Polygamy Sect Kids And Moms To Be Parted

Adult Mothers Of Young Children From Texas Ranch Will Be Separated Following DNA Testing

(CBS/AP)  Adult mothers who have been allowed to stay with their young children since they were taken from a polygamous sect will be separated from them after DNA sampling is completed next week, a child welfare official said Saturday.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther late Friday ordered that parents and children of the Yearning For Zion Ranch submit DNA samples to help sort out family relationships that have confounded authorities since 416 children were taken into state custody two weeks ago.

Sampling is to begin Monday and will probably take several days to complete, said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for Child Protective Services. Results could take more than a month.

Once sampling is complete, the agency will begin moving the children from the San Angelo coliseum and fairgrounds to other sites.

Child welfare officials allowed adult mothers with children ages 4 and younger to stay together when the state took custody of the rest of the children from the ranch. Now, only mothers younger than 18 will be allowed to remain with their children once the sampling is complete. The welfare agency will also try to keep siblings together, he said.

"We're going to make these transitions as easy as possible," Azar said. "We want to keep them together as much as possible so they don't feel they're completely isolated from their culture or the people they know."

DNA testing was ordered to help determine how the children and adults of the compound are related. Child welfare officials say solving those relationships has been difficult because of evasive or changing answers.

Other challenges are families with half brothers and sisters, as well as reports of marriages between first cousins. Dr. Arthur Beaudet, chairman of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said DNA testing can easily deal with these types of complexities.

"It's reasonable to say the information (from testing) will give full proof documentation" as to which parents belong to which children, he said.

Although the many unique family ties found in the sect will probably add a level of difficulty for DNA analysts in determining parentage, Beaudet said the added complexity is still "not a significant concern."

A certain number of DNA markers - segments of the DNA with specific genetic characteristics - are tested to determine if two people are related. Beaudet said that if any uncertainties arise, analysts simply test additional markers.

While more than 400 children will be tested, officials have not said how many adults will also be tested. Such a considerable amount of DNA testing is not new but is usually associated with trying to identify the victims of mass violence or natural disasters.

Walther on Friday continued an emergency order giving the state custody of the children after a sometimes chaotic two-day hearing in which the state argued that the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints jeopardized children.

The child welfare agency has said that the sect encourages adolescent girls to marry older men and have children, and that boys are groomed to become future perpetrators. Sect members deny the allegations.

Individual hearings will be set for the children over the next several weeks, and the judge will determine whether they are moved into permanent foster care or can be returned to their parents. All of the hearings must be held by June 5.

The custody case is one of the nation's largest and most complicated. The ruling Friday capped two days of testimony that sometimes became disorderly as hundreds of lawyers for children and parents competed to defend their clients in two rooms linked by a video feed.

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Read about how the YFZ Ranch was founded as a corporate hunting retreat.

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The April 3 raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch was prompted by a call made to a family violence shelter, purportedly by a 16-year-old girl who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. That girl has never been identified.

Rod Parker, one of the attorneys representing the sect, told CBS News that he doubts she even exists.

CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasanreports that Texas Rangers and police in Colorado Springs, Colo. are investigating a possible link between the call to the shelter and Rozita Swinton, a 33-year-old Colorado woman who was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities.

[cpaide]

but you know that this KLK (krazy lesbians kult) have been stalking this clean humble mormans for years now:

look at this http://web.sccn2.net/flds/More-Pics.htm and see that i have good and honest proof of this KLK activities with this mormans.

[mrsmiggins-2009]

As of yesterday 4/21/08, Child Protective Services has 437 children. 77 are aged 2 or younger. Ninety-five mothers have been allowed to stay with younger children, but this week, the state will send those mothers home. Attorneys representing the mothers asked Judge Walther to allow nursing mothers to remain with their children.

The state plans to separate adult mothers from their children later this week, after it finishes collecting DNA samples that will be used to determine parentage. Attorneys for the women asked the judge to consider letting nursing mothers remain with their children after negotiations with CPS on the issue stalled. They asked the judge to let the mothers stay until DNA results are in, likely to take up to 40 days.

