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The Press-Enterprise has this story about a California family, still reeling from the trauma of separation by state social workers…

Kirk and Leslie Udvardi’s four children were born with serious medical conditions that resulted in more than 400 trips to the hospital. When Leslie grew frustrated at doctors’ failed attempts to diagnose her children, she turned to the internet and the Chiari Institute in Great Neck, N.Y., one of a handful of hospitals in the country that specializes in a medical condition that she feared that her children might have.  Doctors at the Institute have since confirmed that the mother’s suspicions were on-target.

But instead of welcoming this input, doctors reported the Udvardi’s to social services, suspecting that Leslie had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a mental disorder in which a parent lies about a child’s illness or inflicts injuries to get attention from doctors.  The social workers intervened, taking custody of the children while they were at school and placing them in foster care for six days, until the parents’ case went to trial.

The judge criticized the county’s expert witness and dismissed the county to have the four children permanently removed from their parents’ custody, but the family now faces a new challenge: paying off the $151,000 in legal fees spent fighting off the allegations.  Even worse, legal standards prevent the family from recouping the costs from the social workers who made the initial allegations.

“Our judicial system has become grossly iniquitous,” Leslie writes in an open letter.  “Medical professionals responsible for unbiased and honest evaluations have the power to devastate and destroy families with no legal accountability.”

In the meantime, the family is struggling to find a way to meet the costs.  “We still have the debt and the emotional scars,” eighteen year-old Samuel says. “Maybe, eventually, I will get over it, but it’s going to take some time.”

Middle-school Policy Threatens Parental Rights

King Middle School in Portland, Maine, has been making headlines as a proposal to give students access to birth control continues to move forward. The school would be the first in Maine to make a full range of contraceptive prescriptions available to students in grades 6 to 8, most of whom are between the ages of 11 and 13.

The policy, which was passed by the Portland School Committee on October 17th by a vote of 7-2, requires students to have parental permission to go to the school clinic. But once they are there, the children may receive confidential care, with no parental consent required–for anything. After conducting a physical examination, a school physician or nurse may prescribe contraceptives, including contraceptive pills, patches or injections, and the morning-after pill.

Proponents of the policy claim that schools need to address the reality that some teens are sexually active and need access to birth control. Opponents have contended that providing contraception for 14-year-olds is promoting risky behavior, and that the policy will promote excessive medicating of young people, while violating the rights of parents. Read the rest of this entry »

Indiana Mother Accused of Child Abuse for Taking her Daughter to the ER

It started as a precautionary visit to the ER after an accident on the soccer field.

When Marilyn Brown decided to take her fifteen year-old daughter, Margrette, to the emergency room two weeks ago, she didn’t think she was doing anything extraordinary. Margrette had been hurt in a collision during a soccer game, which left a mark above her eye. The athletic trainer on the field didn’t think the injury was too bad, but Marilyn decided to take her daughter to the ER at Methodist Hospital - just in case.

When they arrived, staff members at the Indianapolis hospital told Marilyn that the wait time would be about two hours. The mother and daughter waited for over four hours, with no one able to tell them how much longer it would be before they could be seen.

ACCUSED OF . . . CHILD ABUSE?

Her daughter was exhausted so Marilyn decided to take her home and see her own doctor in the morning. She couldn’t believe what happened next. Hospital officials informed Marilyn that if she removed her child from the ER, the staff would report her to Child Protective Services for suspected child abuse. Read the rest of this entry »

Children are what is at stake. Why do parents have to sign medical release forms when they play youth sports but parents are often pushed out if it involves contraceptives? A middle school up in Maine just created a policy that will allow children (as young as 11!) to obtain prescriptions for birth control medications from the school clinic without the parents knowing.

Check out Lis Wieh’s column on it. Here is an excerpt:

Here’s the kicker in my mind: the age for consent for sex in Maine is 14. So, I could certainly make the argument that by providing contraception for children as young as 11 (well below the legal age), the school and health department are complicit in statutory rape or sexual assault. That’s not just wrong … that’s criminal!

Children are vulnerable and they need their parents to protect them. Who is the ultimate loser here? Not the rights of parents but the lives of children.

