Parental-rights measure advances to full House

Daren Jensen, the father who stood up to the state's child welfare system this past summer by refusing prescribed medical treatment for his son, told lawmakers Thursday that a bill now before them would have saved his family a lot of grief.

Jensen's testimony preceded the House Judiciary Committee's decision to send to the floor HB266, a 79-page bill that invokes substantial changes in how the state Division of Child and Family Services interacts with families.

"This would have gone a long way toward protecting our family and the situation we went through," Jensen told the committee. "While we are together as a family, there are others who could use your support."

The Jensens became the focus of a national controversy after refusing to seek chemotherapy for their son, who had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. The state sought custody to force treatment but eventually abandoned the effort to intervene.

Afterward, young Parker Jensen was beaming and said he was glad the bill had passed committee scrutiny.

Sponsored by Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, the proposal demands a higher evidentiary standard in child welfare cases before the court, including proof beyond a reasonable doubt when the state seeks to terminate parental custody.

In addition, the measure allows for reasonable discipline — including unintentional incidents — and puts outside the realm of neglect the majority of decisions made by parents who elect not to provide specified medical treatment, including mental health treatment.

Harper, in response to his critics, spent substantial time rewriting the bill in the last day due to concerns by the Attorney General's Office and DCFS.

Alain Balmanno, assistant attorney general, said those revisions satisfied concerns that the state would be in jeopardy of violating the mandates of federal oversight of the state's child welfare system but added, "Is this a good bill? No. It stinks. It does not protect the children of Utah."

Rep. Susan Lawrence, R-East Millcreek, has said from the outset that she has concerns regarding the ramifications of the bill because it is so all-encompassing.

While acknowledging many of Harper's changes relieved some of her concerns, she still pressed to delay passage.

"This is a big piece of legislation with a lot of great changes that are very needed and very helpful. While we have come a long way, I don't feel we are quite there."