Like tens of thousands of Utah parents, the Scribners can't afford health insurance for their children.

Scribner joined parents, political leaders, Real Salt Lake soccer players, Utah's first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman and others at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Tuesday to kick off a weeklong campaign reminding families that help is available.

Roughly 70,000 of Utah's more than 760,000 children are uninsured, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study released Tuesday to coincide with the national campaign. But many of these kids - seven in 10 nationally - are eligible for coverage through Medicaid or Utah's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Advocates for the poor say some people don't know these programs exist, and parents in working families might assume they earn too much to qualify. Also at fault, they argue, are the state Health Department's outdated public awareness efforts.

CHIP had been at capacity - covering 28,000 children - since December 2001. But an extra $3.3 million in legislative appropriations, matched by $40.7 million in federal money, raised the cap this year by 12,000 slots, to 40,000.

The state has registered about 5,500 new applications for CHIP since it started accepting them on July 1. But a month into screening the forms, enrollment hasn't budged.

Utah Health Department officials explain that due to natural turnover, about 2,000 have dropped out.

The slow pace is apparently what led at least one lawmaker to pull Health Director David Sundwall aside and ask whether the state's investment was wise.

But CHIP director Mike Hales argues the intent was to keep the program open for as long as possible, so parents in crisis don't have to wait nine months between enrollment windows to obtain coverage.

"We always expected sustained growth, rather than a blitz of children," said Hales.

Also, still being screened are 3,000 applications for 6,465 children.

The average acceptance rate has been 60 percent, though that is likely to slow to 50 percent as eligibility workers move through the least-complicated forms first, said Hales.

By year's end, Hales anticipates filling 35,000 slots.

Low-income advocates are loath to be too critical, citing the agency's $184,000 promotions budget as insufficient.

But Judi Hilman, health policy analyst at Utah Issues, argues for a more targeted approach to reaching families, especially Latinos, who have the highest uninsured rates in the state.

Though more complex and probably more expensive, reaching families via direct mailings or door-to-door campaigns would pay off "when you consider the value of CHIP in terms of preventing more expensive hospitalizations and helping kids do well in school," said Hilman.

Hilman also wants state officials to do more follow-up with children who drop out of the program to determine why. It could be that they can't afford the co-pays or don't know they are eligible to stay enrolled, she said.

So far this year, the health department has promoted CHIP mostly through TV and radio ads.

Almost three quarters of the budget was spent on primetime TV ads broadcast by the major networks. The rest went to paid public service announcements on rural and Latino radio and TV stations and to cover private advertisement agency fees.

Groups such as Utah Children also are working with public schools to spread the word, targeting regions with high minority populations, such as Salt Lake City and Granite School Districts.

All three of Scribner's children have asthma - but now, they also have coverage under CHIP.

''It gives us peace of mind,'' she said. ''It was scary [without coverage] when your kids came to you hurt and crying and all you could do was think, 'Oh no, I hope it's nothing major.' ''

Who is eligible?

Children must qualify based on family size and household income. A family of four earning up to $38,700 a year may be eligible. Children also must be younger than 19 and U.S. citizens or legal residents.

How to apply?

Parents can call toll-free 877-KIDS-NOW to determine eligibility. Applications are accepted by mail or in person at the state Health Department. Eligibility workers will be at the Real Salt Lake vs. Chivas USA soccer match Saturday at the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium.