Comments about ‘Officials plan to group FLDS kids in homes’

"Treading lightly and with caution". Too late, Ms. Pulliam. You heard about an anonymous phone call in March, and raided the ranch in April without bothering to investigate if it was authentic (it's not). Was this an oversight, or did your preconcieved beliefs about what was happening in the ranch blind you to the rule of law? Or is the Texas CPS above the law?
You have opened the State of Texas up to a lawsuit which could be very expensive to the taxpayers. You have removed 416 children from their parents. Now you talk about treading lightly.
Which is the greater evil; Having a teenage girl impregnated by a 20 year old playa who has no intention of marriage and leaves her with no father for the child and most likely on welfare for most of her life, or a middle age man who marries a teenage bride and provides for her the rest of his life? (Note I said both are evil. I do not support polygamy. I just belive a heavy handed Machiavellian government is an even greater evil)

Probably the best foster placement for these kids would be their own homes with their own fathers and mothers.

The states strategy is now clear. As they were not able to get at the sect directly, theyre using the children as pawns. They can detain them without evidence and hold them for years without trial. At each step they will dangle the children in front of the mothers, and the mothers, some of them, will fall for it. Some went to the womens shelter, some will leave the ranch and get jobs, believing if they do so the state will look favorably on them. Some will submit DNA when the state has no right to it, not realizing that the state just wants it to prosecute them, as having gone in there with no case, they now have to manufacture one. The children are pawns; if theyre traumatized by all this, the state could care less.

This whole thing is about teenage girls being married off. Why are the boys being held under constructive arrest? Why are the small children being held? There is no allegation they are being married off.

Why are the civil rights of all these kids and parents being violated?

If they were Baptists Texas would leave them alone, this is religious bigotry, plain and simple. It is not about the kids at all, they are just an excuse.

The Government has went to far

These texas rangers just have to get another life, the texas rangers out lived itself, get with the times, should be on border patrol where the real crime is, durgs etc. and on horse back.
From what I read it sounds like you (texans) most likly did the wrong move on the FLDS ranch, armed to the teeth, did,nt look too good on TV. The FLDS folks now living not so good conditions, not clean like they are use to, sent them back home. Go into the inter city and take DNA,s, or anyother place in this county and see what you get.

So TX CPS is going to try to farm out the children and teen moms in family groups, huh? After seeing their work ethics in "investigating the situation" and their "informing the moms" about the reasons for Friday's "temporary meeting to make announcements and relate information" before the surprise forced separations, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for CPS to honor their words in this regard, either.

Something is wrong with this situation.I don'tthink we have rite to take children from there parents on hersay. this situation should have been handled differently maybe with some research first.

Send home everyone not indanger of being married off in 60 days!!! That is the law--there must be imminent danger within that time to hold them... Religious INTOLERANCE to other factors that are within the law (not the teenagers pregnant or married)... Now the judge has 1 YEAR to make these cases.. That is one minute too long for the little ones.. How long are the nursing moms going to stay before Tx rips their babies from them? You CANNOT give burden of proof the babies are in danger or the preschoolers and under in age..even CPS'S psychiatrist Perry said REUNIFICAITON!!

Re: Manhori
If it were Baptists they would have had the dad in jail even if he were proven innocent and the children already miles away never to be seen in a long time.. I have not seen TX CPS kind to anyone--even the truely innocent.

Shame! Shame! Shame! on Texas. I am LDS and do not condone this group or polygamy. But - taking these children from their mothers and siblings is terribly wrong. Take care of the men and their dealings if you must be involved. Leave these poor children alone, send them back to their mothers and families. It's not the states business to check everyone's DNA. That is going to take years, what about the children. Good Grief! People all over the world are immoral every day. What's the difference? Go get the really bad guys.

When did authorized child rape become OK? You have 16 year old girls with two year old children. That isn't reason enough to break this cult up? The latent acceptance of these people by virtually everyone who has anything to write in this board is alarming.

Yesterday I saw the film EXPELLED. This is just another example of Darwinism run amuck. Only the strong deserve to be parents or should I dare say that children belong to the Govt and not to parents to raise. There is no God in Govt. Shame on those who trample on our constitutional rights!!

This is so sad. If they have question the girls where being,married off young...They could of taken away the teen girls or removed all the men from the ranch. Until the investigation was complete. Instead there having all these children suffer. Just not fair! Our goverment doesn't make any sense. My question is the state of Texas looking at there land for the state of Texas's purpose? Something just don't seem right about this situation..

To all those critical of the Texas authorities.... It is NOT OK for 50 year old men to rape 14 year old girls. And it is NOT OK to abandon 12 year old boys and leave them homeless.

The mothers of these children have been brainwashed and are not fit to raise them!

Texas did the right thing... time for Utah to start protecting children.

The lone star in this whole mess is Texas that has the guts to do what Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and South Dakota haven't. Why have these child molesters been left unchecked. And why are we pitying the mothers for losing their children. By being in that situation, they are facilitating abuse. Foster homes will be a traumatic experience, but maybe it will show these kids a picture of a normal, functional family.

A dangerous precedent is being set here. NO abuse charges have been filed. NOT ONE child has been identified as a victim of abuse. The accuser doesn't even exist. The entire raid was the product of a hoax. Yet the jack-booted state can come in and tear away each and every child from his or her mother's arms without a credible cause, any evidence, or a single charge being filed. However repugnant the beliefs of this sect, the individual rights of its members and their children are still protected by the Constitution. Even if the rumors and accusations were true, then they would only involve men who have allegedly had sex with underage girls (those forcibly married at 13 or so) and maybe some mothers who allowed it. But it has nothing to do with all of the young children who have not been involved in a forced, underage marriage or the mothers who don't have children that have been involved in a forced, underage marriage. Without charges or direct and specific evidence of abuse the state should not touch a single child, mother, or father however unpopular the beliefs and practices of the sect may be.

This whole time, I've tried to be very objective about the whole thing. Texas can't sit by when they have evidence of statutory rape. They can't ignore the incest. They've been informed of the lost boys, and the reassignment of families, no doubt.

This group is Warren Jeff's "elect", handpicked by him to come live there. They're the most fanatical grouping of this religion, so I do think that ranch has problems.

Texas also can't return the kids to the ranch yet because they don't know who the kids or the parents are. How could do they possibly do any followups with accuracy? I get that.

But here's where I'm freaking out. They're now sending the mothers home of the nursing babies. THAT is not okay. Taking those babies off their mother's milk and putting them on formula can result in more sickness, and a higher risk of asthma.

That's a case where the state absolutely is putting the babies in physical danger by depriving them of their mothers' milk.

I want the mothers to get their kids back, ultimately. I do think that this whole incident is scaring YFZ enough to extract the necessary cultural changes from them.

Go Texas. This is probably the only way they can deal with this problem, and as we have proven in Utah, leaving it only lets it get worse.
In the end, of course, the old perverts will probably get tired of being held up to the law, and come back to Utah where there's illegal and "illegal".

Mothers who stand by and allow institutionalized child abuse (underage marriage) are just as guilty of child abuse as the person perpetrating it. Remember, there can be many different forms of abuse - not all of it physical. Claiming it falls under "religion" doesn't make it right.

Are you people really defending child abusers? There have been some mistakes in the handling of this case, but Texas CPS has tried in good faith to protect children. Maybe Utah should take some lessons from the Lone Star State.