You and I both have a problem of burying the lead:
YOURS: I know we still need to call police when we see or hear strong evidence of abuse, but we also need not to ignore the very real reasons why many people think they shouldn't do that. When those reasons are eliminated (or just substantially reduced), a lot more people won't hesitate to call, and a lot more children will be helped.
MINE: In our effort to be hawkish about the misuse of CPS power, lets please not get so twisted that we can witness an assault on a child and worry about parents' rights being threatened.
The most words on thise thread are about getting people to even recognize abuse and the need to report it without getting paranoid about the authorities.
The other complaints about CPS belong in a discussion, but don't you see how mucked up this thread is with people who are too cynical to help an abused kid being beaten before their very eyes? - Their first thought is that CPS is somehow worse for this kid than her mother?
I don't think for a second that CPS custody would be worse for this kid than being with her mother, and didn't mean to imply that. There also seems to be a problem here with a lot of people seeing different versions of the video, and some seeing it only on a PC, and getting very different impressions of what the evidence is here. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I saw a short RealPlayer clip last night that really didn't show much and could reasonably be consistent with a little tussle with a toddler who was resisting being put in a car seat.
I think most of the posters who are saying this shouldn't have been reported (only a very few), and the people who are saying the reaction seems overblown in light of the evidence (a larger number), are people who saw only shortened and/or PC versions of the video. Their reactions strike me as based on a combination of less-than-conclusive evidence and perceptions of the problems CPS can cause. It's pretty clear to me that those who have seen the whole video on a TV are appalled, and not hesitating to say that authorities need to intervene urgently.