" Walther acknowledged the nutritional and bonding benefits of breast-feeding. ''But every day in this country, we have mothers who go back to work after six weeks of maternity leave,'' she said." http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_9002940

[mrsmiggins-2009]

The law that made it non-criminal to kill mormons was only recently taken off the books in Missouri.

Posted by drtcotter at 12:25 PM

Can you give me a link so I can read about this?
Thank you.

[cantshutup]

so texas wants to trade the immoral religious lives of these kids in a secluded compound for the immoral religious/nonreligious life in modern day society...sheesh, not sure one is better than the other...boy are those kids in for a shock...maybe they''ll get beat up and someone will post the video on youtube...

what do you do when the America you grew up believing was a good and just place turns into a realilty show full of murder, greed and selfishness??? we dug this hole...we all better get ready to jump in...

[husein_pasha]

I am Abdoul

[drtcotter]

I was sitting with an old friend and his attorney having drinks one day and complaining about American Jurisprudence. My friend asked, "Where is it better?"

His lawyer promptly answered, "France."

"Why France?" we both asked in unison.

"Because in France, the accused is considered guilty until proven innocent. In America, we state that the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty. But we don''t abide that way and therefore there''s no real protection for the accused. France, knowing the burden is on the accused allows them to defend themselves before reaching judgment. Here it''s totally twisted."

If you want proof of this allegation consider: America has more of its citizens locked up than all other democracies combined. Only China, with five times our population and an equally powerful government has more prisoners than America.

Those folks haven''t been convicted of any crime. Apparently, they weren''t even correctly accused. So why is everyone assuming they''re bad for their children? My fellow Americans and especially my fellow Texans: sometimes you make me sick. The law that made it non-criminal to kill mormons was only recently taken off the books in Missouri.

[ccdsswrkr08]

many applause for sopaboxlady. Very good posts.

[mrsmiggins-2009]

Hi Soapbox Lady,

You really can''t see that the sheer size and scale of this case requires exceptional treatment, and that the protocol for dealing with child abuse in a family setting may not be appropriate here?

[soapboxlady]

Not all biological parents are righteous and upstanding people either. There are no guarantees that any of these situations are always great. For every bad foster parent story that one hears about, there seem to be even more about "real" parents choking, beating, starving and otherwise abusing their own children. What of these monsters who keep their kids in cages and starve them that one reads about occasionally in the newspapers? Do they deserve to keep their children? Do we wait for a judge to decide the verdict before removing them from their parents'' custody?

Of course not. That is why these children were removed from their parents'' dormitories. They didn''t have "homes" like the rest of us. They have grown up in dormitories and that is why some of the kids didn''t really know which mother was the mother who gave them life.

FLDS leader Warren Jeffs is believed to have over 100 children of his own. He is now in jail convicted last year of being an accomplice in the rape of a 14 year old girl.

[mrsmiggins-2009]

Okay, let''s take this little ones and farm them out to fosters. Not all foster parents are righteous and upstanding people. Some are motivated by the wish to do good, while some are motivated by the check they get in the mail.

In my state, we have had numerous incidents of abuse and neglect while children in foster care. One of the worst was a little girl, who died in the care of a social worker who was allowed to foster. Perhaps you''ve seen the Frontline Documentary: "Failure to Protect: The Taking of Logan Marr"

That''s why I say it is scary to read that so many people think the State of Texas will provide better care than the parents.

[cpaide]

ha, and there is still NOTHING good proof and evidence of ANYTHING of this allegations made by the KLK (krazy lesbians kult) social workers, but clean good proof of this false police reports by that 30-year-old woman who is saying she is 16-year-old girl who is raped by nasty old mormans, but this 50-year-old man is living in arizona--not in texas! do not believe what this KLK is telling you!

[erasmus6]

If I had seen you do that I would have beaten you as you were doing it saying "naughty, naughty Abdoul."

