The state’s decision to drop charges is not the end to this families long ordeal with justice. The controversy continues.
In August, the Jensen’s were accused by the state Division of Child and Family Services of kidnapping their 12-year-old son Parker to keep him from getting chemotherapy.
It’s doubtful we have heard the last word on this case, the Utah Legislature may consider taking up this issue in January, in the form of proposals restricting the state’s child protection agency. Something parental rights advocates have been demanding for several years.
During a rally on behalf of the Jensen family, Representative’s LaVar Christensen (R-Sandy) and Michael J.S. Thompson (R-Orem), urged those attending to get involved and help change the child welfare system when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Spreading their message of parents’ rights and responsibilities, Daren and Barbara Jensen spoke at the Dixie Republican Forum on Tuesday at the Fairway Grill in St. George.
The Jensens have received hundreds of calls and e-mails from people with similar stories. Cases like theirs occur every day but many people don’t have the resources to fight the various state agencies involved.
Mr. & Mrs. Jensen’s best advice for those fighting similar battles: “don’t get an attorney who lives or works in the district where you’re going to court” and “get a woman.”
Citation issued
Once again the Jensen’s are being targeted by the State of Utah. This time by the Division of Consumer Protection, they have cited the Parker Jensen’s family members for setting up a medical-care donation fund but failing to file proper paperwork making it legal, in violation of the state’s Charitable Solicitations Act.
The citation was issued Monday after several attempts to reach Tracy Jensen, the family member in charge of the account, were unsuccessful, division director Francine Giani said. If the matter is not settled in the next 10 days, the citation could result in fines of between $500 and $10,000 for the Jensen’s who spent the summer locked in a custody battle for their son with the state.
On Wednesday, Parker’s family members called her office to say the fund, which they said contained some $6,400, had been closed. Giani said she had not verified the amount with Zions Bank as of Wednesday afternoon.
More details on the Jensen’s can be located in the sidebar of this article. It’s apparent, at least to this author that officials in the State of Utah, have too much time on their hands. Hasn’t this family been through enough?
Please take a few moments to contact Utah Legislators and request an investigation and that parental rights protections be made part of the legislative agenda.
Jensen Family Under Attack
Updated: September 27, 2003
By Annette M. Hall
©2003 ReliableAnswers.com
The Jensen’s find themselves back in court October 2, for a status hearing in the 3rd District Court in answer to kidnapping charges filed by the state Utah.
The family remains steadfast in their fight for their son despite being threatened with a lengthy jail sentence.
In a recent statement Mollie McDonald, Guardian Ad Litem said, “If you believed that someone else’s child was going to die without your intervention, how many of you would feel okay about walking away and doing nothing?”
Doctors continue to push for chemotherapy despite the fact that 12-year-old Parker shows no signs of cancer and his parents have chosen other, less invasive, treatment for their weary son.
In defense of her position that chemo is required for Parker, the Guardian Ad Litem, who’s job it is to advocate in the child’s best interest, has reduced the child to a statistic in which she states, “Prior to the time that chemotherapy was used to treat Ewing sarcoma and the tumor was just surgically removed 90 percent of those children died within five years.”
These parents have a child whom they love and has been terribly ill. Any parent who has ever spent a single night caring for a sick child knows the heart break and pain that comes with administrating treatment. It can be torture for the parent and the child.
Chemotherapy Controversy
According to A Pharmaceutical Sales Representative, “All chemotherapy drugs are potent. Their side effects are numerous. All drugs, poisons, radiation and trauma (such as surgery) inevitably damage and debilitate too many normal cells and organs. They undermine and destroy our immunity and our abilities to resist disease, our health and natural healing abilities.” It’s certain that the Jensen family understands this and has chosen other less controversial treatment for their beloved son.
This case could have far reaching impact on families nationwide. Now is the time for parents to speak out against overzealous state workers bent on destroying parental authority.
The sacred trust between a parent and child must not be broken, it is a vital component in any loving family.
The state of Utah would have us believe that they, and a handful of well-meaning doctors, know best; That they have the right and the power to decide this child, in fact, every child’s fate. We must take this opportunity to send a clear message that parents have the God given authority and responsibility for the care and control of our children.
Utah Family on the Run
Updated: September 6, 2003
By Annette M. Hall
©2003 ReliableAnswers.com
Daren and Barbara Jensen agreed Friday to get treatment for Parker if a new physician assigned to diagnose their son recommends it.
The agreement was reached during a juvenile court hearing, offering only partial resolution of Daren and Barbara Jensen’s fierce custody battle with Utah child-welfare authorities regarding their 12-year-old son, Parker.
The parents still face kidnapping charges for attempting to obtain alternative treatment for their son in defiance of a Utah court order demanding the start of controversial chemotherapy sessions on Aug. 8.
