Sep 4, 2003 12:21 pm US/Mountain 

Hundreds of supporters rallied Thursday at the Utah Capitol for the family fighting the state over chemotherapy for a 12-year-old boy as negotiations resumed to bring the family out of exile in Idaho.

On the Capitol steps, a pair of Utah lawmakers vowed to rewrite the state's child-welfare laws to give parents more rights and others denounced the government's power to order chemotherapy against the family's wishes.

Daren and Barbara Jensen have been charged with kidnapping for taking their son, Parker, out of Utah, where he had been under a court order to start a regime of chemotherapy on Aug. 8. The boy had a tiny tumor removed from under his mouth last May, and three hospitals said it tested positive for Ewing's sarcoma, a rare and deadly cancer. Although Parker appears healthy, doctors say he could die without treatment soon.

The family's relatives questioned the diagnosis and insisted Parker could just as easily die of chemotherapy. They said his parents were willing to accept the risk of no treatment.

``Parker is not sick, but he's scared because they won't let him heal,'' the boy's aunt, Michelle Jensen, told the crowd while choking back tears. ``The doctors, the state, the DA, the guardians, the judge _ they are wrong.''

Parker's grandmother, Lois Jensen, broke down at the podium as she pleaded with state authorities to let her son return to Utah without penalty.

``I want them to come home. I love them. Please let them come home,'' she said.

Supporters yelled encouragement and waved placards _ ``Drop the charges,'' ``Give Parker his freedom'' and ``Sick until proven healthy.'' They dropped bills in rows of orange buckets _ the boy's favorite color _ labeled ``Pennies for Parker.''

The rally had a religious undercurrent, and family supporters expressed suspicion not just of government but Primary Children's Medical Center, which made Parker's initial diagnosis.

Some at the rally were eager to brief reporters on a medical industry conspiracy, but were less eager to give their names.

Few outside the family knew details of Parker's medical condition, yet they expressed no doubt the parents were making the right decision and said faith would sustain the boy without chemotherapy.

``The state is wrong, they need to say `I'm sorry' and leave the Jensens alone,'' said Capitol lobbyist Gayle Ruzicka, the head of Utah's Eagle Forum, which promotes a conservative brand of family values. ``Real child abuse is when the state takes children away from loving mothers and fathers.''

State Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, pledged to reassess child-welfare laws and assailed the power of government and ``state-endorsed science.''

Christensen was joined in a pledge for legal reform by Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Orem.

``We do have a plan here, a plan that was given to us by the Lord, where parents take care of their children,'' Thompson said.

As the rally began at the Capitol, the family's lawyer, Blake Nakamura, continued to negotiate a possible settlement to the standoff with state attorneys at the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.