Many Polygamy Teens Moms Or Pregnant

(CBS/AP)  Texas child welfare officials say almost 60 percent of the underage girls taken in a raid on a polygamist compound in west Texas either have children or are pregnant.

Of the 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who are in state custody, 31 either have given birth or are expecting, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar.

"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," Azar said Monday after releasing the latest figures.

Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can get married with parental permission at 16, but none of these girls is believed to have a legal marriage under state law.

Church officials have denied that any children were abused at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado and say the state's actions are a form of religious persecution.

State officials took custody of all 463 children at the ranch controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, saying a pattern of teen girls forced into underage "spiritual" marriages and sex with much older men created an unsafe environment for the sect's children.

Of the 463 children, 250 are female, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said he does not believe the CPS count is accurate. He said that from talking to ranch residents, he believes at least 17 of the girls may actually be adults but have been labeled by child welfare authorities as minors.

Agency officials have called into question claims of adulthood among the girls since the raid and have in some cases disputed documentation provided, saying the girls look younger than 18. Because many FLDS members share similar names and have complicated family relationships, identifying all of the children taken into custody has been a challenge.

"I do have serious questions about how they are determining age in there," said Parker, who is trying to get a better count from FLDS families.

He said the sect is at a disadvantage in proving names and ages because law enforcement confiscated every document that might show family relationships.

The latest information from CPS comes with "absolutely nothing to back it up other than it's coming from them, and they think we should trust them," Parker said.

CPS said they are slowly getting some cooperation from girls, who initially claimed to be older than their actual age, reports Sreenivasan.

All the children are supposed to get individual hearings before June 5 to help determine if they'll stay in state custody or if their parents may be able to take steps to regain custody.

Civil liberties groups and lawyers for the children have criticized the state for sweeping all the children, from nursing infants to teen boys, into foster care when only teen girls are alleged to have been sexually abused.

No one has been charged since the raid, which was prompted by a series of calls to a domestic abuse hot line, purportedly from a 16-year-old girl forced into a marriage recognized only by the sect with a man three times her age. That girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the call was a hoax.

On Monday, CPS also revised its total count of children in state custody to 463, up one from Friday. Azar said the change resulted from finally getting the children out of temporary housing in the San Angelo Coliseum and into foster facilities around the state where they could get a more accurate count.

Children 13 and younger are about evenly split - 197 girls and 196 boys - but there are only 17 boys aged 14 to 17 compared with the 53 girls in that age range.

Azar said the numbers could still change slightly because authorities have not seen documentation on all the children and have struggled to positively identify everyone.

The sect, that broke from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more than a century ago, believes polygamy brings glorification in heaven. Its leader, Warren Jeffs, is revered as a prophet. Jeffs was convicted last year in Utah of forcing a 14-year-old girl into marriage with an older cousin.

[momjackson]

Are we not a country that has placed it as our concern to right every wrong? Are we not the country that comes to the rescue of all those in need? Why are we allowing the social services department to come into our homes and tell us how to raise our kids or tell us how we can worship our LORD? We are allowing our government to basically take food, clothing, and money from our families to send to another country when we have families out there in our own country that need these same thing. Our country is starving or freezing to death or are living on the streets because they can''t afford housing. But we have turned a blind eye to our own lackings because we have left all the decisions up to our own government and this is what we get for that. But mark my word all these countries that we are supporting are just sitting back and waiting for us to fall so that they will be on top and who then is going to come to our rescue? no one will come except to take over.So keep on complaining to these closed ears or shut up and do something about it!!!!! jobs are going away for americans because we have no money for us because it all goes to other countries. What can we do as a nation to help our own people? Lets start with these families and do GODs work make our government take care of us (the us people)

[momjackson]

Why are we fighting amongs ourselves when we should be fighting to correct this wrong that has befallen this group of people? We should be raising money or something to get these mothers and children back together. Not aguing about these courts, investigators, or social workers. We need to get these mothers and children the lawyers they need so that they can get back home and raise their kids in peice. Let the men that have done wrong pay for their crimes if they have done no wrong let them go back home to support their kids and get on with their lives and leave them alone!!!!!!!

[jtkleeme]

The story uses the word "aSEXa" twice yet we can''t use it in our comments? This entire story is about ***. It is not a curse word. I would be agriveated if they were to censor *** or *** or *** *** *** or *** they probably even will block out *** or ***** or even perhaps *********** *****. Should that be hypenated? But see, I would understand them censoring words like that but ''***''? I could even understand ''butt ***''.