Hundreds of supporters rallied Thursday at the Utah Capitol for the family fighting the state over chemotherapy for a 12-year-old boy as negotiations resumed to bring the family out of exile in Idaho.
Capitol lobbyist Gayle Ruzicka, the head of Utah’s Eagle Forum, had this to say, “Real child abuse is when the state takes children away from loving mothers and fathers.”
State Rep. LaVar Christensen, has pledged to reassess Utah child-welfare laws and assailed the power of government and “state-endorsed science.”
Rep. Mike Thompson, has also pledged his support for much needed legal reform in the area of child-welfare laws.
Two legislators will not turn the tidal wave that has swept across this nation, destroying families in it’s wake.
As parental rights organizations are gearing up for conflict across the country, it’s anyone’s guess what the outcome will be. One thing is for certain parents have had enough of our “nanny government” and are fighting back. From Maine to Oregon the battle rages on.
Those who have been harmed by overzealous “Child Protection” workers and governmental interference are urged to speak up.
Write a letter or send a fax
State groups are being formed and united in this fight against intrusive state policies, with billions of federal dollars on the line. You are urged to join forces with your state organization, then contact your representatives and demand that these illegal and immoral practices end.
While the Jensen’s case is played out in the media, hundreds of thousands of families are waging similar battles against an entrenched system bent on destruction of the family unit. Children are being harmed in record numbers as parents are financially ruined, in a seemingly endless battle to save their children.
Annette M. Hall
Where does the state end and the family begin?
Posted: August 25, 2003
By Annette M. Hall
©2003 ReliableAnswers.com
In yet another case recently reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, parents are pitted against the state.
A manhunt is underway for the parents of a 12-year-old diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a potentially fatal form of bone cancer. Authorities are following up leads in Utah, Idaho and Texas.
The crime, “Refusal of treatment.”
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the prosecutors claim the Jensen’s had refused to have their son undergo chemotherapy because it can cause growth problems and infertility.
Judge Robert S. Yeates issued a gag order in the case preventing the truth from being reported, while authorities pursue the parents who could be spending this time caring for their ill child.
The Jensen’s and their five children first sought refuge at the home of Barbara Jensen’s father, Henry West, in Pocatello, Idaho, in violation of an August 8th court order giving the state custody of the child. Dr. West is a chiropractor and alternative medicine practitioner.
The Jensens had planned to take the boy to Houston for a clinical trial for antineoplaston therapy, an alternative cancer treatment.
Utah authorities filed one count of child kidnapping on August 15th against both parents, Daren and Barbara Jensen. The charge is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to life in prison.
James Hollingsworth, a chiropractor from Boise, Idaho, described Henry West as “an expert in alternative medicine.”
“He knows a lot about homeopathy,” he said. “And he probably is one of the most brilliant chiropractors in the Western United States.”
Parents Targeted
Parents are increasingly being targeted by overzealous prosecutors and those who claim to know best how to raise and care for children.
The problem with them is their focus and outright pandering to government services and businesses at the expense of the parents themselves, which effectively prevents a parent from doing what they feel is best for their child.
Until you are a parent, it’s impossible to know how it feels to be rendered helpless. To watch your child suffer in pain and not be able to “fix it”.
Given the choice shouldn’t parents give priority to making a child’s last days happy and comfortable, instead of enduring more tests, and painful “therapies” in a cold uncaring environment of a hospital?
Does the state have to face that child who asks why? Does the state walk the floors at night in anguish? Does the state have a compelling interest in these cases?
More and more parents today don’t think so.
This is not an isolated case by far. Families are under attack and had better wake up and soon.
In everything from education to medicine, citizens are waking up to realize that they are being sold a bill a goods. Just as public education has been found wanting in quality and substance, leading many families to choose homeschooling alternatives.
Most families now realize that practicing physicians are doing just that “practicing” medicine. Alternative medical treatment is once again mainstream, to all but the most religious supporters of allopathic medicine. Alternative treatments are recognized as being simple, inexpensive, therapies.
Prominent Dr. Seeks Alternative
Dr. Lorraine Day rejected standard therapies of her breast cancer because of their destructive side effects and because those therapies often lead to death. She chose instead to rebuild her immune system using the natural, simple inexpensive therapies designed by God and available to everyone, so her body could heal itself.
Do judges have the right to play God?
The judge in this case, Robert S. Yeates, has a master’s degree in social work and a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Yeates worked as a prosecutor with the Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office and served as a Division Chief with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office. Judge Yeates presently serves as a member of the Utah State Sentencing Commission.
We have to ask ourselves why a judge with his background would sit on a Juvenile Court bench?
Judge Robert S. Yeates can be reached at (801) 238-7755
