A former high ranking Fulton County child welfare official pleaded guilty Tuesday to beating her own child and was sentenced to 10 years of probation, according to her attorney.

The case against Cylenthia Clark proved an embarrassment to the state Division of Family and Children Services, revealing that one of its own officials had performed an act that the agency regularly investigates.

Beyond that, some Fayette County child welfare workers said then-state DFCS director Mary Dean Harvey pressured them to protect Clark in the case, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Harvey denied the assertion at the time, but some child welfare advocates said the incident raised concerns about the leadership of Harvey, who left the agency in March.

Clark, who was deputy director of the Fulton County DFCS office, pleaded guilty to the charge of felony child cruelty. Fayetteville police said that last year she beat her daughter, then 8 years old, 34 times with a leather belt after ordering her to strip to her underwear.

Fayette County Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards, taking into account that Clark was a first offender, sentenced her to 10 years of probation, said her attorney, Manny Arora. After that time, he said her record will be cleared.

"She did strike her daughter," Arora said.

Clark's guilty plea occurred two days into her trial as the prosecution was making its case, he said. He said Clark did not want to put her daughter through the pain of testifying in court.

Clark drew more public attention early this year when she used her personal Web site to accuse Fayette County child welfare workers of being incompetent and racist. On her Web site Clark said that child welfare workers in Fayette County have created a "system of genocide" that strips minority children from their parents.

Clark could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Clark was the No. 2 administrator in Fulton County DFCS when police arrested her in March 2007. She was transferred to the state DFCS office, and no longer works for the agency, her attorney said.

Clark's four children now reside with her former husband, and she has visitation rights, her attorney said.

Child welfare proponents said her case marked another low point for an agency that has struggled for years to improve its troubled reputation.

"It was an embarrassment for DFCS" because an official chosen to represent the "epitome of parental virtue turned out to have the same frailties of the people that the agency is dealing with," said Normer Adams, head of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children.

He added, "The department didn't need another embarrassment."

Staff writers Christian Boone and Kathy Jefcoats and staff researcher Richard Hallman contributed to this report.