Last week, on ABC's "Good Morning America," Kerry Campbell was shown in a picture giving an anti-wrinkle Botox injection to her 8-year-old daughter, a beauty pageant contestant, even though the shots can be painful and aren't recommended for anyone under the age of 18.
The San Francisco child welfare agency says there are many questions, such as Kerry's training,,, where she got the Botox,,, and whether Brittney's doctor knew about the injections.
Last week, the pageant mom insisted she wasn't harming her daughter.
A person with knowledge of the situation told ABC News that the girl, Britney, is doing well but did not offer more detail on the ongoing investigation into the girl's mother, Kerry Campbell.
"I do the botox myself. It's safe. I have no problem with doing it,"she told ABC's Lara Spencer. " I've been doing it for a long time."
Although Kerry wouldn't tell ABC how she got the Botox, she told a British newspaper she bought it online
Trent Rhorer, executive director of the San Francisco Human Services Agency, told KGO-TV on Thursday that officials want to talk with Kerry Campbell and her daughter Britney.
"It's pretty unusual for a mom to be injecting an 8-year-old with Botox and certainly is grounds for an investigation," Rhorer told the TV station.
Campbell appeared with her daughter Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America." She said she enrolls Britney in beauty pageants and got the idea to give her Botox from other pageant mothers.
"It's a tough world in the pageant world, I'm telling you," Campbell told the program. "The kids are harsh."
Photographs purportedly taken during the treatment and displayed on "Good Morning America" show Britney with a bag of ice on her face in apparent discomfort. One picture shows Campbell injecting her daughter.
The girl said on the show that she experiences pain and sometimes cries a little, but has gotten used to the injections and looks better after the treatment.
The San Francisco Human Services Agency, which investigates reports of child abuse, received numerous calls from people concerned about Britney's well-being after the television appearance, Rhorer said.
Botox, which was introduced in 1989, is known for its ability to smooth wrinkles, but it is also approved to treat other conditions, including neck spasms, excessive underarm sweating and migraine headaches.
A purified form of the toxin botulinum, Botox blocks connections between nerves and muscle, temporarily paralyzing the muscle. Injections can be painful and are not recommended for anyone under the age of 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says on its website.
California regulations only allow the drug to be administered by a doctor or a nurse acting under the supervision of a doctor, said Kim Brown, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Consumer Affairs. Additionally, Brown said the drug requires a doctor's prescription.
