AP β A state appeals court on Tuesday tossed out child abuse findings against a frustrated Northern California mother who spanked her year-old daughter hard enough with a wooden spoon to cause bruising. Social workers waned to report Vernica Gonzalez to the state Department of Justice's child abuse database with a "substantiated" abuse determination.
That determination was upheld by a trial court judge. The appeals court said the spanking came close to abuse, but that social workers and the lower court judge failed to consider the family's entire circumstances. Gonzalez and her husband testified that other forms of punishment such as groundings and taking away her phone had failed to persuade their year-old daughter to do her schoolwork and avoid gang culture.
The parents said that other family members had testified that spankings in the household were a rarity. The appeals court said the mother's growing frustration with her daughter's behavior and her intention not to inflict harm in the April spanking weighed heavily in its ruling.
Rushing continued that "the spanking was entirely the product of a genuine and deliberate disciplinary purpose, i. Fri, 31 Jan GMT Story Infinite Scroll - News3 v1. SkyCam Network. FOX 25 Weather Wise.
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