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 have been searching for the perfact diet for years that made sense. The only thing is not eating pasta.( I am Italian )
But moderate use once a week will not do any harm imo
Hmm, was he a life long vegan?
Or was he someone who started with in the early stages of renal failure. The predialysis diet is extremely low protein with the best (and often only) sources being HBV like eggs. So lots of folks in with renal disease to keep from doing more damage, reduce their meat intake.
I haven't eaten meat since 1991, but I will eat fish, particularly salmon, which is healty for your heart. My last heart scan a year and a half ago showed that it has been a good decision.
Born Dec. 13, 1948-so he's 56.
Just that the fact that they were homeschooled has the potential for giving the media ammo against homeschooling in general, ie a black mark against all homeschoolers as in "SEE! Look what the evil homeschoolers were doing! They must all be monitored by the state to ensure proper nutrition!"
Last year the Akron Beacon-Journal did a several part series on such evils of homeschooling, basing their entire premise on the homeschooled foster kids in NJ who were found severely malnourished in a basement, one of them dead. And of course the series completely neglected to mention that DYFS had been to visit the family dozens and dozens of documented times. Can you say agenda?
No matter though - it was all the fault of homeschooling. If they had only been going to public school, the teachers would have seen they were in trouble. Because as we all know, no public school attendees are EVER the victims of secret abuse and neglect. < /sarcasm >
That's hilarious! If it weren't for the commercial bee-keepers, many of the fruits and veggies the vegans love to eat wouldn't be available. My peach tree is peachless this year due to a lack of bees...
Yeah, I can see that. But I was wondering what agrace meant.
That is, they are stupid brainlessbrain-dead.
I went to Olive Garden last weekend and they gave me enough cappelini to feed three people.
My husband accuses me of sounding like the guy in Ghost Busters, who mentioned the cost of everything. Me, I mention things like calories per portion size....
That's interesting. I haven't known too many vegans. I've just read literature that empasizes the moral/idealogical angle.
I thinks vegans can be healthy, but have to be very careful about B12. Apparently many people don't absorb it well from a multivitamin pill.
As a kid I DESPISED meat and have always had my parents force it down my throat. As an adult, I don't deal with it anymore and now take pleasure in eating. Good riddance, as far as I'm concerned.
I pretty much stopped eating pasta and wheat, potatoes and most root vegetables because too much starch. It was hard to do because both figure very prominently in daily ethnic cooking. Once in a while, I'll eat pasta with olive oil and roasted garlic.
What was wrong with him?? In some conditions, a fatty diet is beneficial.
There are essential fatty acids and other nutrients that just aren't available from non-animal products, and others which are only available as synthetic supplements which 1) many extreme "natural" diet people won't use either, and 2) sort of neutralize any claims that this is natural way for people to eat. The specifics vary somewhat by ethnic background -- certain people of scandinavian and Inuit descent simply cannot synthesize the essential fatty acids found in fish, while other people can (fairly recently, a DHA supplement made from algae, which is where the fish get it from, has been introduced, but it comes in a gelatin capsule, so extremists won't take it). Other groups simply need more or are able to synthesize less of various essentials (ethnic Africans living in non-tropical climates have serious vitamin D issues, for example). Vitamin B12 is an issue for all people, though synthetic supplements can do the trick.
agreed... good digestion and elimination is one of the benefits of the diet.
The Beacon-Journal? I hate that liberal rag.
Actually, the way I read the article, it seems like they are trying to say that these parents appear to be doing good things like home-schooling. They state that the children seem well spoken and well educated, that the house was clean and orderly and that there was a variety of good food available to eat in the house. The malnourishment seemed odd for parents who seemed otherwise very conscientious.
homemade sauce is the BEST :-)
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