House OKs 'parental rights' measures

A number of legislative proposals that will carve out changes in the state's child welfare system are marching through the session, with two measures receiving recent House approval.

In action Friday, lawmakers unanimously endorsed HB268 by Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Orem, a measure described as "warm and fuzzy" because it has elicited the support of both sides in the debate on child welfare changes.

"What to me makes this a good bill is that it took all the parties who have a vested interest in the state child welfare system and found common ground," said Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, the lawmaker who gave the measure its friendly moniker.

"This improves the system in a way that maintains that balance," between protecting children and preserving parental rights, he said.

Specifically, the measure calls for the state Division of Child and Family Services to accommodate religious, cultural and moral beliefs of parents and children when it makes decisions, a practice the division says it is already doing.

The proposal also prohibits the ability of the juvenile court to remove a child from parental custody based solely on a parent's disability and expands membership in a child protection team to include representatives of parents.

That bill received a warmer reception, however, than a more sweeping piece of legislation that nevertheless passed the House Thursday.

HB266 by Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, now goes to the Senate after a 43-29 vote.

"Bad things are happening to children and families," Harper said, urging support for the bill he says will give more rights to parents.

One caveat to the passage was that the bill, if it survives in the Senate, does not have an effective date until 2005, which gives lawmakers and state agencies a chance to rethink their actions to implement the law's requirements.

One of more than two dozen proposals this session to tackle changes in the state's child welfare system, HB266 is considered to be one of the most aggressive, invoking a number of public policy shifts that will affect how the system deals with alleged instances of abuse, neglect and dependency.

The measure, among other things, proposes to establish latitude for parents when they make medical decisions on behalf of their children or discipline their children, and makes the state's role "secondary" to parents when it comes to the welfare of the child.