Polygamy Custody Hearings Reveal Errors

Officials: Number Of Underage Mothers Was Overreported, Hurting Widespread Abuse Claims

(AP)  Child welfare officials have said in the opening days of individual custody hearings for members of a polygamist sect that at least eight mothers once held in state custody as minors were actually adults. One is 27.

The disclosures, which have dribbled out in hearings held across five courtrooms, brings the number of underage mothers in state custody to 23, eroding statistics state officials have cited to bolster their claims of widespread abuse. Other reclassifications are likely to follow as judges sort out family relationships in custody hearings scheduled to last three weeks.

On Tuesday, two men excommunicated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the ranch where about 460 children now in foster care once lived, offered to serve as guardians for their children if the state deems their mothers unfit.

"If we can establish I'm not guilty of those things, why can't I have my children?" asked Arthur Barlow, 59, after driving from southern Utah to seek custody of five of his children, who lived at the Yearning For Zion ranch in Eldorado.

Barlow and Frank Johnson, another father seeking custody of his children, were excommunicated from the church about four years ago.

It was not clear how many other relatives have asked to be considered as alternatives to foster care. Child Protective Services typically looks for relatives in custody cases, and preference is usually given to a noncustodial parent if he or she can demonstrate a safe home.

Barlow testified he had never been to the YFZ Ranch, where all the children were removed last month and placed in foster care facilities around the state. The agency argued underage girls were being forced into marriages and sex, and that boys were being raised to be perpetrators.

Church members and the excommunicated fathers denied FLDS parents are abusive or endanger the children.

Barlow said he entered into a spiritual marriage 15 years ago with Esther Jessop Barlow, now 35, whom he has known since she was a child. He said she is a fit mother, but that if the state rules otherwise, he wants custody of the children he hadn't seen until recently.

Barlow, who has 12 other children with another woman, said he didn't fight for custody when he was forced from the church because he didn't want the children used as "pawns."

The FLDS children were removed en masse from the ranch during an April 3 raid that began after someone called a domestic abuse hot line claiming to be a pregnant abused teenage wife. Authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.

The judges have not allowed much discussion of the validity of the decision to take the children, but they have focused on state-drafted "service plans" outlining how parents can get their children back. Parents have complained the plans are too vague.

Johnson moved from Utah to Abilene, Texas, to be closer to his six children, who haven't lived with him for more than four years. He noted that accusations and required services are all directed at church members.

"How does the service plan fit my particular needs?" he asked in court.

Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins said the agency has asked FLDS parents to name relatives who could take the children, but all will have to be vetted before they could get custody.

FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said the 168 mothers in the case want their children but would consider relatives to be acceptable alternative guardians.

"Anything is more acceptable than foster care or non-relative adoption," he said.

Parker also reiterated the church's belief that the final number of underage mothers will be closer to five or six, though he acknowledged that some of the young mothers apparently were pregnant while younger than 17 - Texas' age of consent.

"We've always known there are one or two or three examples out there," Parker said. "What I've always denied is that there are (dozens) out there."

State plans call for CPS to try to reunite parents and children by April. The costs of the raid and the cases are expected to rise to $30 million in that time, and state lawmakers in Austin on Tuesday began looking at how to fund them.

The FLDS, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven, is a breakaway of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

[gaye5]

milesbrown49, lets forget about if they were guilty or not of child marriages, Polygamy alone is a crime...I dont care what religion they belong to, it is a crime..
Next we will say that every religion has an excuse to have many wives if they so want, then of course others will then say the same.. Homosexuals will say that their beliefs are that they can marry three men and they all get the same legal rights, or three men and a woman... now personally, I feel that three man and a woman is far better, she can cope with that far better than a man can cope with three wives, and she would be much richer as they will all be working..
Of course I am joking but if the law allows one group then why not others...

[gaye5]

Hey you guys, I thought Polygamy was illegal in America.. I dont seem to remember anyone bringing this up??? if it is still illegal they have all committed a crime, thus the children should not go back to their parents, that is a jail sentence..or has your rules all been changed now...

[milesbrown49]

Uh, isn''t 23 underage mothers still a s h i t load of underage mothers? It''''s not like the church is suddenly innocent of all charges.

Posted by Rafterman1

______________________________________________

The point that remains is the over 400 children that was removed from their home. It seems conclusive that only a portion of the sect was guilty, why all those children. That''s like closing down a housing project for its child pregnancies and I am sure its stats are higher perata!!!

[sistatee-2009]

Janet Reno saved the children by burning them alive.

[rafterman1]

Uh, isn''t 23 underage mothers still a s h i t load of underage mothers? It''s not like the church is suddenly innocent of all charges.

[mercyme884]

I wonder how much drivel is coming out of prisons and Jails. It surely shows a definite lack of intelligence and commonsense.

[truthalways]

how many lies will cps cover...now they want to reunite the kids with the parents coz it''s costing the state too much!!!

seem the state doesn''t care much for the kids, after traumatizing them , separating them, sending them to foster..now they want to get rid of them and send them back coz it''s costing millions..what a joke...poor kids

[cpaide]

cricket, cricket....
Posted by yongamerica
Posted by dragonwagon5

an'' if you all come trip-trapping across this here bridge again, i''m gonna poke out yer eyes and eat ya!

