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Texas appeals to state Supreme Court in FLDS case
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However, the longer they draw this out, the larger the damages will be in the end.
The job would have been easier would they have had search warrants for each house and treated the women with respect and not like criminals. If the police would have raided my house like a drug haven with heavy police force, I wouldn't have helped them either until I had a chance to talk to an attorney, which they did not have. Remember, CPS even took their cell phones from the FLDS women so nobody would see the abuse caused by the CPS! The FLDS women have been treated like criminals from the get go without proof of any wrong doing.
CPS are the criminals and need to be prosecuted. Let the children go home!
At least the FLDS men now know what it is like to have your kids taken from you (which they do every time they "reassign" women and children to another man).
No wonder they are appealing. Talk about incompetence.
those children sold on the adoption market will bring a tidy sum.It all comes down to Money & Power.
I hope the lawsuits bankrupts Texas. Then maybe the Baptist Church will have to bail them out.
The abuse allegations will probably continue, and the CPS may prosecute individuals. If the ruling stands, the children may be returned, but the investigation may continue.
That being said, CPS is foolish to keep trying. It should be obvious that they have not established their case that the children were in "imminent harm." They should take advantage of the ruling, and return the children. They would still be able to investigate, and the local District Court would retain jurisdiction over the children and their parents. The case could move more quietly (which is better for everyone involved, particularly the children), and more effectively, because all evidence and arguments can be thoughtfully and thorougly considered.
The kids are the ultimate losers here. They won't win either way - being in foster care or on the FLDS compound.
are people fighting for their jobs. They lost.
They tried to treat hundreds of families as if they
were one family. They need a stay before the judges
order remains..I found it ironic that the buses
used to haul the children away were from the First
Baptist Church in near by Eldorado. I think their
is religous bigotry going on in Texas.
CPS and agencies all over the USA need to be closely looked at. This is a tragedy.
easy to say, when you have none of the facts. The
consistant war on fathering and gender bias against dads goes on everyday in our family courts. Let us just band together for once and see who the real villains are: politically correct social workers from CPS/CYFD, judges with too much power, and attorneys making bundles of money off the misery of families.
Most crimes take place in private, and if any agency wants to catch lawbreakers, they need to go in.
Having said this, as soon as they found out what mothers belonged to what kids, CPS should have let the adult mothers and kids go and let law enforcement take care of the polygamy thing later. Then that would leave them with the underage mothers, which is CPS proper area.
The legal issue here is much more complex than you imply. Yes, we must all obey the law -- but not those that are unconstitutional. And yes, the current Supreme Court would most likely defend state laws regulating formal marriage, even though the Court has struck down state laws regulating adult sex outside of marriage. But the polygamous couples here are not formally married, and Texas's "informal" marriage law � with history showing it was amended specifically to target the FLDS -- *will* be constitutionally problematic if applied to adult couples. But if Texas goes the other route, and prosecutes adult men for the isolated cases of unmarried sex with girls under 18, they will have a problem because the girls were above the age at which they could be married with their parents' consent in Texas. The only reason they're not married is because of the law against polygamy -- a religious belief. So Texas can�t claim that they�re just protecting children, because it says the same relationship is OK provided it isn�t done in polygamy, which means the law is targeting religion. Your black and white stance is just not applicable.
WELL DUH
More than one social agency has been hijacked by people with their own issues who go on crusades rather than following clear legal guidelines. I remember some years back when a social worker was leading chidren, using a doll, and suggesting what to say. Fortunately people caught on to that.
I think this has been the "perfect storm" that lined up an agency(CPS) and court(Walther) that had the same personal issues, resulting in an obvious debacle.
Sadly, this may ultimately destroy CPS ability to prosecute any real perpetrators. It was the men they were after, but, instead, improperly held the women and children hostage for leverage. Someone on the list referred to it as a kind of "Gitmo"
So far there are only 5 legitimate cases among almost 500 children. That's only one per hundred. I'll bet my own, non-polygamous, community doesn't have any less abused kids per hundred, and maybe more.
Now the leaders, they are the ones who need serious reform, and I bet they know it. They might lie to themselves, but deep down they know it.
Even if they are not being sexually abused raising children in dormitory situations with several other mothers via spiritual marriage is much more damaging than what Texas CPS is doing.
David Barlow Steed came to Texas to help support his sister, Lori,whose child is now in state custody. When he arrived at the courthouse, a baliff wrote his name on charging papers identifying him as the father of his sister's child.
Just like that, Steed, who has never lived in Texas or been to the YFZ Ranch, found himself embroiled in the case. Weatherby planned to sign a document releasing Steed from the case Thursday afternoon.
I hope he go that signed off before they canceled the whole circus. If not, he is stillrecorded as the father of his sister's children.
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