UTAH News

LAYTON -- Top of Utah Community members are planning to take action
for Ethan Stacy.
On Saturday, residents from Weber and Davis Counties
plan to walk 10 miles through Layton, Kaysville and Farmington to
honor Ethan and bring awareness to child abuse.
Ethan's body was found May 11 near Powder Mountain when authorities
where searching the missing boy.
His mother, Stephanie Sloop, 27, and his stepfather, Nathanael Sloop,
31, are being held in the Davis County Jail awaiting formal charges to
be filed in connection with his death.
The awareness walk will begin at 9 a.m. at the Layton Meadow
Apartments, 540 W. 1425 North, and will finish at the Davis County Jail
at 800 West State Street in Farmington.
"We just felt like we had to do something," said Danilyn Hansen, an
Ogden resident who is helping organize the walk.
Hansen said everyone is invited to participate in
the walk and donations will be accepted for the Ethan Stacy Memorial Fund.
"We want as many people as possible to come," Hansen said. "If
you want to donate to the fund you can, if you don't that's fine
too. We just want people there."
Hansen said organizers are recommending participants wear white
T-shirts as a sign of solidarity.

A weakened economy may be to blame for a rise in the number of shaken
baby syndrome and abusive head trauma cases, according to a new study
presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting in May.


The study, conducted at the Children's
Hospital of Pittsburgh and headed by Dr. Rachel Berger, assistant
professor of pediatrics, shows the additional stress on families during
the economic downturn may cause parents to unintentionally injure their
babies, according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome located
in Ogden.


According to the center, Berger's study shows
the number of shaken baby syndrome cases rose from 4.8 per month in
December 2007, the start of the recession, to 9.3 per month since that
date. In the study, 63 percent of the 512 cases of abusive head trauma
from the four hospitals evaluated resulted in the child being admitted
to a pediatric intensive care unit. Sixteen percent resulted in death.


Brian Lopez, marketing director for the
National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, said the study is especially
important to the state with the highest birth rate — Utah.


"Utah is well-known for being family-friendly
and hungry for information that can lead to better care for their
children," Lopez said.One of the center's programs, the Period of PURPLE Crying, was
created in 2002 and first implemented in 2007 after three years of
testing, he said.

The goal of the program
is to help educate parents about the period of PURPLE crying, a
developmental stage all infants experience, by distributing free
10-minute DVDs and 11-page informational booklets to new parents.

During this normal
developmental stage, an infant may cry for up to five hours without
cause, Lopez said. This stage begins when the newborn is 2 weeks old and
ends when he or she is 4-5 months old.

Dr. Ronald Barr, a
developmental pediatrician, came up with the PURPLE acronym, which
stands for: peak of crying, unexpected, resists soothing, pain-like
face, long lasting and evening.

According to the National
Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, the acronym is supposed to help parents
realize the baby's crying will increase over time, come and go
sporadically, continue despite the parents' attempts to soothe the
child, create the impression of pain when there is none, last five or
more hours per day and peak in the evening when the parents are more
likely to be tired.

"The program creates an
easy way for parents and caregivers to understand the normalcy of early
infant crying through the use of the PURPLE acronym," Lopez said. "This
information gives parents realistic expectations of crying as it
pertains to a new infant."

Utah was the first state
to implement a statewide PURPLE program. As of 2009, all birthing
hospitals in Utah have the program, Lopez said.

Since its creation, the
PURPLE program has spread to 289 hospitals and organizations and is now
present in 45 states.

"It's important for
people to share the PURPLE message with parents and caregivers of new
babies," Lopez said. "We ask that people take an easy, online pledge
promising to talk to anyone who cares for a baby about the Period of
PURPLE Crying."

To take the pledge or for
more information visit www.purplecrying.info.

Stand up for the Ethan Stacys in our midst

By Lorie D. Frasier

L
Lori Frasier works for Primary Children's Medical Centers' Center for Safe and Healthy Families
assessing child abuse victims. She is also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah.


