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No easy answers
I can't imagine which is worse -- being scared of the diagnosis of such an awful disease in your child, or authorizing devestating therapies of that disease to be waged inside the body and brain of your child.
The courts and the police didn't over-react in regards to Katie. They followed law based on a good deal of precedent, and the law fundamentally and ultimately advocates for the child's health, except in terminal cases. That's what most people want to see -- except they never imagine it in their own families, of course.
Sadly, her cancer is back. That was confirmed Friday, and the parents quickly agreed to the radiation therapy, and they expect to get custody of Katie back soon. The family is already receiving "ample visitation time" with Katie, and they received custody back for the other children in court on Friday. The others were taken away after a visiting social worker declared the home in dangerous condition for the other children. The parents say that was a pretext only for the state to force compliance upon the parents. The parents also say that their decisions regarding Katie were not based on religious beliefs. (All of this is from the NEw York Times this Saturday morning.)
The process stripped concerned and loving parents of the dignity and rights of being a parent and an advocate, and that is troubling to me. The parents had every right to ask for additional medical opinions. I don't think that flight with the child was a good idea, though, and the hand of the court and police had to be played out once the family chose to run and hide. Although I don't like it, I can't see that the state agencies could have acted much differently in regards to Katie's welfare.
I think that taking the other kids away was wrong and over-reaching, though.
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less I say, smarter I am
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