• "At least five mothers reported that at night CPS circled their beds, held flashlights in their faces and then would sit inches away from them as they tried to sleep. Mothers reported they were scared CPS would take their children during the night, thus leaving them and their children exhausted."

• "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. It makes us all wonder how safe anyone is who has children."

• "At one point I headed toward the public restroom and was immediately grabbed by the arm by a CPS worker who told me to use the port-a-potties outside the rock wall 'because we don't know what kind of diseases these people might have and we don't want to catch anything from them.' I was later told it had been determined that STDs were rampant among the women because of their promiscuous lifestyle. I did not believe that information since I knew none of the women had submitted to examination."

• "Unlike many of my colleagues, most of my interactions with CPS workers were pleasant and enlightening. Many of the ladies and gentlemen in San Angelo were genuinely confused as to why their agency was placing so much energy into the removal of these children. On a number of occasions, I saw CPS workers trying to build a healthy relationship with the children and mothers."

• "The picture had been painted of a large group of women and children that had been brainwashed and abused. To my surprise, when I entered the Fort Concho shelter the morning of April 9, I found a group of healthy, happy children and loving caring mothers."

• "For me, on a personal level, the most difficult aspect of the entire experience was the apparent lies being told to the mothers. I myself felt the inconsistency in information when we had been told that special needs children were to be allowed to stay with their mothers and, yet, by that afternoon, that was no longer the case. This left me in a strange position in which I felt compelled to voice the needs of these children and their mothers. This was met with less than enthusiastic response and after I spoke out for the children, I was asked to either leave the bus or be arrested."

• "Some who were previously sullen or reluctant to speak would brighten when they learned we were not CPS."

• "The children laughed easily and gave eye contact. They had none of the traditional withdrawal common in abused children."