The following article appeared in the Contra Costa Times on 9/2/95. 
-- Contra Costa County, California
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                COUNTY TAKES TOT FROM MOM FOR TREATMENT
                           By Robert Burnson
Child welfare officials removed a 6-year-old boy from his home in Byron 
this week after his mother refused chemotherapy treatment for his cancer, 
wanting instead to continue his herbal therapy.
        
A sheriff's deputy and Child Protective Services worker took Adrian 
Chavez from his mother on Thursday night and told her they were placing 
him in a foster home, said the boy's grandfather, Luis Duarte of Byron.
"She was like crazy," Duarte said, "She even kneeled to the police and 
said, 'Please don't take him!' "
        
A phone conversation earlier in the day apparently sparked the boy's 
removal.       
A physician called the boy's mother to tell her to bring her son to 
Children's Hospital Oakland on Friday for his scheduled chemotherapy,
Duarte said.
        
His mother, 27-year-old Elena Duarte, refused and threatened to run away 
with him, Duarte said.
      
"She just got scared," he said.
A few hours later, the sheriff's deputy and social worker were at her 
door.
The boy has had leukemia for two years but it had been in remission until 
about six months ago, the grandfather said.
        
Physicians at Children's Hospital were treating him with additional 
chemotherapy, but the boy's white blood cell continued to rise.
        
About a month ago, the distraught mother started taking him to Modesto 
to be treated by a "curandera," a healer who uses herbs to treat 
diseases, the grandfather said.
        
She is one of those doctors that just looks at your eyes and can tell 
you what's wrong."
        
The mother wanted to continue the herbal treatments, rather than subject 
the boy to more of the sometimes painful medical treatments, the 
grandfather said.  But the boy's doctors felt it was imperative that he
continue.
        
His mother offered Thursday to bring the boy in for chemotherapy in a 
week, the grandfather said.  But the physician said that wasn't soon 
enough.
The boy was treated at Children's Hospital on Friday and was to remain
there overnight.  A nurse said he was "fine," but declined to say more.
Elena Duarte also was at the hospital but it was not clear whether she
was allowed to see her son.  She could not be reached for comment.
A Contra Costa County child welfare official said she could not talk 
about the boy's case without violating confidentiality rules meant to
protect children.
But in general, she said, the Children's Services agency will take 
sick children from their homes if it determines, on the advice of
physicians, that their lives are in danger.
"If a family is refusing the child's treatment and the physician is
saying the child needs the treatment within a certain period of time,
we will come in," said Linda Canan, a manager in the agency's child
welfare division.
"This is always a very tough situation because the parent generally
believes they are doing the right thing for the child," Canan said.
"But the physician is at times in a better position to assess the
needs of a child."
Such cases usually revolve around religious beliefs, such as the
Christian Science doctrine of declining medical treatment, Canan said.
Cases involving nontraditional medicine are rare.
A court hearing must be held within two workdays after a child is 
removed from his home, Canan said.
At the hearing, a judge or referee will decide whether the continued
removal of the child is necessary.
Judges often return sick children to their homes if the parents agree
to cooperate with their physicians, Canan said.
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