Parker Jensen Case Parents Rights Overstepped
Twelve-year-old Parker Jensen developed a small lump under the tongue, which was removed surgically. Pathological lab work determined the lump was malignant (Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer) and Parker’s doctor insisted the boy be subjected to chemotherapy. When the parents, Daren H. and Barbara, resisted, and tried to seek second opinions, expressing a desire to consider alternative therapies to chemo, the doctor filed a complaint to the state division of Child and Family Services who moved rapidly to take custody of the child from the parents. The parents fled the state rather than submit to this derogation. The state, in turn, charged the parents with kidnapping and involved the FBI, who quickly tracked down the parents in Idaho and arrested Mr. Jensen, (Salt Lake Tribune, 2003). After looking at the Colorado Revised Statutes (2001), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the various U. ... Supreme Court cases and legislative efforts in class, the actions of the of the community (represented by social service agencies and the court) have not been reasonable in the decisions that have led up to the point in this case so far.