Field trips and safety.

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My 7 year old daughter is in the second grade at a public school. The school and classes are small, and yet... Last year during her first year she nearly had her right index finger severed (hanging by a flap of skin) just above the last joint because she was sticking her fingers in the wrong place in a door when someone opened it. Just a month ago she decided to walk home from school with a friend. We live two miles from town and she takes the bus, or goes to an after school program (held at the school) and is picked up by her father. Long story short, someone saw her wandering aimlessly in a restaurant parking lot, asking for directions from strangers (after she had found her way down a 30 ft cliff side ) quizzed her and found out her parents names and got a hold of us. Not to mention that she is constantly coming home with bumps, cuts, abrasions, goose eggs, and black eyes. I know kids get banged up, but how many notes and phone calls a year am I supposed to get explaining a black eye (or worse)? This child is one you have to watch constantly! When she was 4 yrs. old my attention lapsed for about 30 seconds looking at a painting and turned around to find her hanging upside down with her legs hooked into a balcony railing over a 40 ft. drop. I've tried to explain to the school that she has a variable danger sense, will stim by hanging upside down and climbing, but they don't seem to be getting it; and after last months apparent cliff scaling attempt, and past nearly severed digits, I'm a little jumpy about an upcoming field trip. I'm not sure what to do here. Should I let her go? Am I being over-protective and paranoid? If I'm not can someone help me with the appropriate language to explain to them just how much supervision she may need? Maybe even some ideas that I can give them. I'm not convinced that a handful of adults looking after 30-40 kids is going to be sufficient supervision for her in a cave system (bat watching). I don't want the be that parent, but she could have been hurt very badly last time she slipped away from them (which she has a habit of doing.) She can vanish like smoke in just a few seconds, loves to explore and climbs anything if given a chance. Sorry while I vent. Any feed back would be welcome.

I always went on Field trips with my son unless I knew there would be an aide that was trained to watch for him. It sounds like there is something radically wrong with that school and you should ask for documentation of those injuries. Make sure they are documenting them and have a plan in place to prevent further injuries. Those sound very serious to me.

There is documentation on the finger thing and two of the black eyes from school. She has come home w/ bumps on her head and one other black eye. I called the school and eventually tracked them down to "play ground accidents", and running into a girl in P.E. class. I'm documenting them though. I spoke to them about when she tried to walk home from school and I'm reassured they will make sure she is where she needs to be after school from now on. I asked them if I could go on a previous field trip to look after her and they said I could "volunteer" but they would have me overseeing another group of children that didn't include my daughter. Apparently that is their policy because they feel a parent is too distracted by their own child to help look after the others if they are in the group. She didn't go on that one. With this last incident they may let me this time. We'll see. Sigh. I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall sometimes. They don't get it.

So, there's x amount of parent volunteers to watch 3-4 kids a piece. You attend so that you can watch your kid and so she isn't one of 3-4 kids in a group being supervised by someone who isn't familiar with her (or may feel uncomfortable with her roaming). Your daughter sounds like someone who may need to be followed and redirected, perhaps with a hand holding. That is something that other parents are not trained to do and at my school, they are not allowed to do (touching, reprimands).
You'd think they would be grateful that you are offering to help. My son's 1st grade teacher thanked me at the end of the year for chaperoning the field trips, saying it really helped. I pretty much just went to chaperone my son and his high-maintenance girlfriend (who ran off more than my own son).