For those who don't know, CPS= child protective services.

I am having a hard time with this. I don't want to cause trouble if I misunderstood what happened, but I don't want to ignore it if there is a chance this kid is being abused. :/

I live in an apartment. A new family moved in about 2-3 months ago. They have a 6 year old girl. (she could possibly be 7. She's in the first grade) She LOVES my daughter (who is 9) and they play together all the time. It is the grandparents, their 2 daughters (one who is in her 30's and one who is a teenager), and the one granddaughter that live there.

Well, last night at 10, my husband and I took our dogs out to go pee for the night. We were across the street (two rows of parking, plus the two lanes for driving, so a good distance away) and we hear screaming. Just SCREAMING. So I stopped to place it, when I start hearing WHACK WHACK WHACK. I look up in the directions it's coming from, and can see the shadow of the mother beating the girl. (well, I assume it was the mom, since both grandparents were out on the porch). Then the thoughts of, why is her hand coming up so high? And why is it so loud? And then I see the shadow of the belt. She hit her for at least a good two minutes. With a belt. And I can just hear the girl screaming and yelling OW.

Look, I am all for punishing your children. I have spanked my child on a handful of occasions. But as someone who was always hit with an object as a child, I feel that is going way across the line. I know the feeling, and it's horrible. There is no reason to use anything but an open hand on the butt.

Now here is where I feel why I might need to step in. I don't think this is an isolated incident. She wasn't crying. Only screaming. Not crying tells me this is something she has experienced before. I have never physically seen anything on the girl, but clothes can hide a lot. She doesn't have any sort of routine appropriate for a 6 year old either. I have seen her out at 10pm before, in the cold, no jacket and no shoes. When we asked her what she was still doing up, she was waiting for her mom to get home from work so she could do her homework. (Grandma takes and picks her up from school.) She's 6. Why isn't she in bed?

And these people, while very nice, are also very...hick? for lack of a better term. I wouldn't put it past them to use "old fashioned" type punishments.

I have never felt the need to call CPS on anyone before. Something in my gut just tells me there is something wrong. I can wait and try and ask her today after school, but 1. I don't want it to be too late for the evidence, if there is any, to be gone, 2. She probably won't say anything. Most kids who suffer any type of abuse don't. and 3. I don't want them to know it's me in the off-chance I'm wrong. My daughter is the only friend she has (they have told me) and that wouldn't be fair for her to lose that.

But I also don't want to be wrong. What if the mom was hitting her sister? It's still not right and I'm 90% sure she's under 18, but I don't want to put the 6 year old through anything unnecessary.

I just don't know. What would you guys do?

If you call, you have the option of staying anonymous. When my son was born, somebody called and said my ex and I were doing drugs. They came and tested us, saw nothing wrong, and closed the case. I'd call and explain what you saw and say you're worried about the child's (children's?) welfare. They'll check it out and if they don't think anything is wrong, that'll be the end of it. But if something is definitely going on and they're actually being abused, they'll look into it further and take any action necessary to protect the kids. And as for the six year old not wearing a coat and shoes, they do help out with that kind of stuff.

I still hear of people using belts and whatnot to punish their kids, but it's only like one or two smacks. Two minutes straight is definitely overdoing it.

If you think it's in the child's best interest, I'd call, just to be on the safe side.

Better safe than sorry. You have the chance to potentially save that girls life; using a belt on a six year old will often end lethally. Definitely go to CPS immediately.

Whatever you do, I would not speak directly to the child. It could be extremely frightening to be asked 'is mommy beating you?' whether she is or isn't. Furthermore, kids tend to blabber and don't really know when to keep secrets yet, so she could very well go to her grandparents and say 'the neighbor knows mommy hits me.' or 'the neighbor asked if mommy hit me' and you can see how that could snowball.

If you seriously think she is being beaten, I'd anonymously call CPS, and just say something vague like 'I was walking down the street to go to the store and at X address I saw ____ and think a child was being beaten.'

I would, as well as staying annonymous.

@ Harpie

I say go with your gut and if you're more comfortable going anonymous do it that way. If this isn't an isolated incident and beatings like that(two minutes with a belt good lord that's ridiculous) are common it really needs to be stopped before the girl gets seriously hurt or possibly even killed. Too many people wait to call when things like this happen and all it does is hurt kids. If nothing is wrong in the house the investigation will close and perhaps the mother will even take it as a sign to change her parenting for the better. If your gut says call, listen to it, instinct is a powerful thing and can save lives.

[edit] typo

The best advice I can give you is to call anonymously and for the time being do nothing else.

1. If you speak to the child you will most likely end up with the neighbour storming around yours and/or having the kid banned from playing with your daughter.
2. You are a mother yourself - you need to keep your child safe, as well as yourself. If these people will use a belt on their own small girl, what would they be capable of doing to you, or your child?
3. If you don't go anon, you also risk them turning on you and calling you out on something they've made up to tear your family apart.

I would say call ASAP and don't give your details at all. For the mean time, that's all I would do. Speaking to the child is a definite no-no. But if you see that kind of activity going on again, call the police immediately.

I would call anon as well. I have called anon and used my degree to get farther with CPS than a "regular" person would. A belt technically isnt abuse, as it was done yeeeaaars ago. If there is not a mark, it is a non issue according to CPS.

Personally I'd call them immediately. I say this as a mom who had CPS called on her.
In this case isolated or not you could be saving the kids life. If you mis-saw or whatever CPS will still help the family. They don't like tearing families apart, so their first step in a lot of situations is just setting you up with social programs that will help you.

[edit] No matter what it's anon. They WILL NOT tell the family ANYTHING about who reported them. Again, known from experience.