2 June 2008
Judge orders return of polygamist group’s children
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: Constitution in Peril; Judaeo-Christian Values Under Attack .
SAN ANGELO, Texas - A judge on Monday ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from their parents at a polygamist group’s ranch, following the state Supreme Court ruling that the state’s seizure of the youngsters wasn’t justified.
The order signed by Texas District Judge Barbara Walther allowed parents to begin picking up their children from foster care at 10 a.m. CDT.
In exchange for regaining custody, the parents are not being allowed to leave Texas without court permission and must participate in parenting classes. They were also ordered not to interfere with any child abuse investigation and to allow the children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams if required.
7 Comments so far...
Angela Rogin Says:
2 June 2008 at 10:36 am.
When this all started I was a little more on the side of Texas. The polygamists turn my stomach with their way of life. After reading so much about it and all the comments, and after reading The 5000 Year Leap, I see this as a very important decision to protect freedom of religion and also as a major over stepping of civil rights and due process. I am surprisingly glad these children are going back to their parents. But I am also glad that the parents have to take parenting classes. That had better stop the under age marriages.
Jan W. Says:
2 June 2008 at 11:07 am.
CPS is out of control everywhere. All someone has to do who has a grudge is make one phone call and a family’s life becomes hell. CPS is a monster out of control even though a lot of people who work for them have good intentions. It’s like the IRS, a law unto itself.
T. Fan Says:
2 June 2008 at 2:58 pm.
Totally right, Jan. CPS is messed up. Why are so many people outraged at these kids being given back when Texas hasn’t proved its case? Innocent until proven guilty doesn’t even seem to be a factor to a lot of people. Weird how many people no longer care about following the law. Get them mad and they are like a lynch mob. We haven’t come very far in some ways.
Ghost Says:
2 June 2008 at 8:19 pm.
Totally whacked that these people who haven’t been convicted of anything and had their kids taken illegally have to sign all this crap and jump through hoops to get their kids. In my book justice was not totally served.
Cavetrollhead Says:
3 June 2008 at 12:36 am.
Hey Angela,
Way to go on having an open mind despite your gut. I am also sickened by the hypothetical that my precious little girl whom I love so much, and who is a witness to me that god lives, could be forced to marry someone whom she doesn’t want to and that even I don’t want her to. And like you(I am guessing) I believe that those responsible for forcing women and girls into marriage need to be punished. But like you I understand that Rule from the gut is VERY dangerous and an extreme threat to the rule of law and especially the Supreme Law of the Land.
As distasteful as the FLDS religion is to us, their are a lot worse cultural endemics of abuse around, over which which the government realizes it is powerless.
avatar Says:
3 June 2008 at 1:27 am.
Angela, I understand where you’re coming from; I also did not like what I read about the FLDS and its practices. But, if individuals who belong to unpopular groups have no rights, then in short order, none of us will. From the beginning, it seemed strange that all 400+ children had to be seized pending the investigation into whether teenage girls were being married off. After all, half of the children were boys and most of the girls were far too young to be in any immediate danger of being married off. Then, I learned that before the FLDS arrived, Texas law actually allowed 14-year old girls to marry (with parental consent). Lawmakers changed the law deliberately to target the FLDS. For me, the final straw was when it came to light that more than a dozen of the “teenage mothers” seized by the Texas authorities and placed into foster care were actually adults, one of them 27 years old!
Parental classes might be a good idea for all new parents. But, I see no justification for the lower court (which had already been ordered to return the children) forcing such classes onto FLDS parents as a condition for getting their children back, when these parents had not even been charged with doing anything unlawful.
We’re going to hear more about this case.
Angela Rogin Says:
3 June 2008 at 10:27 am.
Thanks for your response guys. It’s great to know there are people around like you who still care about justice.
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