The following commentary appeared in the Contra Costa Times on 9/12/95.
---Contra Costa County, California
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           WE MUST FIGHT BIG BROTHER WHO TAKES AWAY A CHILD
                          By Barbara Simpson
   What would you say if a county social worker ordered you to get a 
certain medical treatment for your child?
   What would you do is that medical treatment was one that you, for 
whatever reason, did not want your child to endure?
   What would you do if that same social worker showed up at your home
with a sheriff's deputy and took your child away, put him in a foster home
and then in a hospital for the treatment you did not approve?
Screaming bloody murder
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   You'd probably scream bloody murder, and you'd be perfectly justified.
   Remember the old adage, "A man's home is his castle"?
   Well, forget it -- at least in Contra Costa County, where that exact 
situation has happened.
   This incredible injustice is being perpetrated on Elena Duarte and her 
son, Adrian Chavez.
   Only 6 years old, little Adrian has endured leukemia for four years.  
After a remission, the disease recurred this summer.
   As any parent might, Elena considered the possible treatments. In light 
of what Adrian had been through, she decided to take him to an herbalist 
for treatment.
   But the Big Brother made an appearance in the guise of a county social 
worker from Children's Hospital, who insisted Adrian be brought in for a 
spinal tap and chemotherapy.
   Elena said no, and hinted she might run away with Adrian.
   That did it!  The social worker, armed with a sheriff's deputy, swooped 
in within hours and carried Adrian away, first to foster care and then to 
the hospital.
   Elena continued to refuse permission for the chemotherapy and that's 
when a juvenile court referee played God.
Playing God
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   Keep in mind that in California, a school nurse cannot even prescribe
an aspirin to a child without parental permission.
   But in this case, this referee Stephen Easton says that doctors can "do
whatever they deem medically necessay" -- and by inference, the family be 
damned!
   His court order said "there is substantial danger to the physical 
health of the child" if he is not taken from his mother.  Can you believe 
that?!
   Easton bravely declined any comment about his decision which took him 
just a half hour to reach.
   With the arrongance that goes with power, he closed the hearing to the
public and the media, using the excuse of state laws protecting the
anonymity of minors.
   Excuse me, Mr. Easton, the child's name is Adrian Chavez.  His mother 
is Elena Duarte.
   They are not anonymous.  Their pictures are in the paper.
   We know who they are and we know what you've done.
   You have cut away a huge portion of our freedom to make personal and
private decisions for our own families.
We all lose
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   If this decision is let stand, and Elena Duarte is forced to submit her
child to this treatment, we all lose.
   If ever there was a need for a civil rights attorney to get involved,
this is it.
   I don't remember that we gave the state control over our children.
   Easton has shoved us down an already slippery slope.  We already are
required to have our children immunized for school entry.
   What happens when a social worker requires a child to be medicated to 
control behavior in a classroom?
   If a parent refuses, will the child be taken from the home?
   What happens if the state decides to require specific treatments of
other conditions, over the desires of the parents?
Keep out
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   Will those children be confiscated as well?  If the Duarte case is any
example, they will.
   I'm not ready to give in to that.
   This is not "Brave New World."  Not yet, anyway.  I refuse to turn over
control of our children to the state.
   If nothing is done about this, it's tantamount to telling the state 
it's OK to intrude in our lives and take over.
   Unfortunately, it appears that's something the state is only too 
willing to do.
~~~ ReneWave v1.00.wb2 (unregistered)
--- Mankind = One Family
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