned, who may encounter legal problems if he/she is an employee of the child care center and has been specifically prohibited from responding to questions of this nature).

Again, "defamation" can be asserted by the child care center as to how the information gathered during the survey is used, so please keep that in mind, however, the child care center has no legal right to prevent you from asking parents questions re: their satsfaction of the centers' services, unless you are soliciting under illegal practices (lobbying on the the child care center's property, have obtained illegal access to the centers' customers, etc. By the way, what method are you using, or attempting to use, in forwarding your brochures to each child care center customer?

 

[Anne_Miller]

Thanks for this...The focus is flyers on billboards/cars etc but nothing outside the child care centres -and requesting at shops etc for people to fill in survey of experiences
- website being developed for more general survey regarding ANY child care centre in the country where people can log on and give info

 

[Anne_Miller]

Thanks for this...The focus is flyers on billboards/cars etc but nothing outside the child care centres -and requesting at shops etc for people to fill in survey of experiences
- website being developed for more general survey regarding ANY child care centre in the country where people can log on

Question: Is asking questions about possible disatisfaction of parents, imputing there is something wrong with the child care centre?