Delayed Reunion Frustrates Sect Parents
Polygamist Sect Children Remain In Texas Custody Despite Court Rulings
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Video
Polygamist Standoff In Texas
Just as parents from a polygamist sect in Texas were preparing to regain custody of their children from state officials, a judge suddenly negated this decision. Hari Sreenivasan reports.
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Photo
Texas polygamist sect members Edward and his wife Dora May are the parents of six children. (CBS)
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Photo Essay
Separation Anxiety
Some mothers in polygamist sect separated from children as part of abuse investigation.
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Photo Essay
Polygamist Compound Raid
Secret calls from alleged abuse victim lead to raid of religious sect's compound.
Parents arrived Friday at the San Angelo courthouse expecting to be reunited with their children after the Texas Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that the state overstepped its authority in taking custody of the children. The court ruled the children should be returned to their parents.
However, despite a tentative agreement reached early Friday between lawyers on both sides, the children remained in state custody, frustrating the hopes parents had for a reunion.
"There's no relief. There's no way to knowing when relief will be here," said Willie Jessop, a sect spokesman. "There's no way to get cooperation out of the legal system to fix what they did on April 3."
The tentative agreement, which would have returned the children Monday, contained several conditions for the parents, including:
But after several revisions and an endless stream of concerns from dozens of lawyers representing the mothers, a frustrated Judge Barbara Walther walked of her courtroom saying that if all the lawyers could get their clients to consent and sign the agreement, she would sign it as well, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. Lawyers for the children were disappointed.
"At the end of the day, these children need to be at home with their parents," said Andrea Sloan, one of the attorneys representing the children.
For eight weeks, the more than 460 children taken from the polygamist ranch in El Dorado have been split up in group shelters all over the state.
"They've had them where they wouldn't eat; they haven't been able to sleep; they've been through an absolute terror of an experience," said Jessop.
At the Yearning For Zion Ranch, parents hopeful of seeing their children continue to wait.
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Kids do NOT belong to the state. At least not yet!
sorry I ever called Tx. home.
My million bucks says Texas will be funding this group for the next thousand years after they win the 460 civil lawsuits that will be in the millions EACH....
Way to go, texas...you musta got those trade-school social workers at a bargain price...but no more !
The Courts are puppets.
abide by the law, cohabitate with as much sexual partners as you can, divorce as many times as you can and get married as many as you can,dress normally, wear shorts, mini skirts, bikinis everywhere to teh store for perverts to see, for kids to see, on magazines everywhere at the grocery store, at church, wear make-up, indulge yourself in vanity, get a hairdo everyday, blow your money in make-up and harido''s, make yourself look good or like a clown, send the kids to public schools, where they can be bullied, fear for school bombing or rampage, be shot, abused by the teachers etc , meet the pedophile teachers, DA''s, read Harry Potter as high school offer and learn how to kill your parents , get condoms, contraception at 13 in high schools etc....don''t forget you cannot mention the name of God in public schools, so just shut up and learn about wicca, accept g a y s, read the king & the king book as school advise...also learn how to fight for your rights as a g a y and lesbo..and all of this is normal!!! and what does God think of all of that?
The Texas Supreme Court overruled the lower Court ruling and said the children should be returned to their parents. If we are a Nation of laws, the the Court order should be carried out. Instead the Court imposes restrictions that obviously attorney''s representing the parents don''t fully agree with.
The lower Court Judge now refuses to sign the order for release of the children. It sounds like a Judge not agreeing with a higher Court order and trying to legally circumvent the law in order to support the loosing party in the case, which is Texas Child Protective Services. Judges should carry out the law not make it.
The poster who said these women are livestock is so right. "Animals kept or raised for use or pleasure" is the definition for livestock.
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Posted by MyOpinion1 at 09:12 AM :
WOW!!!!! Are you talking LDS or christianity? How many christian cults follow the exact same rules you just condemned these people for practicing? Have you been a former member? How do you know all this stuff? Magical thinking? Word of mouth? Tableoid magazines? YOUR church? Being Spiritual is much more important than being religious, IF there really was a god such as the christian god, we as people, would be the furtherst thing from HIS mind. typical male thinking, huh?
No, in other states, last I knew, we still investigate who the guilty party is and we arrest the guilty.
Taking 460 + kids (the numbers keep growing by the way) is absolutely rediculous!!
Nobody denies that laws have been broken and a few kids may be in danger, but then for crying out loud lets do some investigating!!
Who does the governement think they are?
This is exactly what they have done in Texas!!
If the men are so dangerous, why haven''t they arrested the MEN. Then let the innocent go and keep those who have broken the law! and Let the children go home to their mothers!! I guess I don''t get it!! Why are they making this such a complicated issue
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Why are you worried about Constitutional Rights now? You were all for Bush taking them away to keep you safe from a few thousand tribal level terrorists.
I don''t know that it''s enough to protect these children - which you''d think would be everyone''s top priority. You''ve got a cult which has a religious belief in child abuse - and some people here don''t seem to think that''s a problem.
Alternate title:
"Parents Look Forward to Enjoying Sects Once Again With Their Children"
THEY HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME, POLYGAMY.. they should at least be charged with that if not indecent acts with monors.
But it appears that you Americans dont care about the fact that polygamy is a crime in itself. It appears that this crime is ok by most of you, thus you say that the children should be allowed to go home.
Gaye5,
Re: "The children should not be allowed back with their FATHERS until the polygamy has been sorted out, mothers yes but not their dads."
That''s where it gets tricky.
In some cases, the mothers are the children of the dads.
Posted by edintex
I''ve heard this from a few people but after reading the "Escape" book and seeing dozens of interviews of ex-FLDS members, I see a recurring theme. These wives are all jealous of the attention these men lavish on them and take it out on the children in the form of beatings. Favorite wives and their children are denied some comforts and even necessities if they fall out of favor with their husband and it''s very sad to think of a child not getting enough food or medical help because of favoritism. So, taking into account that polygamy is illegal, there seems to be a lot of things that make it wrong. My comments are only from the little bit I''ve read over the years and the same theme is consistent amongst all the ex-members: abuse in all different forms and intimidation of anyone who tries to get help.
There is no one under this sun that can say that any of this is right, what has happened to these children in the forms of abuse they have suffered, and look the maker straight in the face. Karma is unfathomable and there are some big debts to pay fellas.
Posted by FeelFree4U at 09:19 PM : Jun 01, 2008
What''s this? Chinatown?
What about constitutional process here?
Certainly rape complaints must be carefully investigated. However, the search warrant was illegal. It violated the doctrine of probable cause. When are we going to decide that constitutional rules apply to social workers, or is American Communism going to continue its expansion?
There are many cases across the country where children are taken from parents without due process of law.
This is a very blatant case here. If a proper settlement that obeys the Constitution is not implemented, the right all Americans are in peril.
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by ralan40
June 3, 2008 12:55 PM PDT
- great, now little Suzie gets to go back to live with Uncle Grandpa and Auntie Mom. The "old fashoned clothes" adopted in the 1950s can''t hide the fact that these church leaders are a bunch of Pervs.
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