General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Spanking Child With Wooden Spoon Not Child Abuse, Says State Court [View all]pnwmom
(110,257 posts)and could be seen in photos taken the next day.
Contusions are injuries. No, this wouldn't be legal in WA.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960722&slug=2340496
The fact is that parents in Washington state do have the right to spank their kids. But state law forbids them from harming a child.
"While we recognize that parents have a right to discipline their kids, they don't have the right to inflict injury," says James Kelly, special assistant to the secretary of the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and a former child social worker.
State law defines child abuse as any practices "injurious to a child's health, welfare and safety." Child-welfare workers, in assessing whether children are at risk, use guidelines that consider the child's age and the force and location of the blows.