Lawmakers to aid parents

Lawmakers who say the child welfare system is a mean-spirited bully picking on parents are crafting a number of legislative measures to back the state Division of Child and Family Services into a corner.

Specifically, angry lawmakers want to introduce bills that would require DCFS to give more weight to parents' rights, restraining a system they say punishes people when their only "crime" may be poverty.

"The biggest problem is, DCFS is totally ignoring parents' rights," says Sen. Parley Hellewell, R-Orem. Hellewell, who is also a gubernatorial candidate, said he's been meeting with DCFS workers as well as with bitter parents who feel the agency goes too far too often in cases that are frivolous.

"We plan to get the message out, get people involved, and we are going to change some things this year," Hellewell said.

His concerns, however, may not reflect the general attitude of most Utahns.

A Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll by Dan Jones & Associates showed the majority of residents believe the state has "adequate" authority to remove children from homes when it believes abuse or neglect has occurred.

The poll tapped 408 households statewide Dec. 27, 2003, to Jan. 3, 2004, and found that 55 percent of those surveyed said state power is adequate. That compares to 28 percent who believe it exercises too much authority when children are removed. Nine percent of those surveyed said they believed the state does not have enough authority, while 7 percent responded "don't know."

The error of margin is plus or minus 5 percent.

Hellewell said he is not dissuaded by the poll results.

"You've got those results because the people have not heard all the horror stories I have heard," he said.

Hellewell is among several legislators planning to introduce legislation that is, in part, a fallout from the Parker Jensen controversy this past summer. The boy's parents fled the state with him to avoid a doctor's diagnosis of a rare form of cancer and his recommendation that the 12-year-old receive chemotherapy.

The state charged the couple with kidnapping and also sought custody. The case garnered national attention, pitting advocates of parents' rights against the child welfare system. Although the state eventually backed off, critics say the case is just a snapshot of a larger picture depicting a government system out of control.

Spurred by the Jensen case, Sen. David Thomas, R-South Weber, is running SB90. The legislation would not permit health care decisions made by competent parents to be considered severe child abuse or neglect.