[cpaide]

"Dress them in curtains, keep them in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant. And give them less rights than a male, but a little more than livestock."
Posted by yongamerica

now you''re coming up for air!

hey, if you''re such an enlightened, educated, liberated woman, how come you''re not at work bringing in the coin? you really have time for this?

[cpaide]

This speaks volumes about your intelligence, world awareness, prejudices and general views towards women. It also opens the light to your views of races not white like you. I pity you and the people like you, like a lost beggar in the street. But I guess God has a purpose for people like you who are a bit "touched in the head".
Posted by yongamerica

wow. i guess you talk to him from time to time about stuff. that''s cool. speaks volumes about your experience with being "touched in the head."

now about the races: i am black--not white like you. and i know that lots of blacks and muslims and such have more than one wife. their bad, right?

now about beggars: what did jesus say about that lazarus guy? hmmmmmm. ok, i''ll be your beggar and you be the rich man. we''ll see how that goes.

and the misspellings: them''s to give you something to whine about.

[yongamerica]

FLDS, LDS and Muslims seem to view women the same way. Dress them in curtains, keep them in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant. And give them less rights than a male, but a little more than livestock.

[cpaide]

"No dude, Mark is the Mormon on this thread that hates any references to polygamy, pedophilia, statutory rape, and child endangerment. He wields a lot of power here. And I''m married to a woman my age (another thing mark despises) so I won''t be hooking up anywhere, with anyone anytime soon. shhhhhhh."
Posted by dragonwagon5

you seem confused.

firstly, NO ONE here wields a lot of power. we''re just pu$$ies without real jobs or anything to do all day long, which is why we''re here posting about the mormans and stuff we don''t know anything about.

second, you have some very enlightened ideas that are really out there, and i think you could swing the other way without too much of a problem. really, dude, give it a try or at least think about it some. yes???

[yongamerica]

ntelligence. you think men and women are equally intelligent? please! - cpaide

What a question. This speaks volumes about your intelligence, world awareness, prejudices and general views towards women. It also opens the light to your views of races not white like you. I pity you and the people like you, like a lost beggar in the street. But I guess God has a purpose for people like you who are a bit "touched in the head".

[cpaide]

"Mark says I won%u2019t go to heaven because I believe in a monogamous marriage to a wife over 17. Every time I say the children of the rape ranch were in danger, he gets mad. You%u2019re not supposed to talk to me. Shhhhhhhhhhh."
Posted by dragonwagon5

is mark your dad or something? can we hook up in hell then? don''t be shy! ;^)

[cpaide]

"The US Constitution guarantees that women must be viewed as an equal to a man."
Posted by yongamerica

equal in what way? physically? then men should have the "right" to bear children. oh, wait. they''re too busy bearing arms.

everyone knows that most women trade their freedom (and pu$$y) for food and shelter and protection. what''s so bad about that?

the constitution never guaranteed that women be viewed as equal to men. how many women helped draft the constitution? how many attended the constitutional convention? women couldn''t even vote.

did you think before you posted? and that brings me to another point: intelligence. you think men and women are equally intelligent? please!

[cpaide]

"shhhhhhhhh. mark says you''re not supposed to talk to me or you''ll get excommunicated. You''ll be down to only one wife and be slumming it in heaven."
Posted by dragonwagon5

well then, maybe you and i can hook up in heaven. i''m assuming there''s g@y marriage there now, or god would have stopped the california supreme court from issuing last week''s ruling.

[yongamerica]

Cultures where having multiple wives is normal occurs only in societies where the female is not considered an equal to the male and thus lives in a lower cast, acting like a slave or indentured servant and concubine at best.

The US Constitution guarantees that women must be viewed as an equal to a man. This barrier of female prejudice is still exists, to higher degree than slavery did over a hundred years ago. Cults and organizations that perpetuate the belief that the female must be completely subservient to the male erode the very principals of bassic Human Rights, Christianity and the Constitution.

[cpaide]

"cpaide: I just emailed both of my U.S. Senators (PA) ... asking them to request that the U.S. Supreme Court review the actions of Texas authorities. Will any other bloggers join me in this effort? I''m told that if a U.S. Senator gets just 12-15 emails or letters on a topic, they consider it a hot topic ... and they assign a staff member to the issue. Let''s raise a ruckus over the disregard of basic due process of law by Texas authorities."
Posted by emelder

i''m sure the congress is well aware of this incident and will do nothing if all they get are a few emails.

maybe a better approach would be to email mitt romney and ask him to spend a few million $$$ hiring lawyers to represent the mormons and to lobby congress on this matter.

he has made many, many speeches in mormon sacrament meetings and conferences regarding similar treatment endured by the mormons in nauvoo, illinois, jackson county, missouri, the state of deseret (utah territory), etc. etc.

surely if the mormons were wronged in the 1800''s, these texas mormons are being wronged today and deserve the support of the mormon church in salt lake city.

[cpaide]

"By the way Gobbldygook,
It''s spelled prairie.
Mormon schools don''t seem to lurn ther yungons very gud."
Posted by dragonwagon5

yes, dear, and it''s spelled "polygamy"--not "poligamy".

where did or didn''t you go to school? ;^)

[cpaide]

"What has the catholic church done in the name of religion?
Fornication?
Child abuse/endangerment?
Statutory rape?
Pedophilia?
Fashion faux pas?"
Posted by dragonwagon5

you''re right, dear, but we are talking about the texas mormans here, so we shouldn''t be concerned with other churches ;^)