Who Foots Bill For Polygamist Communities?

Hattie Kauffman: Welfare A Prime Income Source For The Sects

(CBS)  The raid on the polygamist compound in Eldorado, Texas has not only focused public attention on such sects, it's sparked many questions about them.

One such query: Who pays their bills?

A significant part of the answer, according to Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman is -- taxpayers, in the form of welfare.

Kauffman and Laurie Allen, who escaped from polygamy, drove around one such community, in Colorado City, Ariz., and saw many mammoth homes built to accommodate multiple wives and children.

How the man of the house can afford to build such super-sized dwellings! The answer: He can't. He doesn't pay for them, you do.

As Allen explained to Kauffman, "What happens is a man marries one wife, she's his legal wife, then he marries ten other wives in the church, and all the other wives are, by law, single women, so they have all these children with him, and they all get welfare."

The more kids, the bigger the welfare check, Kauffman points out.

"Some of the women in this town have 26 babies," Allen told her.

And the women, Kauffman adds, have no choice. The fundamentalists believe a man needs three wives to get into heaven. And the wives exist for one reason: to make babies.

"On my wedding night, I was raped," another escapee from polygamy, Pam Black, said to Kauffman. She had 13 babies but, she says, "knew nothing about sexuality or intimacy, friendship."

It's been a long road to recovery, Kauffman says. Now free from the sect, Black is building a new life, with a new man who is able to show her tenderness.

"I just want people to know the most important thing is right here," said Gordie Soaring Hawk, tapping his chest, "a very tender, precious heart."

Black says she got away just in time. "They were trying to set me up so they could put the handcuffs on me, and take me away," she said tearfully, " ... because they don't want women here who think for themselves."

Though shunned by the town's residents, Black has refused to move away.

A stillborn daughter is buried in the religious sect's graveyard for babies.

"It's cruel here, what people do," Black remarked.

The religious group teaches that both laughter and tears come from evil spirits, Kauffman says.

"People's feelings are shut down and they can't feel," Black cried. "They just like, go around like a zombie."

"It's OK to feel, it's OK to cry," Kauffman reassured Black.

"Yes!" Black agreed. "I encourage everyone to feel to the fullest!"

"If your heart is filled with sorrow," Soaring Hawk advised, "then feel it to the depth. And then walk through it."

Black says women who can't control their feelings are beaten, and men who can't control their women lose them -- church leaders simply assign the wives and children to another man.

[memerider]

And they also qualify for faith-based funding and school vouchers, too. That''s why these programs, as popular as they are, need to end. They are simply ways for cults and governments hiding under the guise of religions to steal from hard-working taxpayers and enslave other human beings.

[gnytg1245]

Great point from Tass719 that I never thought of..
Why aren''t the dads(relative term) prosecuited to the fullest? The males should be made to take paternity tests. One child per welfare check per Mom & Dad would eliminate 26 kids per woman. These leaders have it made, get to use all the women and the good ole USA pays for it...WOW

[tass719]

This whole polygamist story is disturbing. I heard on the news earlier that there are no birth certificates for any of these children. How can these mothers collect welfare for their children without showing a birth certificate? In my state (NJ) you need to have a birth certificate and a social security card for each child. These men are nothing but child molesters hiding behind their so called "religion". They belong in jail!

[luvwknd69]

EVERY person in this compound who used religion to prey on & rape children should BE PUT TO DEATH! End of Story!

[pvanbrocklin]

Regarding "Who Foots The Bill Polygamist", why aren''t the fathers of these children paying child support and if they don''t pay why aren''t they put in jail. At least then they couldn''t rape more young girls and make more babies that we all have to pay for. I''d like to hear a report on that.