Posted by fibonacci_ at 04:50 PM : Apr 20, 2008


Husien_Pasha is NOT Abdoul.

[soapboxlady]

The People''s Temple religious cult led by James (Jim) Warren Jones moved to Jonestown, Guyana in the late 70''s because of continual stories in the press about sexual misconduct and human rights'' abuse. After an American Congressman and memebers of the press were murdered trying to leave the settlement in November of 1978, there was a mass murder/suicide of 914 adults and children. Some willingly drank poisoned kool-aid while others were injected with poison or shot to death.

What sane person would think it was ok to leave children in potentially unsafe situations?

[soapboxlady]

What is really scary is that there are people out there that think that there was a better way to deal with the problem other than removing childrem from the hands of their abusers.

What are you waiting for? To find bodies of children and young women buried on that land? Maybe that''s where "Sarah" ended up and why she cannot be found.

I don''t know the statistics on how many foster parents (and biological parents) abuse the children in their care but I do know that some form of abuse has probably occurred on that commune because no government agencies would willingly go in there and remove those children and endure the public''s wrath if the evidence wasn''t pretty strong.
The sheer logistics in caring for that many children must be a nightmare.

Children are helpless and cannot defend themselves. To leave them in a possibly harmful situation could be disaster waiting to happen. Anyone out there remember Jim Jones and his poison cool-aid? Those children never had a choice and didn''t get rescued in time.

[soapboxlady]

Taking children away from parents (?) who have participated in the sexual and physical abuse of women and children can never be worse than leaving them in that unsafe situation. The question is who are each child''s parents (biological father, in particular) and where are their "homes"? There are no legal documentation on these children or most of the younger parents.

Had it not been known that their religion openly encouraged and allowed "spiritual" marriages to girls as young as 13, then the children would never had been taken away. All it took was for one young girl to call in (or a hoax call if you believe that story). Young men from around the country who have been cast off by the sect''s lecherous old leaders have come forward to tell the truth about what has been going on within this quasi-religion. No doubt soon some of the young women will come forward and do the same thing once they learn that most "outsiders" want to help them.

"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."

[mrsmiggins-2009]

You know what is really scary?

When People give it up to government or government agents (the Texas Child Protective Service is privatized) and assume that civil rights are going to be observed and protected. Is your faith in government workers so strong that you think they are not capable of mishandling these children? How often do you think foster parents are guilty of abuse?
`

[jairsman]

This issue here is child abuse, is it not? By taking the children away from their parents, the state of Texas has inflicted much more suffering upon these people than was ever inflicted by their "Prophet" and the agregious system ( in the eyes of most of us on the outside) they belong to. Surely there was a better way to deal with the problem.

[soapboxlady]

Children need to be protected by society if the adults in their lives fail to do so. The evidence is being gathered and a trial will decide what happens next. Warrents are issued only when there is enough evidence to sustain a trial. This will probably go all the way to the Supreme Court anyway. I''m sure the ACLU is all over this like a dog on fleas.

It doesn''t take a brain surgeon to see that it is likely that abuse has occurred on that cult-like commune. Proving it may be expensive and difficult for the state of Texas especially considering how brainwashed and ignorant the adult women appear to be on television. They sound programed when they talk and cannot answer some of the questions that they weren''t coached on. Very sad and depressing situation for all of them...women and children both.

The Catholic pedophile priests are another thing entirely. One cannot defend any of those monsters but for the most part they have gotten away with all that they have done due to the powerful Catholic church. The Pope is in America right now to improve the image of his Church. It won''t work.

[sspaur]

Lets look at what is really going on. Texas has over steped it authority. Take over 400 kids from their homes becasue they could be abused. I guess they will close all Cathloic and churces next since Preist have abused kids in both settings. If they cannot close the schools and churches Im sure they will want to remove all the children from the homes of parents that decide to send their children to places whre Priest may be. Where will it stop? Time for the Federal Courts to get involved.

[soapboxlady]

Ah yes, you do sound young, fibonacci.....