Texas Wants 8 Sect Kids Back

Officials Want Several Children Of Polygamist Sect Returned To Foster Care

(AP)  More than two months after being forced to return children from a polygamist sect to their parents, Texas child welfare authorities want eight of the youngsters put back in foster care.

Individual hearings for the four mothers of the children, ranging in age from 5 to 17, are set to begin Monday.

Child Protective Services has asked Texas District Judge Barbara Walther to return the children to foster care because their mothers allegedly have refused to limit their contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.

"We continue to have concerns in particular for these eight children, which is why we have asked the judge to review the case," said CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner.

None of the children currently live at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, where authorities swept roughly 440 children into foster care in April. Officials said the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which established the ranch, was forcing girls into underage marriages and grooming boys to be adult abusers.

Six weeks after the children were placed in foster care, the Texas Supreme Court forced CPS to return them to their parents, ruling that the agency presented evidence of no more than a handful of teenage girls being abused. Many of the children taken into CPS custody were infants and toddlers.

In the new CPS petitions seeking foster placement for the eight children, the agency detailed alleged underage marriages involving the children's fathers or stepfathers, though only one faces any criminal charges.

Rod Parker, a church spokesman, said that even though the families are getting individual hearings this time, the argument that they shouldn't be allowed to retain custody of their children remains unfair.

The issue, as it was in the earlier case, is "whether the children are in any immediate danger simply because their parents choose to raise them in this religion," he said. "The substance of what they're doing here is fundamentally the same."

Parker also noted that the church issued a statement in June saying it would not bless underage marriages.

The FLDS church believes polygamy brings glory in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which officially renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Sect leader Warren Jeffs, already convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape, awaits trial in Arizona on charges of being an accomplice to sexual contact with a minor - all stemming from alleged underage marriages within the sect.

[timdgrim]

Make up your mind CPS! How about this....send them to the Crawford Ranch and Bush can use them as child labor to cut his brush. Typical State Government..

[jedwards808]

@timdgrim:
CPS never changed their mind - it wasn''t their decision to return any of the kids in the first place. I do like your idea about Crawford Ranch, though...

[sistatee-2009]

The "kids" will be retired with grandchildren before the state figures out what to "do" with them.

[dronemonk]

I still see this scene as one gang of religious zealots using the law for cover from which to harass another group of religious zealots that the first group doesn''t like. If the accusations weren''t so lewd, many of the ignorant police state authoritarian bootlickers amongst us wouldn''t be so interested...

Nothing sells like ***...

[dronemonk]

this is a piece of junk forum... you can''t use the word S_E_X? for shame...

[messiahx4eve]

This is the worst case of sour grapes news I have ever witnessed. texass WILL have a final word on SOMETHING even if idiots at large, in charge, have to manufacture a skew on the "truth" to make it happen. All of you out there chomping at the bit to tear down the FLDS is basically just jealous because YOU didn''t think of it first. Natural law circumvents MAN''S law every single time. You are so miserable living in texass that you want EVERYONE to feel as bad as YOU do. Your choice, live with it.

[bob5ford]

Having been a foster parent (in Florida) I can tell you that the children will NOT be better off in custody, especially those 16 or 17. This is nothing more then sour grapes and looking for a chance to justify what they did in the beginning on the part of Texas welfare "authorities". Unless they have proof that will hold up in court the "authorities" should get out of these peoples lives. Just because they choose to live differently then you and I does not make them wrong or evil, except in the state of Texas.This is religious persecution pure and simple.

[beehive21-2009]

Lets see, so far Texas, has stolen the ball failed to score,fixed the refs,failed to score,lied to the world,failed to score,Texas, is now trying to fix the game and shall ,fail to score.

When will the Judge, DA, and Sheriff be brought to Justice, that''s what were waiting to see.

[deacon20081]

Having been a foster parent (in Florida) I can tell you that the children will NOT be better off in custody, especially those 16 or 17. This is nothing more then sour grapes and looking for a chance to justify what they did in the beginning on the part of Texas welfare "authorities". Unless they have proof that will hold up in court the "authorities" should get out of these peoples lives. Just because they choose to live differently then you and I does not make them wrong or evil, except in the state of Texas.This is religious persecution pure and simple.
Posted by Bob5ford
--------------------------------------------------
Well Bob, I also have had a relationship with the Florida Department of Children and Families, the fact is it does not Pale to Texas CPS. DCF in Florida would be considered a joke, if not for the Countless Failures to Act to protect women and children from abuse. Florida turns a blind eye to abusers, that is a fact disgusting as it is. In Texas CPS is trying to help abused women and children! That is what matters.

[yongamerica]

The only reason FLDS and the Mormon church who surreptitiously supports them has been getting a way with sexually criminal acts is because of the churches influence in the region. It has taken too long for the Federal Government to take action against these law breakers and FINALLY enforce a few of their laws.