All of Utah and the nation are stunned
by the horrific events that have unfolded in the death of Ethan Stacy.
As a child-abuse pediatrician for more than 20 years, I too was angered,
saddened and confused by the story.
For two decades, I have stood at the bedsides of battered and dying
children, attended their autopsies and reviewed their deaths. I have
comforted children and their parents during rape evaluations. I have
testified in courtrooms about physical injuries that made jurors shudder.
Ethan is not the first child I have known about whose final days
could only be described as torturous. His unfathomable end brings to
memory that of Shelby Andrews, who also died after days and weeks of
torture and abuse.
Ethan is the child who is now in our minds and hearts. What happened
in that Layton home is unfathomable.
Ethan's death, however, should serve as a reminder of the other
nearly 1,000 Utah children each month who are found to be abused at the
hands of a parent or caregiver. Child abuse is a pervasive problem in
our so-called civilized society. We have not yet figured out how to
protect the smallest and most vulnerable of our citizens from its ravages.
Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
demonstrated that adverse childhood experiences lead to high-risk
behaviors -- drug abuse, over-eating, sexual promiscuity, depression,
suicide --- in adulthood by victims who suffered physical and sexual
abuse, witnessed domestic violence, were abandoned by a parent or
experienced other traumas.
Our prisons and psychiatric wards are filled with a high proportion
of adults who suffered serious abuses in childhood. Billions of dollars
are spent each year on the effects in adults that are related to such
terrible childhood experiences.
Yet funding for child abuse prevention efforts is miniscule compared
to research into many other diseases that affect society. Prevention
has become an elusive goal. What is required is a change in the very
core of our society. Investigation of child abuse, and the arrest and
incarceration of perpetrators of horrific crimes, is needed.
The law that was passed after Shelby Andrews' death, which allows
the charge of aggravated homicide in such horrible abuse cases, may
appeal to our basic need for retribution. However, this does nothing for
the countless children who suffer in silence and despair every day in
our communities.
We should support the efforts to increase legal penalties for severe
abuse and neglect. But looking forward, we should ask ourselves how we
can better support children and their families who may be at risk.
One highly successful program is home visitation for new moms. It is
intensive, long-lasting and expensive.
There are also training programs for young parents and other child
caregivers on how to deal with crying babies, toilet training and
toddler defiance. These programs have become the foundation for most
prevention efforts. But they are far from reaching those who need it most.
At a broader level, there is a need for money to pay for safe and
stimulating day-care facilities and preschools that parents cannot
otherwise afford. Funding for such programs is dependent upon donations and grants.
Still, prevention of child abuse has not become a priority for our
nation. There must be health care for all children, expansion of crisis
nurseries, recognition of domestic violence and services for victims of such violence.
Ethan Stacy apparently was the victim of an unstable, easily enraged
stepfather and a mother whose maternal instincts were nonexistent. It
was a perfect storm. Although it is unlikely that most prevention
programs would have reached Ethan in this situation, his death should
serve as a reminder of the children who can be reached.
As we mourn Ethan, his face permanently etched in our hearts, we
should think of him as our own, and consider his legacy.
Let the legal system find its punishment for Ethan's killers. All
citizens can become politically active in passing legislation that
supports children and families.
Donate to organizations whose goal is prevention of child abuse.
Reach out to your neighbors who may be stressed about issues that will
impact their parenting.
Be a good neighbor, be observant, and don't be afraid to report a
case of a child who may be in danger. It is your business. Stand up for
all the children who may not yet be abused. Stand up for Ethan. Stand up for all of them.

Lori D. Frasier , a professor of pediatrics at the
University of Utah School of Medicine, is medical director for the
Medical Assessment Team at the Center for Safe and Healthy Families at
Primary Children's Medical Center.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert has nominated Palmer DePaulis as the new
head of the state's Department of Human Services.DePaulis
will replace Lisa-Michelle Church, who is leaving the department to
return to work in the private sector on July 1.Church was
appointed to head human services in 2005. The department oversees the
divisions of Aging and Adult Services, Child and Family Services,
Juvenile Justice Services, Professional Licensing, Substance Abuse and
Mental Health, People with Disabilities and the Office of Recovery
Services.DePaulis currently heads the Utah Department of
Community and Culture. He is also a former mayor of Salt Lake City.The
nomination is subject to approval by the Utah Senate.