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
"Vegans can't be expected to think straight -- they are nuturitionally deprived. Their brains simply are not getting the nutriton they need to think. "
I would suspect vitamin B-12 deficiencies.
That's a very specific genetic disorder, in which even tradiional staples of vegan diets, like beans and peas, will result in mental retardation, seizures, etc. I don't doubt that affected individuals are healthier if they don't eat any animal products, than if they did (though probably not as healthy as if they didn't have the disorder, and could eat normally). I'd be really surprised if your daughter isn't getting regular dietary supplements of some kind, of synthetic and/or animal origin.
There are plenty of vegetarians who are Republicans. While most I know aren't vegans but lacto-ovo vegetarians (myself included), you don't have to be a whacko lib to live without meat.
I was brought up Seventh-day Adventist, a fairly conservative religion that advocates good health practices, including no alcohol, smoking, preferably no meat.
I can't stand the stuff myself, having been brought up in an SDA ghetto where it wasn't really served anywhere. I made sure my kids like it, though I don't cook it at home, however.
As for the vegans, the few of those I know are more religious fanatics than hippy-lib types. If they vote at all they vote conservative.
A nice tender piece of rib eye steak is pretty easy for a 3 year old to chew up. :)
She is.She has to drink a "phe" free formula.It's synthetic.
You'd be surprised how healthy these two are.She's consistantly on A-B honor roll attending private school,also.
There are healthy ways to eat meat and to not eat it.
Agreed entirely. My husband took most of his masters degree in nutrition (prior to dental school) at Loma Linda University. They prefer the vegetarian lifestyle, and there are ways to get the necessary nutrients through combined proteins, but in general adopting a vegan attitude for children (particularly with the poorly educated) is almost as bad an idea as putting your 2yo on the Atkins diet.
Wanna bet on it?
And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years -- Genesis 25:7
And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. -- Deut. 34:7
Shall I go on?
Not while in my house they won't :-)
"Kimu and Blair"
A lot of times the names tell you everything you need to know.
Reminds me of the group that tries to save *endangered lawn grasses* from mowers by human blockades. Operation Fescue.
I knew a lady in my old neighborhood who's family lived in Africa during her childhood, so she was used to living as a vegetarian. She was actually a very large woman.
Correction noted.
ah but they will wear leather and suede. that is truly ironic to me.
"Yet Bailey said the couple "weren’t consciously starving their kids."
I understand that. But how does that make this situation any less child abuse?
you can raise vegan kids....lots of indian folks do it all the time. ug. i am a meat eater but i think you should include protein in the form of dairy, eggs, cheese, beans. these folks were just plain abusive if they had skinny kids.
not just vegans too but i used to have an acquaintance who was a zealous athlete and a NO FAT freak. i can remember her 9 year old daughter coming home late at night from gymnastics and she would give her plain pasta to eat. plain.
one way of treating this illness, is by eating lots of meat
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.