In the first of the cases to be heard, the Child Protective Services (CPS) plan for parent Sharon Barlow calls for her to "take parenting classes, find a safe living environment and undergo a psychological evaluation." Ms. Barlow, aged 34, is concerned that the terms of the plan can be reinterpreted to prevent her best efforts to comply from resulting in a reunion with her six-year-old son. In attempting to impose a one-size-fits-none template for a family service plan on the parents, CPS shows its lack of evidence against the parents, and gives credence to their claim that they are the victims of religious persecution. From its inception, the investigation of the FLDS ranch near Eldorado has been marred by lack of evidence, bad intelligence, and civil rights' abuses. The raid on the FLDS ranch was triggered by a phone call alleging abuse that was later discovered to be a hoax. Police have charged Rozita Swinton, 33, of Colorado, with making a false report of abuse in the case.
The petitions and affidavits CPS filed to gain access to the Yearning for Zion ranch and subsequently to separate children from their mothers make unsupportable claims. One petition claims that CPS made "reasonable efforts . . . to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the children." One can only wonder what those efforts were, considering the circumstances of the raid.
A search warrant executed at the ranch resulted in the seizure of numerous documents, photographs and computers, but the items sought, namely documents verifying statements made by the now-discredited accuser are unlikely to be among them. Indeed, considering the non-existence of the complainant and her child, the CPS case is hanging by the thinnest of threads.
CPS has not even followed its own rules in removing the children. Those rules state that if a child would be protected by removing the alleged perpetrator from the home, the child should be left in their home and the alleged perpetrator removed. Had the CPS handbook been followed, the result would have been the removal of some 69 adult men from the ranch and minimal disruption of the families involved.
Adding to the assault on civil liberties, CPS and Texas law enforcement officials have recruited former FLDS member and vocal anti-polygamist activist Dan Fischer to encourage FLDS men to submit to DNA testing and identify their children. The result of their doing so would be unwarranted searches of their persons and giving up their rights not to incriminate themselves.
Because members of the sect claim to be married to more than one woman, they are considered to have broken a law. However, nothing in state law prevents a man from living with and fathering children with more than one woman at a time, so long as the people involved do not claim to be married.
State officials estimate that 31 of the 53 teenage girls it has in custody have been or are pregnant, but as many as 24 of those girls may be adults, greatly lessening the damning evidence of sexual abuse claimed by the government.
Reading the timeline at Captive FLDS Children.org and looking at the photographs of the raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas is a chilling experience, reminiscent of Nazi raids on ghettos. Members of FLDS point out that the forcible transfer of their children to another group fits the U.N. Convention on Genocide.
If the State of Texas is genuinely concerned with the welfare of these children, it would do well to bring charges specifically against those parents who have abused or endangered children and prove its allegations against their parents promptly and carefully.
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Comments: 35
There is a very fine line between cult and religious sect. A cult is primarily for the personal gain and personal pleasure of the leader(s) under the guise of religion. Does the FLDS fall under this description? The sect lead by warren Jeffs came very close to fitting this description.
You also have the problem of marriage or pseudo marriage to under age girls. This would constitute statutory rape in some cases.
This is a very difficult situation that Texas is in, trying to sort out who is who and whether or not any crime has been committed.
Does this fall under religious persecution? Again that must be answered with whether or not they are a religious sect. Also, there have been many prohibitions against religious activities over the years. Since there is no prohibition against polygamy is the Judeo-Christian texts the laws governing monogamous marriage is an infringement on those beliefs. But, does that fall under persecution?
I am not allowed to just perform animal sacrifices and yet I do not consider this persecution. One person may not proselytize a "captive audience" and this is in no way an infringement on free speech or free religion.
Your sense of security and personal safety, if you still have these luxuries, is a delusion at best, it is only happening to an extreme group now but it's just a matter of time before this kind of insanity spreads into the general population.
These idiot government people are doing much more damage to the little ones than would be done living in their extended family, lets face it, they call it polygamy to sensationalize it and maybe it is the correct term but actually it's just an extended family.
These children had A FAMILY, however it was composed, that's no small thing. Having a family is a basic human need and now the good ol boys have even taken that way from these children.
Do you think the assholes who are doing this would be prepared to raise these children themselves??
I think we ought to wait until the professionals have done their work, finished their job and presented a complete report. There is just no way a case of this magnitude can go down without oversight by one or more agencies. Let's keep informed as this develops.
This is defintely a wait and see situation.
Only in Texas did the raids on Waco and YFZ occur. The fact that these raids came after phone calls - now discredited - and that so much was done so quickly - and for all the reaons and results that you mention - is quite startling.
The men are not actually marrried legally to more than one woman, as far as I know. All the ceremonies are religious - so that they would only legally be married to one woman, but cohabiting with the others.
I don't know about Texas, but Utah law forbids cohabitation and is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Utah's law was designed exactly as it was to punish the polygamists back in 1890.
You made excellent points and the situation is now so commplex - there was a young aoman on Oprah earlier this week (I did not see this one) but she was 15 and had been forced into marriage.
The issues are so much more complex than the CPS is willing to believe.