[yongamerica]

STOP TEEN PREGNANCY. STOP FLDS and their financial backers.

[nextgenman]

Lets see, so far Texas, has stolen the ball failed to score,fixed the refs,failed to score,lied to the world,failed to score,Texas, is now trying to fix the game and shall ,fail to score.

When will the Judge, DA, and Sheriff be brought to Justice, that''''s what were waiting to see.

Posted by beehive21 at 07:32 PM : Aug 17, 2008
------

yeah, we need to let those old men get back to greasing the sausage with a bevy of 14 year olds.....

[barbaram99]

Foster homes is all I knew one after another. I never knew if I be in the same kome or not years ago. I hated them and the mother that dumped us in them. we were used as a check and that all. The more kids the more money they didn''t want to clean house so we did so, there was abuse in them homes..Ye take the kids away and the parents learn nothing. If the state takes the kids then fix the kids'' birth parents so they can''t breed.

[closethippy1]

What''s going on with the Texas authorities? Have they lost their minds?
This is clearly religious persecution and they know it and they don''t care.
What a bunch of rednecks.

[messiahx4eve]

MyOpinion1, I guess your wife doing me willingly doesn''t count but we did discuss your attitude problem and she says that is why she came to me for comfort, she complains of your "short-commings". Did you know she can speak in tongues in the throes of passion? Opinions are like Azzholes and like you, everyone has one but only the few such as yourself like showing off how big and well used it is. Anytime or any place you cheese eating dikk monkey.

[dakotaclark]

Hmmm...

Freedom of religion does not trump federal or state laws.

The scary part to this is other religions have similar sexual abuse issues. Notice how quiet other religions became when this hit several months ago?

You name the religion and there are preachers, or ministers who abuse children AND ADULTS; all in the name of serving God.

Religions that promote older men having sexxx with underage females or males, is a sexxxual cult, nothing more, nothing less. Those responsible for such activity should get the chance to do it in prison.

Mothers who seriously believe that it is ok for 14 year-old daughters to marry a man, of any age, need a tap on the head with a 2x4. A good whack would be better.

Probably, Warren Jeffs is a pedophile; and, I wonder if he has been getting any while in prison? Or, maybe it is his turn in the barrel.

The ultimate bad part of this whole matter is the fact that Warren Jeffs still is calling the shots, from prison, AND, there are his faithful followers who still believe he is the messiah.

It makes me wonder what is wrong with them.

Clearly, all of them need deprogramming, by qualified medical and psychological staff. That would put an end to Warren Jeffs'' game.

[allurfears]

Just another Christian sect, like the rest. They all believe they are following the "word of God". They all just do whatever they want by saying the Bible "means this or that" (or make up another "bible" -like the mor(m)ons)

Religious fanatics of all kinds need to crawl back into their caves and die. They are just useless lemmings following the word of false preachers and religious documents written by men claiming to "talk to God"- Documents that can be interpreted in whatever way is useful to them at the moment (catholics and boy-sux, etc.)

Nothing but fakes and liars. The followers are just sheep that parrot the platitudes of their religious masters. Put them in cages like the backward animals they are. Let them throw their monkey-sh*t at each other and leave the rest of the civilized world alone.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

[rjsparling]

I wonder what makes age 18 a magic number? Why not 21 as in some countries, 12 as in others?

[allurfears]

I wonder what makes age 18 a magic number? Why not 21 as in some countries, 12 as in others?

Posted by RJSparling at 03:11 AM : Aug 18, 2008
-------

It''s a 12 year-old boy if you are a Catholic priest. It''s a 13 year-old girl if you are a fundamentalist baptist preacher. It''s a 10 year-old if you are a FLDS pedophile. It''s a 40 year old rich b*tch if you are John McCain and already married. It''s a 50 year-old grandmother if you are a evangelical. Yes, the age varies... ROFLMAO

[oneworldusa]

How about an update on the welfare checks these people receive because they don''t ''marry'' officially?

[toldyouso12]

I wonder what makes age 18 a magic number? Why not 21 as in some countries, 12 as in others?

Posted by RJSparling at 03:11 AM : Aug 18, 2008


The age of consent is based on the premise that although human bodies can mature rapidly physically, emotional and mental maturity lags far behind. It has been determined that at around age 18 for most and after, people have developed enough mental faculties to make informed decisions about what they are doing and what they want.

Before that age, many people can easily be misled, and they appear to not know what they have really committed to--this has led to horrendous experiences and regret for the children/adults involved--from abuse to long term psychological damage. We did allow early marriage years before, but social and psychological studies done in the 20th century has shown this was not a good idea and the evidence that it was damaging was overwhelming. The government then came up with what they considered to be the time period when people not only understood the ramifications of certain decisions, but lived up (sort of) to the responsibilities that came with them. This led to the idea of 18 as the age of adulthood and in most cases--the age of consent for sexxxx.

