Let me start by saying that I'd really rather not defend the mother but...
She does have a scar on her chest in the now-removed YouTube video. I could not find anything on her arm but she definitely has some sort of nasty looking mark on her chest. Honestly, it doesn't look like it was done by a professional to me...
Second, she's not the only person wearing flip flops to search. A lot of the "regulars" wear tank tops and flip flops to go search which seems crazy but it's their choice. *shrug*
Finally, I do agree that the lack of photos is very odd. My mom wouldn't have many recent ones of me but I don't live with her and haven't for 8+ years. But Aleah is different, she was there all day long and no one seems to have any
recent photos of her.
Oh, and look back through those photos you were talking about, mom is in the background of a couple of them.