Posted on 05/11/2008 4:27:12 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Mental health workers sent to emergency shelters in San Angelo last month to help care for the hundreds of women and children removed from a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch have sharply criticized the Child Protective Services operation, telling their governing board it unnecessarily traumatized the kids.
The CPS investigation of suspected child abuse and its decision to seek state custody of all 464 children punished mothers who appeared to be good parents of healthy, well-behaved and emotionally normal kids, workers said in a set of short and unsigned written reports made at the request of the board after a briefing Tuesday.
Threatened arrests All nine reports by employees of the Hill Country Community Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center expressed varying degrees of anger toward the state's child welfare agency for removing the children from their community, separating them from their mothers or for the way CPS workers conducted themselves at the shelter.
A few described ongoing tension between the two groups of social workers, including threats by CPS to have interfering MHMR workers arrested.
"I have worked in Domestic Violence/Sexual Abuse programming for over 20 years and have never seen women and children treated this poorly, not to mention their civil rights being disregarded in this manner," one wrote.
The workers spent several days in San Angelo, some shortly after the April 3 search of the Yearning for Zion Ranch prompted by a sexual abuse complaint, during the chaotic opening of a shelter in the city's coliseum, or in the days leading up to the children's dispersal to foster care facilities across the state later that month.
"The entire MH support staff was 'fired' the second week; we were sent home due to being 'too compassionate,' " one report stated.
The state has argued that enough evidence of "spiritual marriages," pregnancy and childbirth by underage girls at the ranch exists to seek permanent removal of all the children from their parents because of the risk of child abuse.
The compound was built to house members of a breakaway Mormon sect called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
To respond to the allegations, CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said via e-mail: "We have received no complaints from Hill Country MHMR. However, we will be looking into what are obviously very serious allegations, and sharing these allegations with other agencies as appropriate."
The MHMR workers helped staff large shelters in San Angelo where mothers were at first allowed to stay with the children. Only mothers of younger children were allowed to remain after the first few days.
All the MHMR workers described themselves as impressed by the mothers they worked with. Many of them described child welfare workers as high-handed, rude or uncaring toward the mothers and overzealous in their concerns that they might escape or harm their keepers.
Two reported that the CPS workers were friendly and compassionate.
Three reported that CPS workers lied to the mothers; one described it as a tactic to make separating them from their children go easier. Several said the mothers were denied access to their lawyers.
Some of the MHMR workers said the crowded conditions at the shelter allowed upper respiratory infections and chicken pox to spread rapidly and many noted the shelter's other discomforts. One described it as deliberate, a form of coercion to aid the investigation: "The more uncomfortable they were the more CPS thought they would talk."
Needed to communicate Kevin Dinnin, the president of Baptist Children and Family Services who served as incident commander at the shelter under a contract between his agency and the state, said he couldn't confirm many of the allegations made by the MHMR workers.
"Some of it is unfounded," he said. "Some of it is accurate, depending on your point of view. Were the shelters crowded? Yeah. But it's a shelter. And yes, CPS workers were taking notes and listening. Yes, they were always around. I'm not defending CPS, but it's hard to give people privacy in a shelter."
The CPS and the MHMR staff could have reduced tensions with better communication, Dinnin said.
The written statements were given to the Hill Country MHMR board anonymously because the workers had signed agreements not to disclose what they had seen, said board member Jack Dawson.[? - BL}
"What they saw was so horrendous, they had to report it to the board," said Dawson, a Comal County commissioner. "I have every confidence their stories are accurate. Our people are professionals, with years and years of service in their fields."
Board President John Kite said the entire board was upset by the reports. He said he is trying to get Gov. Rick Perry to meet with the workers.
"We were literally astounded at what they told us," Kite said. "They are trampling all over human decency and those people's civil rights. ... We should not just sit here and let it happen."
Express-News staff writer Nancy Martinez contributed to this repor
So if the mental health workers had their way, the children would continue to be abused. Sounds like a practical way of drumming up future business.
Doesn't matter....here on FR we believe in collective guilt and guilt by association. (How long will be be before someone accuses me of supporting child rape?)
they’re all named
smith
and the cps is at fault?
