How Young Is Too Young for a Tattoo? Posted: Friday, January 20, 2012 3:59 PM EST 
 
 Reporter: Heather Rosenbaum | Videographer: RJ Burnette 
 
 Danville, VA - A Georgia woman is facing child cruelty charges after taking her 10-year-old son to the tattoo shop. In Georgia, any person under 18 can't get a tattoo, even with a parent's permission. 
 
 In Virginia, there is no age requirement to get inked. But if you're younger than 18, your parent has to be there to give consent. 
 
 Tattoo artists in Danville say they see kids trying to get tattoos all the time. A lot of these artists say a 10-year-old getting tattooed is just too young. 
 
 Jeffrey Seiden, a Danville resident, inked up for the first time when he was 14 years old. He started out by getting a clover on his lower leg. 
 
 "It was a memory, it was something I wanted to do. It was something that meant something to me," said Seiden. 
 
 Years later, he says he would do it again and even let his kids get one when they turn 14. 
 
 "That's when I got mine and I thought at that point in my life I made a wise decision. It I guess just depends on the maturity of the kid," he said. 
 
 While Virginia law has no age requirement, Harry's Tattoo Shop does; they make you wait until 18. 
 
 "We probably get anywhere from 10 to 30 phone calls a week…underage kids from North Carolina," said Harry Aron, a tattoo artist. 
 
 Aron turns away hundreds of parents, underage kids, and dollars. He says he considers tattoos on a minor a form of child abuse. 
 
 "Getting tattooed at 10 or 11…the growth thing is not a health issue or whatever, that's just a moral issue," he said. 
 
 "It's something you have to stick with for the rest of your life, you can't take it back. They should not have that right," said Wendy Cook, a mother of two. 
 
 Cook refused to sign a release for a tattoo on her daughter. 
 
 "I wasn't there to sign for her to get a tattoo until she becomes an adult because that is just not something I choose to do. I don't feel that anybody under the age of 18 should get a tattoo," said Cook. 
 
 While Seiden won't make his kids wait, he will make sure they make the right decision. 
 
 "Something on the face, neck, hands, things that they can't hide on a day to day basis I wouldn't allow it," he said. "It's not going to be just instant go ahead and do it, but I think tattoos are good. I have no complaints with them." 
 
 Now in the Georgia case, police are also investigating the tattoo artist who inked the 10-year-old boy. Aron thinks he is just as liable as the mother. ||||| Update: Mother and Boyfriend Charged in Campbell Co. Tattoo Case Posted: Friday, January 17, 2014 11:24 AM EST 
 
 Campbell Co., VA - Melissa Delp, the mother of the two girls investigators say were tattooed, is facing malicious wounding and felony child neglect charges. 
 
 Investigators say Delp did nothing to stop her boyfriend, Daniel Janney, from attempting to remove the tattoos by burning the girls with a hot razor blade. 
 
 Janney is also charged with malicious wounding and child neglect. 
 
 Alexander Edwards, the man investigators say gave the girls the tattoos, is charged with abduction, malicious wounding, and child neglect. 
 
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 Campbell Co., VA - Campbell County investigators say two girls were tattooed, now their mother's live-in boyfriend is the second man charged in the case. 
 
 According to jail records Daniel Janney is being held for malicious wounding and child abuse and neglect. A search warrant says one of the girls told investigators Janney used a hot razor blade to burn the tattoos off of her and her sister. 
 
 Alexander Edwards is the man deputies say gave the girls the tattoos. Edwards is charged with abduction, malicious wounding, and child neglect.
– Three Virginia adults are facing charges after two girls were tattooed while under the care of a family friend, the Roanoke Times reports. The girl's mother, 35-year-old Melissa Delp, and her boyfriend, 32-year-old Daniel Janney, were charged Friday with two counts each of felony child abuse and malicious wounding. One of the girls—both are under 13—told police that Janney had tried burning off the tattoos after the couple came home and discovered the fresh ink, ABC 13 reports. "There was an effort to cover these tattoos up," said a sheriffs' department officer. "It didn’t help the situation any. It added more scarring." The friend taking care of the girls, Alexander Edwards, 20, is facing two counts each of felony child abuse, abduction, and malicious wounding. A tattoo-removal artist in Kutztown, Penn., has offered to remove the ink for free. "It breaks my heart to know they have gone through something like that," he said. "I can’t imagine what it’s like." There's no age requirement for getting a tattoo in Virginia, ABC 13 notes, but parental consent is needed for anyone under 18.