[ray999999]

it must be the heat here in texas that fries texans brains because there''s not anybody with one in this state.ive have never in my life time seen so many stupid people.

[gop_forever]

These liberals just want to indoctrinate these good clean christian children into bad dirty feminism.

[bob5ford]

"Freedom of religion does not trump federal or state laws." A quick check of court rulings indicates that in a lot of cases it does. Short of human sacrifice almost everything is protected, from devil worship to killing chickens. That''s why we have a First Amendment.

[hologram5]

These liberals just want to indoctrinate these good clean christian children into bad dirty feminism.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by GOP_forever at 09:13 AM : Aug 18, 2008


So, are you going to marry off your daughter at 13 years old? You sound like that is what you want...

[prisonrn]

And yet in the state of Iowa, legal age of consent is 16 for *** and medical decisions.



I wonder what makes age 18 a magic number? Why not 21 as in some countries, 12 as in others?

Posted by RJSparling at 03:11 AM : Aug 18, 2008


The age of consent is based on the premise that although human bodies can mature rapidly physically, emotional and mental maturity lags far behind. It has been determined that at around age 18 for most and after, people have developed enough mental faculties to make informed decisions about what they are doing and what they want.

Before that age, many people can easily be misled, and they appear to not know what they have really committed to--this has led to horrendous experiences and regret for the children/adults involved--from abuse to long term psychological damage. We did allow early marriage years before, but social and psychological studies done in the 20th century has shown this was not a good idea and the evidence that it was damaging was overwhelming. The government then came up with what they considered to be the time period when people not only understood the ramifications of certain decisions, but lived up (sort of) to the responsibilities that came with them. This led to the idea of 18 as the age of adulthood and in most cases--the age of consent for sexxxx.

[gop_forever]

So, are you going to marry off your daughter at 13 years old? You sound like that is what you want... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by hologram5
==================
I the man is of good christian character I have no worries.

[jennmarikp]

How about an update on the welfare checks these people receive because they don''t ''''marry'''' officially?

------------------------------------------------------
Posted by OneWorldUSA

Good one . . . I''d like to see an update on that as well!

[curious_mind]

A prior responder says "...and the evidence that it was damaging was overwhelming"

Now we are back to portraying worthless opinions as evidence. Could you direct me to this evidence so it can be assessed? I personally know instances where there have been 12 year olds with the wisdom of the ancients, yet the mothers being mentally worthless. Age has nothing to do with maturity. This evidence is just an attempt to lump everyone together into categories. It was most likely an assemblage of con artists looking for a consensus to identify potential sources of income.
This has nothing to do with FLDS since we don''t know that any kids were "molested" by the folks at the ranch. It does have everything to do with creating an illusion of wrongdoing as a front for ulterior motives.
BTW being a Mormon is not the tag for identifying sexually active young teens. Your own kids are very likely "getting horizontal" despite your Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, etc affiliations. Get a clue folks. The finger pointing should start in your own home instead of condemning your neighbors. Your experts and government leaders are more likely to be the villains that the people they try to crucify.

[ybotheratall]

After reading some of the comments here, I wondered if I should say something, but I feel very strongly about this story. It was very sad from the beginning and still is. The very small children suffer because they don''t truly know or understand what is going on here. The law keeps losing out because they people have lots of money from all the welfare they receive on top of their businesses and have the money to show they are "taking care" of their families.

Then, you have these men, claiming to be in loving marriages. Having more than one wife, in the US, is illegal. If you want to practice another lifestyle, then move to a country that allows it. If there are minimum ages to marry, then you must abide by them. I don''t understand what is so hard to understand this. I find the whole thing very sad, thinking that these children and young girls are caught up in this situation.

[rjsparling]

And yet in the state of Iowa, legal age of consent is 16 for *** and medical decisions.

I wonder what makes age 18 a magic number? Why not 21 as in some countries, 12 as in others?

prisonrn makes a thoughtful comment that is unfortuneately not referenced. curious_minds recognized that.

It turns out that there are a handful of States that have no minimum age for marriage, parental permission being the requirement.

Mental (brain) development continues until about age 25.

I submit that 18 became the magic number because that is the age that the government could require compulsory military service of its citizens and ship them to war. The arguement was that if they are old enough to fight they are old enough to do everything else. Another case of the old yellow men in smokey rooms deciding military policy that ripples throughout our lives.

[wellhell3]

Posted by curious_mind at 11:45 AM : Aug 18, 2008

My 12 year old is certainly not ''getting horizontal'' with a 37 or 58 year old pervert salivating over the next available virgin in his cult compound. Get a freaking clue!

And I fully EXPECT my government deparment whom I pay to look out for children to step in anytime they even hear a WHISPER of abuse against a child! I give them full authority to march across YOUR yard and check it out! Your rights don''t mean KRAP to me if you are abusing yours or anyone elses children!