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FLDS mother declared an adult

Well,well, CPS ISN'T infallible!! The rest of the case is just as bad based on make believe evidence.

The state is going to hold her child?? Based on what?? There can't be any possible "abuse" of this baby.
This gets harder to stomach as the case develops.

Someone posted that they thought they would deem her an adult then rip her baby away... They were right. This is sick. Immediate danger to the physical safety of the child (one of the four criteria)? I hope the judge is not Walthers....

So the mother is an adult, so what? Let her go back to the ranch with the other adults, but keep the baby in custody, along with all the other babies who have already been removed from the YFZ ranch. This baby, and any other baby born in the near future to any other adult woman from YFZ is in no less danger of abuse than all the other children who have already been removed. This baby deserves the same level of protection, and any other baby born to any adult woman from the ranch from now until the community is declared safe for children should be removed immediately.

It doesn't matter that she was telling the truth and was an adult all along (though Texas authorities insisted all along that she was underage). Who was lieing?

Of course she's not an adult until Texas authorities certify that she's an adult!

What does this say about the other cases where Texas is insisting pregnant FLDS women are lieing and are really underage? How many adult women do you think they are holding till Texas authorities can certify they are adults?

And it doesn't matter if they are adults or not anyway, they just get to go through their pregnancy knowing the state is just waiting to take their unborn child.

Way to go Texas! Your my hero!

This is soooo sad. I can't imagine how that would feel to have my newborn taken from my arms, not able to nurse or bond with them. I agree with Texas and what they are doing, but this? I thought it was children 5 and above that were put into custody.

Information only - Anyone with an open CPS case with their other child(ren) in custody can expect to have their newborn taken immediately into the foster care system. That is standard procedure across the country.

Does Texas really think they can care for this baby better then the mother? Is the State knowing what is best? They should be thinking of the child. How in heaven's name can they think that the infant is better off in an institution over the care of a loving mother! Shame on Texas again!

I wonder how many days it's been before this hearing today that they've known they're illegally incarcerating an adult?

They need to pickup the cowardly men and take them into custody and let the woman go back to the compound. My opinion is that the FLDS men are NOT REAL MEN! They are pussy foot cowards! And using God for their little religious cult is extremely disgusting! God has nothing whatsoever to do with their warped little sex cult.

To California Foster Mom-

Who cares what "standard procedure" is? This is by no means a standard case. The women are victims and they are being treated like criminals. I deplore what is going on at YFZ ranch but it is barbaric to take newborns away from their mothers because they are part of a strange religion. Let the women and children be! Lock up the men!

Yea, tear a newborn away from its mother. Even if she gets it back in a month or two her milk will have dried up, and the bonding window past.

For the second time in my life, Texas is giving me a lesson on what pure evil is.

Protect ALL the Children - Can I have CPS remove any newborn children in your house because you may be stupid?

Why isn't CPS taking inner city newborns from their mothers who aren't providing for them properly in their minds?

Do you think it's appropriate to confine the newborn and the mother in a CPS office? That hardly sounds like a decent location for a newborn. Can we charge CPS with abuse?

"Information only - Anyone with an open CPS case with their other child(ren) in custody can expect to have their newborn taken immediately into the foster care system. That is standard procedure across the country."

It shouldn't be. The CPS system needs a major overhaul. The sort of thing happening here--the governor using CPS to destroy a religion--is unconstitutional and un-American.

Re - Anonymous "Who cares what "standard procedure" is?"

I believe the people most likely to care are the other expectant FLDS women. Whenever CPS has a standard procedure it is much harder to fight.

This is unconstitutional in various ways:

1. Cruel and unusual punishment for parents and baby.

2. Guilt established by mere association, no real evidence of danger for the baby, no real trial, no innocence unless proven guilty; etc.

I understand having standard procedures, this is not a standard case though. This is horrid. If you must - take them both into custody. This child has a right to be breastfed and bond with his mother.

I do not abide by 'child brides' or polygamy, but I believe this mother and baby deserve not to be separated.

Where is the lawyer? I would be immediately filing on this.

Both the CPS and the FLDS have strategies. In this case, CPS holds pregnant adolescents whether adults or children in disputed custody. They give birth and the babies can be held. Otherwise, if they are adults, they are on the ranch like the rest of the adults. They would give birth at the ranch. The existence of the babies wouldn't even be known to CPS. If it did become known, CPS would obtain a court order and enter the compound and seize the infant and possibly the mother with the offer that they could stay together, but the mother would not be in custody and would be free to go. This would be a mess, because this time the FLDS would photograph the event and broadcast it.

In the second birth, CPS expected to move the mother and infant back to San Angelo where Barbara Walther would put the infant into CPS custody. The husband is trying to get his wife, infant and two children out of custody by showing that the wife is an adult and they are a monogamous family. He got a restraining order against CPS that kept the wife in Austin, a liberal area.

I believe the plan all along was to get the child.
with the woman identified as a child CPS had custody in order to have easy access to the newborn.
They knew she was of age....it was just a manuver to skirt the system......this whole affair is an excuse to bust a cult without the normal restrictions placed on law enforcement.....use the CPS

I feel for this 18-year-old mother, but the sad truth is this group needs to start negotiating pronto with the Texas authorities. They need to A) assure that underage girls will finish school, be given the choice to go to college and not told they will go to hell if they don't marry young. B) Agree to allow authorities to monitor their living arrangements so parents take responsibility for their own kids not shuffle them off to another household. C) Quit having sex with minors. D) Take responsibility for their male children until they turn 18 and provide opportunities for higher education. E) Adhere to child labor laws. F) Face up to the fact that polygamy is illegal and agree to follow the law of the land and not the law of disgraced Warren Jeffs.
In return they can get their families back. They are stubborn and will need to take some drastic measures to keep their children. Hopefully someone in FLDS power will receive a revelation soon to take responsibilty for their situation. All religions have history of adapting to society's will. They can adapt too.

Hey 1:27, King George gives his approval of your master plan.

The Monarchy, or the Rightful Steward and Owner of all children, has the sole discretion when it comes to the often abstract notion of child "protection." If there is any question in the matter, it's best to take the children away. Something "might" happen to them.

After all, it's not like mothers have a fundamental human right to their own flesh-and-blood offspring (and vise-versa). Right?

Ah, how fervently we do believe. Unless we legislate public schools, vaccinations, 3-a-day, mainstream synthetic medicine, and secularized religion, we risk losing the Royal Culture, the One True Way!

Thomas Jefferson is turning over in his grave.

Judged by some standard, maybe our plans for other people's lives are better and safer than their own plans. But the whole point of America was to allow individuals and communities the liberty to figure all that out for themselves without government meddling. It lends human meaning to mere existence.

If there is law-breaking, let's demand more than prank calls as evidence. Suspicion and mistrust aren't good enough.

Seriously, some of you are just as bad as the religious wackos that you persecute.