A Georgia mother accused of tattooing her own children is defending her actions.
"We were making it look like it was a cross," said Jo-Jo Marsh, "so the kids could have something they could say it was."
The mark is a cross-like symbol left by a home-made tattoo gun with a guitar string as a needle.
"We didn't even break the skin barely," said Marsh, "they are very tiny, just through a few layers, on the top, they will fade away, that's how minuscule this is."
Marsh and her husband, Jacob Bartels, face child cruelty charges after detectives found the same mark on six of the couple's seven children.
One of the tattooed children is just 10 years-old.
"There was a seven year-old child that they determined was too young for the tattoo at this time," said Chattooga County Sheriff John Everett.
The couple's 17 year-old has a larger tattoo on the arm.
Marsh admits her husband used the gun to draw it too, but insists she tested it first to make sure her children were not harmed.
"These tattoos are so minuscule, they will fade away," said Marsh.
Marsh says she didn't know it was illegal to tattoo children in the state of Georgia.
"Oh God no," she responded, "that's why I was tripping so hard, that's why I was so upset."
Marsh defends her actions saying the kids were begging for tattoos like hers.
She insists that she changed the needle each time.
Marsh believes as the children's guardian, she should have the right to tattoo them if she chooses.
"Shouldn't I have say so over what goes on in my child's life," said Marsh, "I have custody of my child, I'm not going to hurt my child."
The Department of Family and Children's Services has stepped in to investigate the tattooing that Sheriff deputies estimate to have happened around Thanksgiving.
The children were removed from the home temporarily, but Marsh says her children were released back to her under a parent plan until case heads to court.
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