Posted on 05/12/2005 9:34:27 AM PDT by HungarianGypsy
A Scottsdale couple have been charged with child abuse after their three children, who police said were put on a type of vegan diet, were found malnourished and severely underweight.
The couple’s 3-year-old daughter weighed 12 pounds when she was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital last month after apparently having a seizure, said Scottsdale detective Sam Bailey. All three children remained hospitalized Wednesday, Bailey said.
The parents, Blair Parker, 34, and Kimu Parker, 35, were arrested April 28, and on Wednesday were each being held on $90,000 bail in a Maricopa County jail.
The Parkers were charged by a direct complaint from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, according to court records. Bill FitzGerald, spokesman for the office, said the case is expected to go before a grand jury for possible indictment.
Police said that after Blair Parker took his youngest girl to the hospital, a social worker contacted police.
At the couple’s home in the 300 block of North Miller Road, police found the two other emaciated children. The 9-year-old boy weighed 29 pounds and stood at 3 feet 4 inches tall, while the 11-year-old girl was 3 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 36.5 pounds, a police report said.
Police said the Parkers’ house was immaculate, "organized" and "free of clutter." The refrigerator was stocked with fresh vegetables, roots and mixed grains.
Both older children, who were home-schooled, were well-spoken and welleducated for their ages, though officers thought the children looked young for their ages, the report said.
Dr. Janice Piatt, a pediatrician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, later told police, "I have never seen such stunting before except maybe in Africa. It was beyond severe malnutrition."
Yet Bailey said the couple "weren’t consciously starving their kids."
He noted that the children’s mother also was thin — she weighed 115 pounds and was 5 foot 6 inches tall.
"She was extremely skinny but did not appear malnourished," the report said.
Blair Parker, who is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds, told detectives his family was on vegan diets and don’t consume animal or dairy products.
Kimu Parker told police the family mainly eats rice, beans and vegetables. She said the two older children were small for their ages because they didn’t have "animal steroids and other products that the average person consumes."
None of the children have been vaccinated, and the family believes in holistic medicine and were in contact with a doctor in Wisconsin who would explain to them how to treat their children after diagnosing them, the report said.
The couple, who have read extensively on health issues, said the girls’ bodies don’t absorb protein and that the holistic doctor diagnosed the problem, according to the report. They supplemented the 3-year-old’s diet with a product that was supposed to help absorb the protein.
In general, vegan diets should be safe for children as long as they get the proper nutrients, two Valley nutrition specialists said.
"With regard to whether it’s appropriate for a child — there are healthy children who eat vegan all the time," said Terry Hughes of Gentle Strength Cooperative in Tempe.
Karen S. Moses, a registered dietitian at Arizona State University, said it’s possible to raise children on vegan diets successfully.
"People can be very conscientious about how they feed their children and can do a vegan diet without compromising the child’s health. It takes a lot of work. You really have to be conscientious about protein and calcium. You have to be really thinking about nutrients in a way that other people may not."
Contact Irene Hsiao by email, or phone (480)-970-2324
I think there are different practices based upon why a person chooses to eat vegan. The friends that I mentioned are not PETA types. They eat this way because they see it as healthy. One of the parents is a recovering alcoholic and feels that she needs to "control" everything that enters her body. I have never heard her mention killing or enslaving of animals as a reason for her diet.
Yeah,
And I've yet to see a vegetarian on dialysis too. If you're educated, you can be very healthy (like yourself ;) )
>>Actually, she's 15-20 lbs underweight for her height, if she is a slight framed woman. Recommended weights for 5' 6":
(small frame, medium frame, large frame)
120-133 130-144 140-159<<
That AND the food pyramid are baloney. My wife are quite familiar with those recommendations and find them quite comical. I am 6'1" and my "Maximum weight" according to the charts is 190 lbs. Yet, when I went on a diet and got down to 191 lbs., all my friends said I looked "gaunt." I did.
I don't want to even go into the "minumum" for my height.
Yet the womens figures are the opposite. They idolize chunkyness, pure and simple. It is odd.
YOU might be built to process fats, but you don't have MY biliary system! (I even make gall stones without a gall bladder) ;-( And I love ribs....but it's poison to me.
I still eat red meat. Small portions, and it has to be lean.
That is one thing about American restaurants that annoys me to now end. I don't think I've been able to finish a meal in a US restaurant since about 1996.
That being said, there is no excuse for any parents, no matter what sort of diet they follow, to allow their children to become malnurished.
A pox on thee! I'll now be able to think of nothing else until I can get some ribs!
exactly
Actually, hardly anybody uses animal fat for deep-frying anymore, more's the shame. Hydrogenated vegetable oils are much cheaper and are what are mostly used these days, except where they're now switching over to non-hydrogenated vegetable oils due to concerns about the hydrogenated stuff.
And who can forget the look of awe-struck delight on the face of a small child when they first taste A-1 sauce?
I've seen free-range chicken (but no other meat) at even local grocery store chains around here.
We don't all have to become vegans...but I do think that if we could get more natural foods we'd be better off.
I only eat white bread products where there's no alternative.
I had a buddy who did dialysis, and he saw them quite often. They took longer in recovering from the procedure, typically, IIRC.
Probably not supplementing enough B vitamins.
Are you sure that "Mowing is Murder" bumper sticker wasn't satirical? I have a hard time believing that even the biggest libs would think such a thing.
Actually a 5'6 woman at 135 pounds sounds right to me. I think the women's weights are OK but the men's are too low on those charts.
I am 5'7 and it says I should weigh about 150. I'd look like a toothpick!
MY problem is the opposite. I have become accustomed to the large portions and it has been hard to stop.
There's nothing wrong with any approach to food, as long as it means YOUR nutrient (including fiber) needs, and doesn't cause you health problems.
Negative association - home schooling with these nut-case parents.
Oops, sorry, I thought that Ted was closer to 50.
That's entirely possible. Oh, and my buddy died about a year ago, unfortunately. Yeah, they expected him to die pretty young, before his teenage years. He was 37, and a good steak was his favorite food.
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