/s
Back in the 80s, in support of one close to me, I sat through a court hearing where I heard a social worker (or child psychologist? I do not remember) testify about "separation trauma' for young children and how it was indistinguishable from various other traumas.
These CPS workers will have a LOT to answer for, the day they stand before the judgment throne.
Ain't that the ever lovin truth.
So if the mental health workers had their way, the children would continue to be abused. Sounds like a practical way of drumming up future business”
No one has proven anything as of yet...oh..I get it..they are simply child rape supporters too...
Seems like you and me are about the only FReepers who are shocked that in America a whole bunch of innocent children can be rounded up at gunpoint, ripped from their mothers, with no due process. If they wanted to punish someone, why didn't they round up all the men?
FreeRepublic used to be a place where people came to commiserate against governmental tyranny but of late it has turned into a love fest for the heavy handed tactics of the gov’t of TX and a hate fest for anything having to do with Mormonism.
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. Meanwhile, the mental health workers were made to sign an agreement that they would not talk but they couldn't let the way those kids and their moms were treated go unnoticed . . . for what it's worth. The TX CPS can in no way let anything or anyone expose their wrongdoing. It's too late. The dye is cast.
Poor little kids.
We will have to ignore these people, because we don't know who they are so we can call them child molesters to their face.
Seriously, it's nice to see a few people who are willing to publicly air the concerns many of us have raised here. And judging by the reaction here to even raising the question, I understand why these workers would stay shielded. They'd probably lose their jobs.
The women and their children look clean.
IN the early days, weren’t their reports of cell phones posted to you-tube, and the resulting outrage resulting in the CPS moving the group to a different location and confiscating the cell phones so nobody could document any further abuse?
It’s nice to see some are still concerned with this process.
I have hoped that it was just other freepers were smarter than me and knew to stay out of threads run by the CPS caucus people.
This isn’t new, over the years there have been several cases where CPS workers were a very big problem. One case involved a day care center and in the end it was proven the CPS folks coached the kids and asked them questions in such a way the kids gave them what they wanted. Problem was none of it was true.
Maybe there are three of us FReepers who didn’t like the government raid with guns and a tank and no due process. Before this article, I thought I was the only one. I think it has a lot to do with anti Mormon - even though these FLDS people are not Mormons.
Meanwhile, there are little girls being raped by step-fathers, uncles, you name him - all over America - and these little girls are shipped off to Planned Parenthood where the evidence is destroyed by abortion. And the same CPS type people cry PRIVACY PRIVACY PRIVACY! They won’t even cooperate in prosecuting these old disgusting dirty creepy rapists! And society turns the other way.
Go figure.
Yes, I am shocked that Freepers aren't screaming bloody murder en masse about this whole Big Brother operation. What the Texas authorities have done has so much Socialist, Totalitarianism written all over it, that I would think the good people would be appalled.
Using the term “spiritual marriage” as a pejorative is disgusting. Marriages are supposed to be spiritual. This is really just another attack on marriage by the political left. One does not need to defend polygamy or young brides to be opposed to the Gestapo-like tactics of the Texas CPS.
And what is with this bigotry against so-called “older men”? In many cultures around the world, young women will only marry men who have already become financially secure. Does this mean that the US is going to start invading countries that practice polygamy and arranged marriages for the purpose of preventing “abuse” and “spiritual marriage”? I doubt it.
I watched Judge Andrew Napolitano on Fox News give his opinion that the Texas authorities actions in this matter are clearly unconstitutional.
Multiple wrongs don't make a right. There certainly could have been other ways to handle this. It would appear that there was no effort made to find other, less traumatic solutions.
The photo reminds me of the Jews being loaded onto trains. Looks like one woman is crying and the children look scared. Their worst nightmares came true that day.
Whoa!!! There are four of us. I am shocked. Where were you guys when I was getting murdered for criticizing this government raid on innocent children? Reminded me of Janet Reno kidnapping Elian Gonzales at gunpoint.
Thank you.
I thought that way too but when you find underage kids having been pregnant, with one even having a kid while in state custody, what other conclusion can you reach?
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