From the interviews I have seen, few in the YFZ understand that 'forcing to marry' when a girl is underage doe not mean forcible entry or even to marry under pains of duress - but can include even gentle persuasion, since she is not of the age to consent.
Parents were paid or otherwise remunerated to allow for such marriages. And the amount of brainwashing that has been going on for decades in these Polygamous FLDS famillies is astounding.
I do believe, however, that there have been marriages where there is a lot of love for the children.
But all marriages with anyone under the legal age of consent in Texas, whatever that is, are rape.
Your article is Featured in the Triple Name Club.
I freely admit I haven't researched this . . . but what I have heard sounds suspiciously like there has been at least some potentially abused children. Whatever sparked this at onset makes little difference once CPS discovers what they fear is abuse. They are mandated to protect the children. :)
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
I am well aware that there is more than one side to this story, but I have chosen the side that is not getting airplay. CPS is not obligated to prove that it did what it was supposed to do before it disrupted the lives of more than 700 people.
In Texas cohabitation is completely legal, so the circumstances as Kathryn described are perfectly legal, so long as the people involved were 17 years old, or no more than 2 years apart in age. So a 14 year old and a 16 year old could live together without breaking the law.
In the United States, we have preconceived notions about how old is old enough for sex and marriage, and about who may marry whom. We are typically chauvinistic about our prejudices, but they are by no means shared by the rest of the world. This is, in my opinion, a case of tyranny by the majority.
I know about the young men who are excommunicated from the community to maintain the numeric imbalance necessary to provide men with more than one wife. I think that it is heartless and that the community should be held accountable for it. But absent proof of abuse of the children, the state has no right to interfere. Right now, that proof is indeed absent, and the parents are being given the run-around. I agree with them wholeheartedly when they point out that this shoe will not fit on the other foot.
They consider themselves above the law, and break the law, and violate people's rights, with impunity, all the time. (and so many judges in this country, should be indicted, for allowing them to get away with these crimes!) It's clear they're mostly being used as a tool to impose political and social conformism on members of society.
I'm just glad this situation didn't escalate into another WACO. A situation which was, once again, instigated by the CPS, and which resulted in the DEATHS of ALL the children involved. It's rather clear, at this point, that PROTECTING the children of Texas, is NOT their top priority.
And it's becoming rather obvious also, that Texas, as a state, has a problem with religious communes, in general. They seem to attack (quite literally) every single one that springs up.
GT
Of course, none of us really knows the situation, and I personally am not comfortable with polygamy, but I do wonder...it seems to me that a child is always going to be worse off in state custody than in a loving family situation...even if the loving mother is young and the father has other wives (because even the most conservative Christian among us needs to remember that Solomon--in all his wisdom--had multiple wives...there are many ways to be in the world). I hope the state treads carefully here or they will certainly do more damage than good in this case.
FDLS Article
As I pointed out there and in previous discussions, we must never allow ourselves to go by what is reported in newspapers or other media. We MUST allow the courts to ascertain ALL facts, not hearsay or some other such nonsense.
In that other discussions, several people were all set to crucify the men in that cult on the grounds that they were all rapists or child molesters. Yet, not one person has been charged with any form of crime BECAUSE THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF ANY CRIMES!
Here in the USA we have a long history of lynch mob "justice" where innocent people were murdered in the name of justice. Only after they were killed was it discovered that many of the victims were completely innocent. Yet nothing was ever done to redress claims arising from those deaths. I would hope that we have come to our senses and will begin to realize that news media cannot be used as 'courts' and that they can never mete out justice.
As for those of you who were all set to crucify those men, what do you have to say now???
Isn't it odd how people can always solve the problems of others but they can never solve the problems of their own.
That leaves 19 who may be (or were) underage.
This deserves further investigation.
I too fear my Government, particularly nameless, faceless bureaucrats and especially overzealous D.A.'s looking for higher office.
That does not mean there were not horrible crimes committed there.
Justice can be a slow train, but we must not jump the tracks.
Let the courts do the work and then we shall see.
State Seizures Were illegal
"The Department did not present any evidence of danger ... "It was about time a court stood up and said that what has been happening to these families is wrong ... The Department did not present any evidence of danger to the physical health or safety of any male children or any female children who had not reached puberty".
Well now. Again, for those of you who were so eager to crucify people based on the idea of trial by media, what do you say now??
While I appreciate your concern for the children, there simply is no excuse for Texas's conduct in this matter. You just don't know what terrible damage can be done to vulnerable children who are deprived on their homes and parents. Good intentions are no excuse. The agency needs to be held accountable for its misconduct. And society must learn to stop accepting the notion of trial by media that has created such an atmosphere of hostilty towards that sect.
Just because there are so many, people are outraged. I am outraged that anyone would think it allowable to have a child live under those conditions. That is why we have CPS.
As a former foster parent, I know that in any one year, in any state and almost any large city more than 400 children are removed from homes that endanger their lives, health and happiness. It is just plain silly that anyone is upset because there are so many at one time.
No 10 year old little girl should be promised to some horney old man because it is a tenet of their religion. Horrific springs to mind.
Since no one answered my question re trial by media, I guess it means you will no longer allow yourselves to be falsely led by unconfirmed TV, radio, or print media reports.