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Morning Edition, May 23, 2008 A Texas appeals court ruled Thursday that the state had no right to take more than 400 children from a polygamist ranch. The court conceded that some underage teens may have been sexually abused, but that the state did not prove that all the removals of children from their parents were justified.
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Child welfare officials said they were mystified by the appeals court’s ruling, saying that the department had “removed children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch after finding a pervasive pattern of sexual abuse.”
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Child welfare officials who visited the ranch “revealed a pattern of underage girls being ‘spiritually united’ with older men and having children with the men,” the agency said.
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In the world of the FLDS, “spiritual marriage” between older men and underage girls — what the law defines as rape — is given the stamp of religious approval. Of 53 girls believed to be between 14 and 17, more than 30 have children or are pregnant, including one who gave birth to her second child in custody. Among the boys, too, there is suspicion of widespread physical abuse. Indeed, many teenage boys are routinely banished to preserve the odds of polygamy.
Nevertheless, what do we make of an entire sect that has sexual abuse at its very heart? That believes plural “marriages” between older men and underage women are not an aberration but a pathway to heaven?
Nobody can prosecute the FLDS for what they believe, says Marci Hamilton, author of God vs. the Gavel. “They can stay together and believe what they want into eternity. What they can’t do is illegal action.”
In the end, what we have on that ranch in Eldorado is not a lifestyle. It’s a pedophile ring.
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I agree with Amanda and I am a dude :)
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Okay, Texas may not have waited for “due process” or for a bunch of paperwork to get lost in someones office. Those honorable people saw a problem and brought attention to it. In the early 1900’s there were no laws to prevent children from being married off to grown men but there was also slavery and equal rights was no where to be found. All of the comments above are left by men. Well, I am a women and here is a comment for you men. I am a paralegal in a defense attorney’s office. So, before you get your panties in a wad, I do have a degree in legal matters. The action that was taken on this matter was taken without due process, agreed. However, have you people looked at the missing children post in your areas? What about the sex offenders? This is becoming a “norm” in society. IT IS NOT OKAY FOR GROWN MEN OR WOMEN TO SLEEP WITH CHILDREN! It is about time someone stopped and said enough and some quick action was taken. I commend TEXAS DHR and Police for there FAST response to this matter. I am sorry there are not more people out there willing to put there careers on the line to save a childs innocents… I hope that this will give pencil pushers a little more courage to press those papers that matter faster and get our children to safety sooner… CONGRATS and even though those children have been sent back, don’t give up on them. They are still chilren.
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oops, I meant to say “innocent until proven guilty”…that dyslexia always gets to me, sry
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Well, it turns out that there were only 5 underage mothers in the whole bunch. It turns out that the rest of the mothers were in their 20’s and had valid birth certificates to prove it.
5 pregnant teenagers does not a case make, since I can walk into any inner-city junior high and find 5 pregnant teenagers.
In this country, we have something called due process. We also presume that all are guilty until proven innocent.
Texas has failed to prove its case, and, as such, the children should be returned to their parents.
Authorities need EVIDENCE before they can act, and, no, they’re not allowed to just make it up like they tried to do in this case.
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Finally, one branch of US government – the State Appeals Court – is beginning to show some logic, fairness and common sense. How on Earth can Texas authorities raid what was effectively a “small village” and separate over 400 kids from their parents. All on the basis of one allegation from one phone call, which the police were either too incompetent or naïve to figure out was a hoax. It was clear from the beginning that the raid was a political move and not a legal one. Texas is just one big disgrace. I know 3rd world countries with better law enforcement than Texas.
And the injustice does not end there. The politically-motivated officials who lead this crusade won’t face any discipline or penalties for carrying out such an outrageous act. I hope the voters of Texas can restore some faith in us outsiders, by voting out the district attorneys, prosecutors, mayors, etc. who supported or instigated this barbarian act. Come to think of it, isn’t there another Texan we know who raids communities on false pretexts?? At least he’s out of the way next year. What about those idiots running Texas CPS?
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Where is your proof? My grandmother was married at the age of 13. This was common in the early 1900s. Where is the exploitation? Once married, a person is considered an adult regardless of age. She married a 27 year old man who was able to provide for her. She had the approval of her parents. My mother was born when my grandmother was 17 while her husband was fighting WWI. Are we to say what is the “right” age to get married? Why are you trying to impose YOUR ideas on the rest of the country?
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You’re an idiot. You really think that it was about the children? It was about a bunch of rednecks in the local town that did not like that the ranch was there. There is probably some evil preacher behind all of this. They kidnapped those children. 41 broken bones out of over 400 kids- 10%. Go to any school and there will be a higher percentage. 11 underage girls pregnant? Go to any small town and see how many you find. Molestation? Go to any small town and you will find a rate of about 70% girl have been molested in some way. This is goverment gone amuck. Maybe you would have the goverment go to every small town in the country and take all the children when they find 11 pregnant underage girls- how about just less than 1% of the population. The people responsible will loose and have their careers destroyed and I will enjoy watching it. This will actually limit CPS power across the country and probably cause children that are really in danger to get hurt. I can just imagine how important the CPS workers felt when the swat teams showed up at the ranch. They were probably just hoping for another Waco to boost tourism. I hope they all rot in hell. There was no emminent danger. No one was being hurt. It needed to be investigated and if there was something illegal then it should have been dealt with on a case by case basis. They have a different culture that the rednecks in the small town did not agree with. The women in the ranch were not treated very well but they were treated better than women in islam- the fasted growing religion in the world.
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