Posted on 05/10/2008 7:06:46 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
Texas child welfare attorneys say children were removed from the YFZ Ranch and should not return there because its residents live as one big family and all have the same dangerous belief system. The agency that has taken legal custody of 464 children sent its response Thursday to a petition from dozens of Fundamentalist LDS Church mothers. The petition asks the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals to order Judge Barbara Walther to return the children to their mothers.
"The community has one common belief system that young girls are called on to be wives and no age is too young to be married," wrote Texas Department of Family and Protective Services attorney Michael Shulman. Some adults and children at the ranch described it as "one large community," even though there are several houses at the complex.
"All of the women are called mothers to all of the children in the home, and the children call each other brothers and sisters," the response states.
When a victim of abuse is found inside a home, child welfare investigators have concerns for all of the children in that home. The court filing also states that a polygamous environment "would make a 15- or 16-year-old child highly vulnerable to individuals who are willing to exploit them and take advantage of their child-like qualities."
Previous court rulings have determined that it isn't necessary to prove that a parent personally abused their own child in order to show that a child is in danger, the court documents state.
Texas officials say several teens at the ranch were either pregnant or had children when they were underage. As for the boys and younger children, the agency argues says they are still in danger if allowed to continue living in that environment.
The new filing refers the appeals court to testimony from child psychiatrist Bruce Perry, who described an "unhealthy" belief that it's OK to have sex with and marry young women. "This pervasive practice and belief creates an environment that develops people who have a high potential of replicating sexual abuse of young children as a part of their belief system," the court document states.
"Part of the danger to the boys is that their belief system requires that they follow the prophet," it also stated.
The original petition, filed on behalf of 38 women by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, also argued that an April 17-18 adversary hearing for the children was improperly held "en masse" instead of holding hearings for each individual child. But the agency says the actions of the parents forced the judge to hold the single hearing.
"It is the department's contention that (the mothers), by their conspiracy of silence, purposefully confused the identity of the children, which forced Judge Walther to conduct the proceedings as she did."
The new court papers claim the FLDS women have no legal standing to have the judge reverse her ruling because they have "repeatedly declined" to even identify their children and the fathers.
The document says neither the court nor the child welfare agency should "be forced to play guessing games when the safety and well-being of these children are at stake."
The agency argued in the court filing that all the mothers had an opportunity, through their attorneys, to confront and cross-examine the witnesses during the April 17-18 hearing. To hold individual hearings would have taken weeks or even months and would have been an "extraordinary waste of judicial resources."
In removing the children, attorneys for the mothers say the judge failed to consider less restrictive options such as ordering the men ("the alleged perpetrators of abuse") to leave the ranch or ordering mothers and their children to live elsewhere during the investigation.
The agency argues that if the state does not have physical custody of the children, what's to prevent the mothers from leaving the state with them? It also asks how the court could know for certain which child legally belongs to whom.
As "the largest child protection case documented in the history of the United States," DFPS or, CPS as it is commonly called, said the sheer numbers of FLDS children prevented them from pursuing other options it might have considered in a more typical case.
As for possible temporary restraining orders against men at the ranch, DCFS says that wasn't practical. "How could the department have identified the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators when the evidence demonstrated that the entire male and female population at the YFZ Ranch had been enculturated into the belief that underage marriage was sacrosanct?"
The Court of Appeals could rule on the issues in the petition or may hold a hearing to consider arguments.
FLDS Ping
Our government can now take people away based on their “belief system”?
FDLS: Bring ‘em Young University.
When they break the laws of our country? YES!!!
Part of the danger to the boys is that their belief system requires that they follow the prophet
CPS needs to walk a fine line or this crosses over to an attack or religion.
There are legitimate reasons for the state to act in this case. This particular cults belief system is not one of them. The state of Texas just shot itself in the foot with that lame argument. They should read the 1st amendment sometime.
The state can use its police powers to controls actions, but not thoughts or beliefs - particularly religious ones!
Scary, isn't it? While in this case, I think that separating the children from their parents might not have been a bad idea, one must wonder how far this policy might extend. Could it be that some liberal judge will issue a warrant and the authorities will be knocking my door down any moment now? Perhaps conservative thinking will be forbidden in the future.
Our government can now take people away based on their “belief system”?
Yep..... You know things like murder, rape, other felony acts. Hell people fled Europe to these shores based upon their belief system. In other words a belief system is basic to things people do.
My boss, who is politically liberal and supports Obama (He says that no one but Obama is “addressing” the really important “issues”) says that people should have to get a license to become a parent. He says we license drivers and this is way more important than driving. He didn’t believe, as I said, that the system would be taken over by a group of people who would try to use it to reengineer society according to their own political beliefs. I’d guess that the reason he couldn’t see that danger is the same reason that he thinks only Obama is “addressing” the “real issues.”
The Dept. of Pre-Crime strikes again.
LOL! Good one!!!
What about the "lost boys"? That is a real tragedy. The ZOMBIE women of this cult are rotten parents and in my opinion, all of those children are in jeopardy.
Did you actually read the article?
susie
Islam has the same belief system that no bride is too young. Mohammed married a 6 year old. Imam point out that Mohammed is a great man because he waited until she was 8 to consumate the marriage.
Is the “Desert News” a real newspaper or an lds propaganda paper?
Does it preach to it's adherents to ignore common and established state law to protect minor females?
Does it create a belief that these laws should be ignored?
Does it 'program' young people to be sexual objects for the delight of old perverts?
By what standard of our society - standards we have established for the growth and raising of children, is marrying off 14 year old girls to nasty reprobates a good thing?
These people are not members of minority groups, where do they get off thinking milking the welfare system is a good thing?
Members of Islamic cults also push under aged children into arranged marriages with old family members, is that acceptable?
Till I see Texas screwing up, I'll continue to say: God Bless Texas!
Wait until fearless leader tries to create a more ethnically equivalent society with mandated birth supression patches and enforced abortion. Get us to China’s “1 child” policy. The state cannot raise more than one of your wards at a time, at least under current tax schemes. < /s >
A propaganda paper owned and operated by Mormons, who's founder who practiced the raping of young girls as an old old man.
One would assume that pelvic exams were conducted on all of the female children to determine if underage sexual activity was evident. Positive evidence of such would be a blanket condemnation of the belief system and resulting environment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.