10 yr old gets tattoo, ends up in foster care

[sparrowsong]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- In the Garrison family, it's a tradition.

"He got his initials out there on the right leg at the very bottom," said Jerry Garrison.

All of the family members have their initials in ink.

So when Jerry Garrisson's 10 year old grandson wanted his initials tattooed on his leg ...

"I didn't see why a tattoo was such a big issue to begin with, and I didn't see where none of this was right,' he said.

Garrisson says the Department of Children and Families came to his house with another concern, and when they saw his grandson's tattoo, they told him it was a problem.

Because of other allegations, DCF placed his grandkids in foster care.

"My little son called me and said, Dad, I'm so scared, I want to come home so bad. When you have your youngin' call and tell you he's scared. I want to go put my arms around him and say son, it's alright, it's really alright. But no, I can't," he said.

He thinks the tattoo played a role in DCF removing his grandkids, and doesn't know how to fix it.

"I ain't never been in pain like this, it's the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. In my whole entire life," he said.

Department of Children and Families Spokesman John Harrell says it wasn't the tattoo, but additional allegations that had the children removed.

"When you get in to cases like this, is the child being abused? Is the child at risk? Are the actions of the parents putting the child at risk," said Harrell.

Legally, the tattoo isn't DCF's call.

But in the business for 20 years, tattoo artist Todd Lake says it's just wrong.

"We'll tattoo down to the age of 16, don't really like to do that," said Lake.

Lake says legally the standards in Florida have changed in the past year.

"Under the old law, I believe you probably could bring your kid in, legally, with notorized parental consent. But right now it's probably a big grey area in the law. So that's a tough case," said Lake.

The law did change in 2012.

Previous to the new law, it was legal to tattoo a child with expressed parental consent.

Under the new law, a child under the age of 16 cannot be tattooed unless it is for medical or dental reasons.

It is a misdemeanor for the tattoo artist, not for the guardian of the child.

Children 16 to 18 can be tattooed with parental consent.

And once a person turns 18, it's their choice.

No arrests have been made in this case.


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Kind of a misleading title to the article, since it sounds like the tattoo wasn't actually the main issue CPS had with this family. But still, tattooing a 10 yr old?

[sparrowsong]

www.9news.com/news/article/273528/188/10-year-old-gets-tattoo-ends-up-in-foster-care

A pic/video showing the tattoo at the link.

[heightsyankee]

Jun 21, 2012 10:32:21 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

Garrisson says the Department of Children and Families came to his house with another concern, and when they saw his grandson's tattoo, they told him it was a problem.

Because of other allegations, DCF placed his grandkids in foster care.

[speckledfrog]

Medical might be instead of a medical alert bracelet. I can't think of a dental reason.

[AJL]

Also during radiation treatments, sometimes small tattoos are made to mark the specific location of an area to receive the radiation.

[sparrowsong]

I think sometimes people tattoo info about medicinal allergies, or other things that a doctor/ER would want to know if they had an unconscious patient and no history on them.

[IIOY]

Whatever the reason for his removal, apparently this child was not being beaten or starved. If that had been the case, no doubt they'd still have custody

[mrslefty]

Jun 21, 2012 10:45:43 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Whatever the reason for his removal, apparently this child was not being beaten or starved. If that had been the case, no doubt they'd still have custody

:-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

[dylanite]

I have no issue with a parent deciding to put a tattoo on their child. No I don't agree with it, but I think judgment and interference from others is uncalled for. But I'm sure I'm a hypocrite there since I've judged others for relatively similar trivial matters.

[heyjude]

Why is a tattoo "wrong" but not ear piercings? What about other piercings on a child (nose?)?

[heyjude]

Or, what about piercing a baby boys ears?

[fernane]

Jun 21, 2012 11:15:04 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Why is a tattoo "wrong" but not ear piercings? What about other piercings on a child (nose?)?

I think it's slightly different bc unless you have the $$, a tattoo is for all intensive purposes permanent. Piercings can be taken out if the child should decide at some point they no longer want them, no harm, no foul. But how is a child that young going to think about lifelong implications for something like a tattoo? They are just going to go along with whatever their guardians find acceptable because they don't have the capacity to think long term like that.

[blindyswife]

Jun 21, 2012 10:43:44 GMT -5 AJL said:

Also during radiation treatments, sometimes small tattoos are made to mark the specific location of an area to receive the radiation.

Yup. I have two small tattoo dots on my upper chest from my radiation therapy. I have kind of grown to love them.

[blindyswife]

Jun 21, 2012 11:15:04 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Why is a tattoo "wrong" but not ear piercings? What about other piercings on a child (nose?)?

As someone who is totally not in favor of ear piercing a baby, I feel like that tattoo is worse because it is more permanent. Yeah, an ear/nose/lip piercing may leave a tiny hole behind when you take the jewelry out, but a tattoo is forever BooYah in your face.

[Deleted]

Of course it is in Jacksonville.

Gah.

[msmerymac]

I love how the excuse is, "well, we all have out initials tattooed on us, so when the 10 year old asked, we couldn't think of a reason not to!" Uh, how about the fact that he's 10 and can wait until his 18th (or even 16th) birthday?

I understand the similarities of tattoos vs. piercings, but ear piercing is hardly noticeable if you aren't wearing earrings. Not only that, but I'd venture to say that the vast majority of adult women in the US have ear piercings. Tattoos, depending on the art, can be much more noticeable. And while they're more mainstream than they used to be, far from a majority of people have their own tattoos.