(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services) -- Daniel Hauser, the 13-year-old cancer patient from Sleepy Eye, Minn., is making "better than satisfactory progress" in his medical treatment but still needs to remain under court supervision, a Brown County judge said Tuesday.

At a court hearing in New Ulm, Judge John Rodenberg rejected a motion by the Hauser family to rescind a child-protection order governing the boy's medical care. Even though the family has complied with court-ordered chemotherapy for the past several weeks, Rodenberg said, he wants to maintain supervision of the case.

Daniel and his mother, Colleen Hauser, attracted national attention a month ago when they fled Minnesota hours before the issue of his treatment was to come before Rodenberg. They returned from California six days later and agreed to resume chemotherapy.

"We think it's not necessary [for the county to retain control]," said Barbara Gislason , the parents' new attorney who took up the case several weeks ago. "But given the California trip, I guess it's not surprising."

The Hausers were in court Tuesday for a monthly hearing set by the judge to ensure they are complying with his orders and to check on Daniel's medical progress.

Daniel's attorney, Phil Elbert, told the judge that Daniel's chest tumor is continuing to shrink since chemotherapy resumed earlier this month.

Daniel, he said, has looked at x-rays of his tumor and knows that it is smaller and less dense.

Elbert said Daniel continues to have nausea and other side effects from the chemotherapy but "will do what his parents tell him to do."

Daniel was diagnosed in January with Hodgkin's lymphoma, an uncommon but treatable cancer. He had one chemotherapy treatment in February, then his family refused to return for more, citing religious and other objections. They are members of the Nemenhah, a group that claims to follow Native American healing techniques.

In May, after doctors and Brown County authorities expressed concern for Daniel's health, Judge Rodenberg ordered the boy back into treatment.

Daniel and his mother, Colleen, made one court appearance in May, then skipped their next court hearing and fled to California, triggering a national manhunt and fueling a wide debate over alternative medicine and a family's right to choose their medical care. They returned after six days and Daniel resumed chemotherapy and other therapies a few weeks later.

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