SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - It feels like we are seeing more horrific child abuse homicides cases in Utah, but the stats reflect that we are not.
Dr. Doug Goldsmith is a child psychologist who spends his days working with many abused children.
Goldsmith says, “we are certainly seeing an increase in the number of referrals for children struggling with trauma”.
Sometimes as many as 30 referrals a week, but those children survived, while others have not.
On Tuesday, Angeles Cadillo Castro and Gerardo Jesus Espindola-Olvera were booked into jail on suspicious of child abuse homicide after their 5 year old daughter went into cardiac arrest and died.
Last month in Kearns, police say 4 year old Vanessa Hart was killed by her father and his pregnant girlfriend..
In may, Ethan Stacey was beaten which led to his death and his body desecrated. Investigators say it happened when he came to Utah to spend the summer with his mother and her new fiance’, Nathan Sloop.
Jewell Hendricks sits behind bars since January. She is a mother accused of smothering her infant son, a twin, after detectives say she didn’t want to take care of two babies.
An expert with the health department says they aren’t seeing more child abuse homicides this year compared with other years, but what they are seeing is the victims are getting older.
“What you are seeing is patterns of injuries over time. It’s a child living in a violent situation for a long period of time,” says Teresa Brechlin, with the State Department of Health.
“Being killed by parents is the #1 cause of death in young childhood,” says Dr. Goldsmith
And that has him working harder to try and help those children trapped in violent homes.
Dr. Goldsmith says parents who feel overwhelmed can drop them children off at the Crisis Nursery, 777 W Center, Midvale, as a temporary solution until things calm down at home.
