According to Traci Eccles in her article “Examining the Fallout of Experimental Prosecution: The Kate Parker Story – Part II” for usobserver.com, Charley and Katherine (Kate) Parker, were considering adoption after having 7 biological children, one being Joshua Parker, who had spina bifida. In 2010, they decided it was the right thing to do. Kate heard about and reached out to Reece’s Rainbow, which organizes the US adoption of Eastern European orphan children. On September 11th, 2010, the couple left for Ukraine to meet 1 and 2-year-olds Hannah and Bethany. On October 15th, they arrived back at their home with their daughters, who were both born with Down syndrome.
In her article, Eccles states that Katherine Parker was arrested while eating dinner with her family in Grants Pass, Oregon. Parker would learn that she was facing 43 charges, almost all of which surrounded medical child abuse (MCA) of her two children, Joshua and Bethany Parker. Joshua was diagnosed with multiple genetic conditions from the day he was born, and Bethany had been getting care for medical conditions she was diagnosed with before being adopted. In March 2014, before Kate’s arrest, the Multnomah County Grand Jury met in a secret session to hear testimonies. People from Parker’s blog testified and more testimony came from Dr. Cathleen Lang, a pediatrician who never met or spoke to either child involved, nor was Lang involved in the medical treatment of them before being a part of deciding whether or not they were victims. A list of hearsay allegations was brought by the Multnomah County DA Charles Mickley and was accepted by the Grand Jury for indictment. Mickley admitted that because he was so rushed to indict her on all charges, he didn’t look through all state statutes in his allegations. After Parker was arrested, news outlets and reporters were all over the story.
As the public began keeping up with the case, the media started to focus on the impact the case might have on the likelihood of Dr. Monica Wehby, who was involved in the medical treatment of several of the Parker kids, remaining a candidate for the US Senate. Because the story broke before the Primary election and was all anyone could talk about, the rumors against Parker reflected heavily on Wehby’s judgment and whether she’d face charges or not. Dr. Lang, followed by Detective Erica Hurley of the Portland Police Bureau’s Child Abuse Team, said that the medical treatment given to the Parker kids did not raise concern, showing that the State knew what Dr. Wehby performed on them was medically necessary. Kate’s attorneys, Lisa Ludwig and Tiffany Harris, put forward a case summary to the Northwestern University School of Journalism’s Medill Justice Project and the case was chosen. The journalists spent 11 weeks looking over documents related to the case. They flew from Chicago, Illinois to Portland, Oregon several times to interview healthcare workers, therapists, and others involved with the Parker family. They also drove to Grants Pass to do interviews there while in Oregon. In December 2015, the Medill Justice Project published its findings, which caused the case against Kate to fall apart. In the report, it stated that Dr. Lang and Detective Hurley had admitted to Wehby that no one had any concerns with the surgeries performed despite a large amount of the case being based on Wehby’s performance.
The Multnomah County DA began a process of dropping charges from the original indictment. The Parkers were and continue to be strongly impacted by the ordeal created by Dr. Cathleen Lang from CARES NW, Multnomah County DA Charles Mickley, and Josephine County DHS. The family is still suffering from the loss of Bethany, who continues to stay in state custody and whose health is continuously getting worse since being taken away from her home. Kate was informed in February 2016 in an email by DDA Mickley that Bethany had 1-3 years left to live. None of the rest of the family had been told because of DHS’ failure to follow court orders to keep the Parkers informed of her medical state. Bethany became dependent on a ventilator to breathe and the g-tube that Kate Parker was charged for. She also underwent multiple surgeries while in state custody, including releasing the tethered spinal cord that Dr. Lang accused Parker of lying about as well as a cardiac-related surgery that Lang said would not be necessary. Bethany is suffering and has not been doing well since being removed from Kate and her husband’s care, although law enforcement, DHS, and the foster provider reported otherwise.
As for Joshua, whose doctors let his parents believe he was severely ill, he continues to have the same diagnoses he did at the start. His doctors now say his needs are chronic and began using a different route of care. Evidence shows Kate was telling the truth the entire time. The children’s father, Charley, oversees the children’s medical care. He deals with doctors’ predetermined ideas based on Joshua’s medical record incorrectly stating he was a victim of MCA. Since Kate was falsely charged with MCA, the kids’ father now insists on and ensures that the doctors document everything in writing and that doctors directly communicate with each other. Despite the ordeal the Parker family has been through, they are slowly going back to the way things used to be and moving on. Four family members are in college, and the younger kids are already discussing what they are going to do regarding their education and career plans. Charley still worries when a child experiences a new symptom that there’ll be false accusations pinned against him if he follows orders regarding his children’s medical needs, like what happened to his wife. Despite this, he doesn’t let it stop him from getting his kids the care they need.
