From Deseret News archives:
Lawmakers cracking down on 'Lost Boys' issue
It appears aimed at the phenomenon of the so-called "Lost Boys" teens who have been ousted from the Fundamentalist LDS Church. HB23, sponsored by Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, makes child abandonment a form of child abuse, and makes it a third-degree felony for anyone or any enterprise to encourage child abandonment.
"We're really focused on the organizations who force these parents to throw away their children in order to be able to to continue to remain part of the community," Fowlke told the Deseret Morning News on Thursday.
Fowlke said she ran the bill at the request of an attorney representing some of the "Lost Boys" who are suing the FLDS Church and its leader, Warren Jeffs. She also consulted with the Utah Attorney General's Office, basing part of the bill on racketeering statutes.
"The bill is aimed at trying to find a way for prosecutors to go after those organizations," Fowlke said.
Advocates say some have wound up living on the streets or crashing with friends and relatives in cramped apartments, while others have gotten in trouble with the law or wound up on drugs. Fowlke co-sponsored legislation last year allowing teens to seek emancipation from the courts in relation to the problem.
The Utah Attorney General's Office hopes HB23 is an incentive for parents to care for their children, and a tool to go after organizations pressuring them to get rid of their children.
"Dropping a 12- or 13-year-old boy in the desert is an awful thing and there should be consequences for it," said Paul Murphy, the attorney general's Safety Net coordinator, who tries to work with polygamous communities grappling with abuse and neglect in the closed societies.
Murphy said it remains to be seen how much impact the law would have. To date, no cases have been brought to the attorney general's office for possible charges.
"Judging from the boys I've talked to, very few would be willing to testify against their parents," he said. "They think their parents are victims."
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
Recent comments
i think its a good idea
bubby | March 11, 2008 at 1:38 p.m.
- Dixie, SLCC notch wins 12:44 a.m.
- Alabama squeaks past Auburn 12:34 a.m.
- UVU, SUU suffer tourney setbacks 12:33 a.m.
- Editorial: Food is not the enemy 12:17 a.m.
- U.S. must has work in Afghanistan 12:17 a.m.
- The winners and the losers 12:17 a.m.
- Beauty is not the same as TV 12:17 a.m.
- Letters: Ethics petition a fraud 12:17 a.m.
- Letters: Global warming a plot 12:17 a.m.
- Letters: Reckless imbalance 12:17 a.m.
- BYU would like friendlier rivalry
264 - Protests against Phoenix LDS temple
211 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Letters: Rushing to judge Palin
133 - Boys basketball rankings
128 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
112 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
109 - Letters: Trump card for believers
93 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
84 - Utah, BYU are top choices for bowls
75
I wanted to tell them not to go. I dropped subtle hints. "My money is on...
When I was a kid, I worshipped my grandpa. He was undoubtedly my hero....
"You are the very epitome of self-indulgence liberal crassness. You care...
I thought it was a great parade. Isn't it the only one in Salt Lake County?...
is struggling in some aspects of his game. We saw what he did last year early...
Having explored caves as a youth and spent 31 yrs working occasionally...
How do the Utes continue to do this? They are bad enough to lose to lousy...
A little help here. Harmon says Utah should be on a 3-0 win streak. I assume...
disgruntled parents need to stay off the blogs...
Honk if you intercepted Max Hall.
however it pertinent to look at their schedule and then look at ours. Because...
and there are no ute fans, only bandwagon fans, nice try though