[jtkleeme]

As weird as these people may seem compared to ''mainstream American society'' are we not given freedom of religious expression? If this is the way that these people are determined to express their faith and they are not really abusing children then leave them alone. Just because they choose to educate their own children and live in isolation does not mean our government has the right to invade their community and take away their children. In a country where we are allowing gay men to adopt little boys and find nothing wrong with that how can we judge the polygamist lifestyle as perverse? Would we really be comfortable with removing one of these children from this ''perverse'' environment and place them with a nice gay couple?

Are we going to extend this sort of ideal to our friends the Saudis who pride themselves on having a variety of prepubescent girls in their heirums?

why does it put stars over the word "***("?

[jtkleeme]

I was kind of concerned that a young, seemingly healthy population of young women trying to conceive would have a fertility rate as low as 60% in a developed country. Now knowing that the 14 and 15 year olds should not be included in that calculation can we establish a better figure? How many of the 53 are in that age range and how many are in the 16 to 17 age range? Does anybody have statistics of fertility and infant mortality rates relating to this age range circa 1870? At what age is it common to be married in Mexico? Should we invade Mexico and take away all of their children?

Also remember that the legal age of sexual consent in Texas is 17. The age of consent around the country ranges from 14 in South Carolina to 18 in many other states. It is a surprise that 30 states consider 15 and 16 to be reasonable ages of consent and another 7 (including Texas) set this age at 17. So of the 50 states 38 would permit all of the 17 year olds to have *** outside the confines of marriage. Many of these states permit marriage and *** within marriage at even lower ages.

[youngwit]

To truth always. I agree that there is a lot of other things going on in our world. But I was not addressing those issues. I was talking about this topic...the FLD raid...specifically. That''s it. I agree that there are many other things in our society that are wrong but we can only fix things one thing at a time. Thank you for your comments though!! :)

[tireslinger]

I don''t know if these allegations are factual or not. I suppose that only time will tell. In agreement with the previous post, my concern for these people is this: Labels are attatched are lives ruined by untrue accusations and/or those accusations with "tenuous" evidence. I agree wholeheartedly that children should be high, if not on top of the list of those we should protect in this country. However, just because the alleged victims are underage, does not mean that the evidence, leading to the accusations, should not be aggressively substantiated before the matter is pursued by the state. Unfortunately, I believe that in these sorts of matters, I don''t think that it is. State of Texas authorities, all I can say is that I hope that you''re doing the right thing.

[cpaide]

"How do you know? Are you one of the investigators?"
Posted by Displeased

i would ask you the same question, but i already know the answer: you don''t know ANYTHING except the false allegations (not facts) by the inept investigators.

the phone call that initiated the raid was proven to be false. the woman responsible has been arrested and charged with making a false police report.

the allegations of a 50-year-old man having $3x with a 14-year-old girl have proven to be a story made up by one of the investigators who is no longer on the case.

the allegations of a 50-year-old man raping and abusing a 14-year-old girl have proven to be a story made up by an investigator who is no longer on the case.

the allegations of a bed in the temple with "disturbed sheets" and "what appears to be a female hair" have been disproven likewise.

no criminal charges have been filed, and none are anticipated. that is because there is NO EVIDENCE of any criminal activity, period.

however, the standards of "evidence" for civil matters (such as child custody) are low, low, low. basically, any allegation that can be partially substantiated by another accusation (no matter how tenuous) is treated as being true, until months later when the people''s lives have been ruined for no good reason.

case closed. let the mormons go back home.

[displeased]

case closed. let the mormons go back home. there are no 14-year-old girls having *** with 50-year-old men. there was no phone call, no abuse, no reason for texas to kidnap an entire village and keep them locked up in a rodeo arena like animals.
Posted by cpaide

How do you know? Are you one of the investigators?

[cpaide]

"60 Percent Of Girls Ages 14 Through 17 In Texas'' Custody Have Given Birth Or Are Pregnant"

yes, but none of the girls ages 14 and 15 have given birth or are pregnant, and under texas law, girls can legally marry at age 16.

all of the girls who have given birth or are pregnant are older than 16, which is legal in texas.

texas officials have no proof whatsoever that the marriages are unconstitutional and therefore illegal under texas law.

case closed. let the mormons go back home. there are no 14-year-old girls having *** with 50-year-old men. there was no phone call, no abuse, no reason for texas to kidnap an entire village and keep them locked up in a rodeo arena like animals.