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Joyful reunion — FLDS children can't get enough hugs as they join their mom

Let's not tolerate those who are eager in making this type child seizure common place. In every state, the child protection racket needs to be reigned in, and re-focused on real abuse.

"To err on the side of the children" is a naturally applied deception made by those who profit by taking children from good parents. It is not in the interest of children to be separated unless the immediate threat of physical abuse can be shown before-hand. Some abuse cannot be predicted, regardless of how clairvoyant a CPS agent believes himself to be.

Not only does this judge need to disqualified from presiding over future FLDS cases, she needs to be removed altogether.

Sign the petition to have her impeached. Google gopetition walther.

I certainly hope that things turn out well for Sarah and her children. However, I cannot help but wonder about something key to this imbroglio. Sarah's 'spiritual husband' is twice her age. Will she allow aging FLDS men to 'marry' her daughters, too? Has the eldest girl, 13, already been offered for marriage? Does Sarah still revere Warren Jeffs? This article would have been much more newsworthy if such questions had been asked.

I am really glad the children are going home.
I think the article was written just the way it should have been. It is not a time to wonder about questions , It is a time to share the joy of a family back together again.

In a year's time, Becca could be married and pregnant.

Thank God for the legal aid people who fought tirelessly to get a terrible wrong partly corrected. How great it is to see these children back where they belong, in their mothers arms. Never again should the American people have to witness another government persecution such as this. The FLDS kidnapping is but the tip of the CPS abuse that goes on every day in the USA. It is time to disband these tyrannical agencies.

Kudos to the writer. This warm piece is a nice break from mean-spirited writing we often find here. Thank you, Deseret News.

I find polygamy repugnant, but I am even more disturbed by the unconstitutional actions of Judge Barbara Walther and feel she should be impeached and removed from the bench. There is a petition for her impeachment which you can find by googling Impeach Judge Walther.

Why is it wrong to be married at age 15,16,17, or 18? Throughout history people have gotten married after adolescing. That is only natural as once you're able to have babies, and you have a sex drive, you want to get married. In the 19th century for some unknown reason, girls didn't have their menses until age 18, now they have it much earlier. I just don't see what the big deal is. (By the way I am not Mormon).

There's no doubt that the FLDS marriage practices need to be changed, but for the state to apply blanket measures to hundreds of children was a gross miscariage of justice that the Texas Supreme Court recognized and overturned. I hope that the judge responsible for the original ruling has been sufficently shamed before her collegues to preclude her sitting on any more important cases for the rest of her career. What a shame. Individual justice for all.

You need to keep up on things, Interloper. FLDS have issued a statement saying that underage marriage is no longer permitted. I can't remember the exact wording, but the FLDS themselves are renouncing it.

To the FLDS - I am so sorry this happened to you. I have prayed daily for you and especially for your children - I continue to pray that no real harm has come to them and that they are able to heal from the emotional abuse they suffered at the hands of the State of Texas and CPS. God forgive them.

Please post the pics that Abe helped take. :)

It's heartbreaking to comprehend what these little children were made to unnecessarily suffer by being violently separated from their families, and it is clear there are emotional wounds for these chidren and their mothers cope with now the rest of their lives.
How can anyone rationalize the trauma not being covered in a more "newsworthy" way? At what point do we decide where "newsworthy" begis and common human DECENCY is thrown in the garbage can? How does the American general public allow this crime against humanity to take place without ther being more outrage?

I was really beginning to wonder about my, perhaps, misguided faith in the "American Way" when all these events began to happen. Especially alarming were the letters to the editor by ordinarily good people who seemed to be sanctioning the actions of Texas authorities carte blanche. NO child ought to be removed from his/her parents in this country until something more substantial than a hoax of suspicion has been clearly displayed. What a miracle it was that no one of the FLDS community lost their heads and took up arms - it speaks something of their basic goodness. No one supports the child marriage thing by any stretch of the imagination, but this whole episode has been a serious travesty of justice from the get go. There could have been a less traumatic method of "fixing" the bug without uprooting the whole forest. This country condoned one serious episode of religious genocide with my forefathers in Nauvoo, Illinois and surrounding in the early 1800's. May this country never engage itsself in such mischief against its own loyal citizenry ever again, God so help us.

Another example of how intolerant society can be when looking at people who look different or act different. The judge was a complete joke starting with her initial approval of action to be taken. Based on what? I really hope the legal team from the FLDS sect and the the ACLU pursue this case for many months. I hope the state officials and the judge face some sort of accountability.

It seems that 18 inditements are being considered by the grand jury, so the show will go on.
Re. Interloper: If you are refering to the Sarah in this article she is 37 years old and can make the decision about "spiritual" anything with whomever she wishes. Sarah may also worship as she pleases.
As far as her children, when they are of legal age they may marry whomever they please and at the age of 17 consent to sex with whomever they chose.
Not much can be done about the choices these people make.....it's still a free country.

What a beautiful story. I am sorry they can't go back to the ranch, but it is probably for the best right now. I am hopeful that each family will be reunited quickly.

I agree about Judge Walthers, she may be a fine judge in other respects but she needs to be removed from any interaction with this case. A judge is supposed to be impartial. She obviously isn't.

Why is it any of your business when a 21+ woman marries a 40+ man and has her first child at 24? What additional information do you require?

Go talk to Larry King who is happily married to someone LESS than half his age. And then get a life.

Interloper: So what if Sarah's "spiritual husband" is twice her age if she WANTED to marry him? So what if she "allows aging FLDS men to marry her daughters" if they WANT to marry them? Demi Moore is 16 years older than her husband. South Carolina's Senator Strom Thurmond is 66 and married Nancy Janice Moore, 22, a former Miss South Carolina. Reference your comment "has her 13 daughter already been offered in marriage". Many countries arrange marriages of teenagers, just so the marriage is not consumated until everyone is of legal age - and the children (upon being adults) can change their minds.

As for Warren Jeffs - she can "revere" him all she wants, just so she does not do anything he says that is counter to the law. People still have the right to follow and believe an idiot if they want to.

A few parts of this story struck me:

1) The husband had been kicked out of the church and told to leave his family behind, but came back to help his wife get the kids back.

2) She did not return to the ranch, but yet got a new home and job - sounds kind of permanent to me.

3) The story does not go into the future plans for this family. Is the husband coming back into the family? Will they ever return to the ranch? The reporter dropped the ball here. This family seems happy to start a new life.

Interesting!

The only things that will change at the ranch are the level of secrecy and the level of discipline for those who break the secrecy: they will increase in severity.