I can't see in the second code where you are using your function array_remove_value.
Also what is the variable $parent coming from, maybe from $this->parent? (which by the way you can't use $this since it is a reserve word and its used public/private/protected methods of classes, can't use it to name parameters).

P.D. It would help if you edit the post and wrap the code snippets in PHP of CODE tags. it would be easier to read for everybody.