Does bill endanger children?

A legislative bill attempting to clarify parental rights would negate decades of progress in child-abuse prevention and could ultimately result in a child death, advocates for children say.

Rep. Wayne Harper, R—West Jordan, introduced a 97-page child-welfare reform bill into the Utah Legislature this month. His attempt at massive overhaul did not pass in 2004 after numerous amendments. The House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee will hear HB202 Wednesday at 8 a.m.

Richard Anderson, director of the state Division of Child and Family Services, is wary of the proposed legislation because it could "open the door" to more child abuse and "maybe even children dying."

Harper says parents have the right to discipline their children. He lists in the bill what constitutes abuse, neglect, severe abuse, sexual abuse, "so that people have a clear standard for what they have the right to do or cannot do in taking care of their children."

The legislation redefines abuse. Children would have to suffer actual harm or be at imminent risk before the state could intervene. It also incorporates a criminal element that could make it more difficult for state welfare agencies to provide family services or child protection.

"This sets back the progress in the area of child-abuse prevention more than 30 years and leaves many abused and neglected children beyond reach for help," according to Voices for Utah Children, a child advocacy group.

Harper said parents' rights have eroded the past 10 or 15 years. "I'm trying to swing the pendulum back to where everybody has an equal basis, so families are protected and children at risk are removed and taken care of properly."

At least one child has died in the past five years after the state Division of Child and Family Services erred on the side of the parent.

In 2001, DCFS did not remove 6-month-old Nathan Scheer from his home despite obvious signs of neglect and abuse.

Child welfare workers were told that Jennifer Robinson suffered from schizophrenia and did not care for herself or her son. The baby had head lice and an inability to focus his eyes on people, according to a Utah Department of Human Services Child Fatality Review Committee summary report.

The committee — composed of representatives from state agencies, including the Attorney General's Office, guardian ad litem, DCFS and education — reviews the deaths of all children whose families received DCFS services within a year of the fatality.

Robinson's mother also told child welfare workers she feared for her grandson's safety because Robinson becomes "hostile, violent, cannot control her behaviors and cannot care for her baby."