Do you think its child abuse?

Question

While waiting to check out at Wal Mart, the lady in front of us had a child about 2. She told some other ppl in line that the child belonged to her sister.

Well, anyway, this little girl looked to be about 2. She had a black eye and a bruise on her right cheek bone. Her clothes were clean,and there were no other bruises or cuts or scratches or anything on the child. So I didn't know if it was child abuse or not,

but how else would a little one like that get a black eye?

Answer 1

It could be child abuse or it could be that the child had some sort of accident. My daughter who is 3, usually hits herself, puts make up on, picks up ants, you name it. She is so hyper we can't keep track of her, but had to put her on meds.  

Answer 2

It could have been child abuse but my 2 year old nephew bumps into things all the time he usually has scraped knees and other scratches and bruises.

Answer 3

Toddlers are prone to injuries in the process of learning new things . If the child was friendly and responsive then chances of abuse are bleak, besides if the toddler was a victim of abuse then her aunt wouldnt have taken her to a public to get noticed  

Answer 4

Seeing as the child is a toddler the black eye could have come from tripping over her own feet, toys, ect. and smacked her eye on a corner of a coffee table, ect.  Kids at that age get lots of goose eggs, bumps, and brusies until they perfect walking and running.  I have a boy and the accidents are worse when they get older, especially if they are in sports.

My guess is if the child was abused she would have most likey been apprehensive about talking to you and shown fear or anxiety towards her caregiver.  Sounds like she banged herself on something and got a boo-boo to me.

Answer 5

Without having seen the incident happen, there is no way to tell for sure what happened.  My son at around the same age one day went running through the house to his bedroom and turned his head to look at something as he was entering.  Before stopping, he hit his head on the corner of the dresser that was just inside the door, putting a deep cut, bruise and bump on his head.  

Kids have accidents and while it is commendable that you are concerned about the child, at this point there is just speculation as to what happened.  Your comments about how she was acting indicate that she isn't afraid of her aunt, therefore I would access it being an accident.  If the aunt had harmed her, then the reaction of the child would have been different.  I'm also sure that if the toddler had been taken to medical personnel, they would have reported it if they thought there had been abuse since medical personnel are required by law to report abuse.

Another thing to consider is that abuse had happened to the child, but the parents were the perpetrators.  Therefore the child had been placed into the aunt's custody by child protective services personnel, since the main policy is to keep a child with a family member if at all possible instead of placing the child into foster care.  This would make the aunt completely blameless of anything.

Answer 6

have you considered that she may have fallen down

all kids get hurt at one time or the other and not have any child abuse involved

Answer 7

without knowing and seeing the child frequently there's really know way to tell if there was any child abuse involved foul but it sound like it could be.