From Deseret News archives:

Texas appeals to state Supreme Court in FLDS case

Published: Friday, May 23, 2008 2:06 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Texas child welfare authorities have filed an appeal with the Texas Supreme Court challenging yesterday's appeals court decision that ordered the return of children seized from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.

Attorneys representing 38 FLDS mothers told the Deseret News they are already drafting a response.

Rod Parker, a Salt Lake attorney representing the FLDS Church, said any appeal by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services would be an uphill battle.

"They ought to take a step back and think about what they're doing here and if it's really best for the children in the face of what's happened to them so far and their inability to produce any evidence," he said.

"This is an agency that's out of control."

In the first paragraph of its appeal, attorneys for DFPS wrote: "This case is about adult men commanding sex from underage children; about adult women knowingly condoning and allowing sexual abuse of underage children; about the need for the department to take action under difficult, time-sensitive and unprecedented circumstances to protect children on an emergency basis ... "

It also questions the appeals court's order to return the children "without giving the court the opportunity to determine which parents are entitled to possession of which children."

Story continues below
The department has complained that children switched names and both children and mothers have refused to answer questions about identities of family relationships, making it difficult to determine which child belongs to which parents.

The Texas department asks the Supreme Court to stay the appeals court order and keep the children where they are in foster facilities until the high court considers their arguments. It argues the more than 450 children will "suffer irreparable harm" if the appellate court order is followed and says the children "will be at risk of sexual and emotional abuse" if returned to their parents.

The appeal repeats allegations of a "pattern of girls reporting that there was no age too young" to be married and boys at the ranch are groomed to be "perpetrators."

DFPS identified five underage girls from "Bishop's Records" that are pregnant or had conceived a child, including one girl who was 13 when she conceived a child.

"By necessity, the record establishes that not only children as young as age 13 were pregnant but also that men must have engaged in the sexual abuse of children at least nine months before, if not at an even earlier age," the court document states.

Recent comments

The CPS is truly out of control . Not just in Texas .It is all over...

Ray | June 2, 2008 at 4:01 p.m.

Wow. Cognitive dissonance, anyone?

The CPS is government....

Matt | May 28, 2008 at 6:41 p.m.

With only a fifth grade education and years of a culturally...

Truth is hard to hear. | May 28, 2008 at 4:56 a.m.

Related content
previousnext

Latest comments

STOP blaming the Democrats, BLAME THE REPUBLICANS FOR 8 YEARS DOING NOTHING...

The best way to break the law is to become someone who enforces the law.

It's a real shame so many folks have never gotten out and gotten to know the...

It's all talk... you do not have any evidence for your claims. You assume...

Maybe if you could bat .408 in the major leagues, you too would be paid a...

I prefer the “Wizard of Earthsea” quartet by Ursula Le Guin, an...

Water wars in Snake Valley

The bottom line question that no one can possibly answer is; what will be the...

It looks to me like special treatment.

Jazz will have a tough week, with what should be a easy win against the...

I am very excited for this game. As much as I want the Utes to win, it won't...

Advertisements
Advertisement