Socorro Eaton’s daughter deserved a beating, Eaton believed. And it didn’t matter that the girl’s entire second-grade class in St. Paul was there to see it.

But within hours, her 8-year-old daughter had been placed in emergency foster care. Child protection in Dakota County, where the family lived, followed up. Two weeks later, she was returned to her mother. Three weeks after that, she was removed again and remains away from her mother’s home, living with her father.

Eaton was convicted Thursday in Ramsey County District Court of malicious punishment of a child and will be sentenced Dec. 14.

But her daughter’s future is less certain – and the actions of Dakota County staff raise questions about how safe she will be.

“I really am concerned about this child,” said Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Yasmin Mullings, speaking at a July 20 pretrial hearing.

“This is unusual in that these are the types of behavior that (usually) occur inside the home only,” Mullings said. “That this behavior happened in a school and in such a blatant way leaves me (with) extreme concern of what is happening in the home.”

She noted that only when the girl was punched in the classroom June 14 did child protection get involved.

After the school incident, the child told police and a doctor that her mother had hit her with a belt on more than one occasion. She had telltale parallel welts on her back.

On the witness stand last week, Eaton denied using a belt to hit any of her four children – including a 10- year-old daughter and twin 4-year-olds, who were temporarily removed from Eaton’s home after the school incident.

Eaton’s attorney, Leah Morgan, said that child protection workers were giving Eaton high marks for her work with them on improving her parenting skills since the incident. They believe the girl – whose first initial is J. – should go home, Morgan said.

But Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan denied a defense motion Thursday that the no-contact order be lifted.