May 22, 2008
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Breaking News about FLDS children in TX
Court: State Wrong To Take Polygamist Sect Kids
15 Sect Mothers Wrongly In Foster Care
POSTED: 12:52 PM EDT May 22, 2008UPDATED: 1:39 PM EDT May 22, 2008SAN ANGELO, Texas — An appeals court ruled Thursday that
the state of Texas had no right to seize hundreds of children from a polygamous
sect.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas, ruled that the grounds for
removing the children were “legally and factually insufficient” under Texas law.Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect
pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to be grown-up
predators.
The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not
demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of
taking children from their homes without court proceedings.
The ruling comes the same day as authorities learned that half the
mothers in the sect that Texas child welfare authorities put in foster care as
children have now been declared adults.
Attorneys for Child Protective Services say 15 of the 31 mothers are
adults. One is actually 27.
Another girl listed as an underage mother is 14, but the state has
conceded she is not pregnant and does not have a child.
The underage mothers had been cited as evidence that the Fundamentalist
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints committed widespread sexual abuse of
girls.
State officials raided a ranch run by a polygamist sect in west Texas.
Their contention that abuse was widespread led to the removal of more than 460
children.
Comments (9)
Ah, good, the courts are using more sense than law enforcement.
I’m glad the truth is being told. I hope the government will be accountable for their drastic and abusive actions. A definite matter of prayer.
I felt so horrible for those kids! I understand the state wanting to be careful, but I think they just completely overstepped their bounds by taking the children away from their mothers without much investigation.
I think the whole thing was a horrible situation. I know the state was trying to look out in the best interests of the kids, but I think they went too far!
so hard to answer this..the police were concerned about abuse….but when they took these children away from their moms…that too was a form of abuse…these kids did not know what was happening to them, they were sheltered in that cult….anyway the courts now seem to have some of the problem taken care of
i hate to say this but this happens far to many times and it just don’t make the news. i know of a lady that had her boys taken from her for a week cause she had reported her hubby of 13yrs had abused the boys. the police arrested him and took the boys away from her for a week. she is still being watched by the state and has to do some parenting classes and such. she did the right thing by turning him in as soon as she knew but the state still took the kids. i know of a few more cases that are like these. its sad that the state wants to protect these kids and yet takes them without cause from their parents. yes, that is abuse but the state wont ever see it that way. just my two cents.
I’m so thankful that God has shown mercy and is affecting His justice toward these kids and the moms. I too felt so sorry for the children, and the moms, as they went through this ordeal. My whole philosophy about the matter is, if the state is so concerned about the religious practices of the polygamist sect, why are they not addressing the practice of polygamy directly? Locally, no one seemed to have much problem with the sect. They’ve coexisted in the town for years and no one has bothered these people. It blew my mind that the women and children were the ones who suffered in the state’s attempt to crack down on them, while the men were left alone. However morally or legally wrong the FLDS sect is, I don’t have much confidence that the undoubtedly corrupt state and federal government will provide much of an improvement in the quality of life for these moms and children! I want to continue praying for these FLDS moms and kids, that God continues to show them mercy, and that they will worship Him alone — no other idols, including Warren Jeffs! I could go on and on. I wrote a few blog entries on this subject a few weeks ago. It bothered me so much!!!
It’s a pretty spooky situation, but where do you draw the line? What if they decide to do the same to all homeschoolers? Or Amish? Or whoever…
I know it does happen, to a lot of people we never hear about, but this big invasion certainly demonstrates clearly the govt. has no clue where the boundaries should be. Waco, Elian Gonzales, and now this…. the govt. sure can mess up in a BIG way and we’d all do well to stay on guard at some level.
@TinCottage - exactly