Posted on 06/04/2008 4:25:34 PM PDT by FreeInWV
Removing 460 children from a polygamist sect compound and then reuniting them with their families will cost Texas $7 million, according to the state Department of Family and Protective Services.
The children were ordered returned to their families this week after the Texas Supreme Court found that the state did not have enough evidence to show that abuse was happening at the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado.
Custody Battle Over Sect ChildrenMike Stone, ReutersA woman and two children from a polygamist sect in Eldorado, Texas, prepare to return home Tuesday after sect children were ordered reunited with their families. The order followed a Texas Supreme Court ruling that authorities had no grounds to remove 460 children from the sect.
The price tag includes costs from fighting a court battle to retain custody of the children, attempting to determine their parentage through DNA testing and reuniting the children with their parents.
The $7 million does not include more than $500,000 in estimated costs incurred by local governments whose law enforcement agencies were involved in the April 3 ranch raid, according to a budgetary presentation given to Texas lawmakers last month.
The raid was prompted by an anonymous caller who claimed that men at the ranch were involved in sexual relationships with young girls.
The ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy. Child welfare officials said they found a "pervasive pattern" of sexual abuse through forced marriages between underage girls and older men. FLDS members have denied that any sexual abuse occurred and say they are being persecuted because of their religion.
Albert Hawkins, executive commissioner of Texas Health and Human Services, told the state Senate Finance Committee that as of May 15, the state had spent more than $5.2 million to provide food, shelter and counseling to the FLDS children. The bulk of those costs included employee overtime and transportation, Hawkins said.
Meanwhile, a state district judge told senators that legal costs in the case had topped $2.2 million. Most of that burden falls on Tom Green County, where the district court hearings were taking place, and Schleicher County, where the ranch is located, said Judge Ben Woodward, according to a Senate statement.
Neither county, Woodward said, has the money to cover the legal costs. "We're at a point now where we're going to start limping along pretty badly," he said.
The court costs estimate, presented to the Senate on May 20, does not appear to reflect the cost of an appeal handled by the Texas 3rd District Court of Appeals. The appeals court overturned the district court's ruling that the children should remain in state custody.
For comparison, $7 million would pay for 137 police officers in the city of Mesquite, Texas, at a salary of $51,060, according to a figure from a job posting. It would also pay for 180 new teachers at the average statewide salary of $38,857 given by the Texas State Board for Educator Certification and would more than double resources available for a state program aimed at children of incarcerated parents, according to the state's budget for fiscal 2008-09. In that budget, the program receives $5 million.
Texas Child Protective Services referred all questions about the costs of the operation to the state's Health and Human Services department. In response to the Texas Supreme Court ruling last week, CPS said in a statement that it "has one purpose in this case: to protect the children. Our goal is to reunite families whenever we can do so and make sure the children will be safe."
The removal of the children was thought to be the largest child protection case in the nation's history. If they had remained in state custody, Hawkins told lawmakers, the estimated monthly cost for their care would have been $1.3 million.
District Judge Barbara Walther, who decided after a chaotic hearing last month that the state would retain custody of the children, also ordered DNA testing to identify parents and children, as child protection officials said they were thwarted by FLDS members who gave them conflicting or misleading information about their names, ages and familial ties.
Those DNA test results, obtained by a North Carolina lab, were beginning to come in Tuesday, the Child Support Division of the Texas Attorney General's Office said. The lab was starting to deliver reports to the court, the office said, and CPS should have them by the end of the week.
Some 599 DNA samples were taken, the office said. Of those, only 36 were of adult males. Now that the children are being returned, CPS will decide how to use the results in its continuing case involving its oversight of the FLDS.
State Sen. Steve Ogden told officials during the hearing that the final costs would probably be more than the estimated figures presented.
"The cost of this operation is going to be a lot more than is on this sheet of paper," he said. "It doesn't reflect what is going on now, and there are huge legal costs out there that we haven't even discussed yet."
He asked officials to rework their analyses of future costs so the state isn't caught by surprise when the next legislative session begins in January.
However, all that is largely a moot point now, as FLDS children were allowed to reunite with their families beginning Monday. Though the state Supreme Court upheld the ruling that the state had no right to seize the 460 children, the justices said that court oversight of the FLDS could be accomplished through other means.
Also during the hearing, state Sen. Bob Duell questioned whether Texas could force FLDS adults to bear some of the costs. However, given the subsequent court decisions, it appears unlikely the FLDS could be forced to bear any financial responsibility.
To those familiar with FLDS history, the raid called to mind a 1953 mass arrest in the hamlet of Short Creek on the Utah-Arizona state line. More than 400 FLDS members were arrested and more than 200 children taken into foster care. However, news photographs of wailing mothers and children won public sympathy, and the raid backfired on then-Arizona Gov. Howard Pyle, who ordered it. In the next election, Pyle was voted out of office.
"For 50 years, [the FLDS] used the Short Creek raid as [a] reason to keep their people secretive and isolated," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told the Los Angeles Times in a story Saturday. "We said that was not going to happen again. Well, it has happened again."
Eldorado residents, meanwhile, expressed frustration with the outcome of the raid and the court's finding that the state had no right to remove the children.
"I said from the word go, if there's sex with underage girls, nail their butt," Curtis Griffin, owner of the local fuel depot, told the Los Angeles Times. "But nail the right people. We're going to wind up with a $30 million bill here in this little county because these people didn't have their ducks in a row."
In situations like this, a discerning person can also notice a lot of ironic, backward misinterpretation of religiosity on the part of many secular people.