Here is a video that presents the issue in terms of parental notification on abortion from a campaign in California:

When Doug and Sally Stansfield took their eight-month old son Gabriel to Morristown Memorial Hospital, they thought their son was only being treated for a bowel obstruction. Instead, they found themselves under an intense investigation by social services.

Little Gabriel was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that results in an incomplete closure of the spinal column. According to the Spina Bifida Association, spina bifida is the most frequently occurring permanently disabling birth defect, affecting approximately one out of every 1,000 newborns in the United States. There are more than 70,000 people in the United States who are living with this birth defect.

Gabriel had been previously evaluated and treated for spina bifida by a doctor at Morristown Memorial Hospital. The family also continued treatment as prescribed by their family pediatrician, with no complications. But in the midst of their most recent visit to the hospital with Gabriel, Doug and Sally were shocked to learn that an allegation of child abuse or neglect had been filed against them. Read the rest of this entry »

When Doug and Sally Stansfield took their eight-month old son Gabriel to Morristown Memorial Hospital, they thought their son was only being treated for a bowel obstruction. Instead, they found themselves under an intense investigation by social services.

Little Gabriel was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that results in an incomplete closure of the spinal column. According to the Spina Bifida Association, spina bifida is the most frequently occurring permanently disabling birth defect, affecting approximately one out of every 1,000 newborns in the United States. There are more than 70,000 people in the United States who are living with this birth defect.

Gabriel had been previously evaluated and treated for spina bifida by a doctor at Morristown Memorial Hospital. The family also continued treatment as prescribed by their family pediatrician, with no complications. But in the midst of their most recent visit to the hospital with Gabriel, Doug and Sally were shocked to learn that an allegation of child abuse or neglect had been filed against them.

A FRIGHTFUL HOME VISIT

Hospital officials informed the parents of the complaint as a way of explaining why they were refusing to release Gabriel to his parents after his visit. Shortly thereafter, a social worker and uniformed police officers appeared on the family’s doorstep, demanding admittance to interview Gabriel’s six siblings about the condition of their baby brother–without the presence of their parents.

The Stansfields refused, pointing out Gabriel had been treated for his bowel obstruction, was in good health, and was ready to be discharged from the hospital. When the social worker persisted, the parents agreed to allow their children to be interviewed, as long as their lawyer could be present and would have the authority to stop the interview. The social workers eventually backed down from this heavy-handed demand.

PRISONER OF THE STATE

After the social worker and police had left, the Stansfields called the hospital and were told that the staff had been informed of the situation. Hospital officials warned the couple that social services was planning to stop them from bringing Gabriel home, even though he was being discharged.

The Stansfields immediately directed the hospital to prevent the physician they suspected of generating the complaint from giving Gabriel any further treatment. Instead, they were informed that their parental rights had been terminated. The Stansfields went straight to the hospital, accompanied by their attorney, and asked to see the court order terminating their parental rights. The hospital had no court order, but did have a state social services form that allows children to be evaluated for three days. Even though they did not have the proper court order, the hospital consistently refused to release Gabriel to his parents.

HOMECOMING

Last Thursday, the Stansfields finally brought eight-month old Gabriel home, after a four-hour conference with social workers. The father, Doug, was overjoyed at the return of his son, but also expressed anger and frustration at the actions of social services in this case. “A doctor that doesn’t know my family at all and has never met them or been to my house can make one phone call which will cause this much harassment,” he told WorldNetDaily. Such a case “is outrageous and shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”

WHO DECIDES?

While the information and opinions expressed by physicians certainly help parents decide how best to treat their child, the role of primary decision-maker should be lodged first and foremost in the parent. Unfortunately, the Stansfields’ situation highlights a growing tendency among government and social service officials to second-guess the decisions that parents make for their children, and even to substitute their own judgments for those of the parents.

Action is needed if we are to protect the right of parents to make decisions concerning the upbringing and medical treatment of their children. Join with us by encouraging your friends to get involved in the battle to protect parental rights. Forward this email to your friends, and encourage them to join the campaign today and sign the petition at www.parentalrights.org/petition.

SOURCES

Baby Ordered Held by Social Services Returned to Family
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58197

Spina Bifida Association
www.sbaa.org