SALT LAKE CITY -- Holt Elementary School provided one of the first school choirs to sing before Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. The 70-plus-voice group sang during an awards presentation of the Utah Child Abuse Prevention Task Force Thursday at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City. Directed by Julie Ray and Cindy Szymanski. Ray's husband, Paul, is a member of the State House of Representatives from Clinton.

The session, "A Celebration of Utah's Children and Families," heralded launching of the Utah Healthy Families -- Safe Kids Action Plan.

Goals of the plan include protecting children from preventable harmful experiences that result from abuse or neglect; informing parents, especially new ones, how to provide safe and healthy formative years for their children. Also, it's intended that all communities are responding with early supportive services for successful parenting and healthy childhood development; increased means are made available to provide healthy environments for children from resources once spent on the results of child abuse and neglect.

Sharon Anderson, executive director of the Family Connection Center (FCC), is a task force member. As part of monthly meetings of the group, she gave an overview of family support centers, of which FCC is a part.

"I told of the importance the centers play in providing prevention services to families in our state," she said. "Because our culture is changing so dramatically as a result of our economics, if it's a two-parent family, it's common for both parents to work. Also, the divorce rate being so high, we have lots of single-parent families who need support.

"The other factor is we have a lot of families living in Utah that do not have a larger nuclear family to support them. If they do, they've (often) used up all the good will" in gaining help, Anderson said.

"The family support centers are truly a place for people to turn to get help when they're just at the end of their rope. We're just one of those vital pieces in a network that provides a safety net for families."

"It's been a worthwhile task force," said County Commission Chairman Carol Page, who is a member. She is also involved with many related efforts, such as the Children's Justice Center and Community of Promise.

"It was really worth our time to hear from the experts, about what's happened nationally," she said.

Among findings released at the conference were a one-third increase in child abuse cases in Utah, 2000-2003; a 14.2 supported child victims per thousand children in 2002 vs. 12.3 nationally.

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com