That is still the spousal SS benefits, not the dependents benefits. If they kick the boy out, and have no other dependents then the spouse loses her SS benefits.
Let me get this straight. According to your and CPS's reasoning, Sarah Barlow went to Colorado and used Courtney Swintons phone to make phone calls over a period of weeks claiming to be abused in the YFZ compound. She continued to make calls for days while the raid was on going, still claiming to be in YFZ, even after all the women and children had been detained.
If you can explain how Sarah could be in Colorado and Texas at the same time and then disappear, never to be heard from again. I will become an ardent CPS defender, apologize for all of my posts, and promise never to doubt anything you post. LOL
If you can't provide a rational explanation, may I suggest that you look up True Believer Syndrome. It is a very apt description of your condition.
Are you saying that the secular people are the anti FLDS or the posters who are trying to defend the constitution?
Sometimes when people think they are smart, they repeat themselves in succession.
Isn't the definition of insanity, repeating yourself and expecting different results?
I sent you a link to an article, highlighting the portion that stated the caller, who identified herself as “Sarah”, stated she was the ‘wife’ of Merrill Jessop.
All along, we have been told the man’s name was Dale Barlow. That was the one and only thing I was trying to point out.
End of story.
When he tried to obtain a Medicaid card, Gideon Barlow learned that his 73-year-old father was drawing Social Security funds in Gideon’s name. Social Security allows retirement-age parents to collect money to help support children ages 16 or younger who are living at home.
I have no idea if any of Dan Barlow's spouses receive social security benefits, either on their own work record or on Dan's.
How old was Gideon Barlow? Money from SS for minors is deducted from the SS recipient, it is not extra money. Your story doesn't make any sense.
All along, we have been told the man’s name was Dale Barlow. That was the one and only thing I was trying to point out.
Are you simply trying to say that the CPS can't get their facts straight? If you are, then I agree.
LOL, I give up.
Have a nice life.
Exactly. They'll be surprised when CPS decides to remove children in houses with guns...or that are Christians...or that don't support various social causes.
Too bad there won't be anyone left to object when that happens.
Commonguymd: “Sometimes when people think they are smart, they repeat themselves in succession.”
LeGrande: “Isn’t the definition of insanity, repeating yourself and expecting different results?”
I would really really like to know why some of you think the children aren’t safer at home.
To get them out of imminent danger as the judge and CPS like to tell people, this is who they ended up being exposed to.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65538
“Billy Dan Carroll, a 53-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a court-reporting firm, filmed himself having sex with several kids between the ages of 3 and 15, the Austin American Statesman reported.”
I wonder who here, is on the Carroll rolodex?
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies
#
Texas agency under magnifying glass over sect raid
Monday, June 02, 2008 5:43:07 AM · 25 of 29
commonguymd to Awestruck
...it takes an “aroused” overzealous governmental village, with volunteers like this guy:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65538
“Billy Dan Carroll, a 53-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a court-reporting firm, filmed himself having sex with several kids between the ages of 3 and 15, the Austin American Statesman reported.”
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies
#
Woman linked to calls that triggered FLDS raid claims life of abuse
Monday, June 02, 2008 5:26:47 AM · 55 of 55
commonguymd to Sacajaweau
The pedophilia circle were running low so they had to get some low hanging fruit from the flds compound.
To get them out of imminent danger as the judge and CPS like to tell people, this is who they ended up being exposed to.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65538
“Billy Dan Carroll, a 53-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a court-reporting firm, filmed himself having sex with several kids between the ages of 3 and 15, the Austin American Statesman reported.”
I wonder who here, is on the Carroll rolodex?
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies
#
Children Return to Polygamist Cult- Just in Time for June Wedding Season
Monday, June 02, 2008 5:20:39 AM · 27 of 34
commonguymd to Alice in Wonderland
To get them out of imminent danger as the judge and CPS like to tell people, this is who they ended up being exposed to.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65538
“Billy Dan Carroll, a 53-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a court-reporting firm, filmed himself having sex with several kids between the ages of 3 and 15, the Austin American Statesman reported.”
The pedophilia circles must have been running low on fresh meat so the CPS folks had to go get a new batch of low hanging fruit at the flds compound. Just beautiful.
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies
#
Child welfare in Texas
Monday, June 02, 2008 5:13:32 AM · 2 of 29
commonguymd to rellimpank
To get them out of imminent danger as the judge and CPS like to tell people, this is who they ended up being exposed to.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65538
Billy Dan Carroll, a 53-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a court-reporting firm, filmed himself having sex with several kids between the ages of 3 and 15, the Austin American Statesman reported.
The pedophilia circles must have been running low on fresh meat so the CPS folks had to go get a new batch of low hanging fruit at the flds compound.
I wonder who is on the Carroll rolodex?
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies
The state’s red-headed stepchild
Sunday, June 01, 2008 9:19:31 PM · 164 of 181
commonguymd to LeGrande
I wonder how many of the most ardent CPS supporters are on the Carroll rolodex?
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 163 | View Replies
#
The state’s red-headed stepchild
Sunday, June 01, 2008 8:58:28 PM · 160 of 181
commonguymd to LeGrande
Sure they attract the wrong types, and when the supply to abuse runs low in the “child protection” circles they go after the low hanging fruit like flds.
If someone doubts me read this AGAIN:
Billy Dan Carroll, a 53-year-old entrepreneur and founder of a court-reporting firm, filmed himself having sex with several kids between the ages of 3 and 15, the Austin American Statesman reported.
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 159 | View Replies
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.