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FLDS have mother's empathy

Interesting story. I agree with the mother that it really helps to understand the legal system and CPS. It is only when these cases are completed that you can look back on what you didn't understand. She would be a helpful resource to the families in Texas.

What strikes me as ridiculous is that when a case goes through CPS, the parents have to really toe the line, but when the case goes through family court as divorces do, the parents still get unsupervised visitation even though they do unbelievable things. In my case, my son's father and his now wife left her children alone and went on vacation and my son was court ordered to visit their home, which included a teenage stepdaughter who had been charged with possession of illegal drugs and who after one negative drug test was able to babysit my son. I'd rather give my son a picture of Warren Jeffs! (All pictures of Warren Jeffs were removed from the possession of the FLDS children.) It would be great if the same stringent rules applied to families through CPS were also applied to custody cases in family court.

I find it hard to believe the audacity of that CPS worker.

She claims that, despite tearing a family apart, and permanently scarring the children, it was all worthwhile because they got the mother to clean her house better!

And then she wonders why the state is always seen as the bad guy?!

The real tragedy here is that, because of CPS' overbearing actions, people with legitimate concerns avoid them at all costs. Only when a person is hospitalized or the police are called can CPS get involved.

Let's all remember just why the state was called in. Two teenage daughters wanted to get their ears pierced, and the parents objected. The CPS/State "looks into it", finds the house dirty, and removes all the children! Gee, I wonder why they don't remove all the children of at least 1/3 to 1/2 of all homes because "the house is dirty" when they happen to show up at the door demanding entrance.

What is the result? Society's rules are imposed upon the children/families instead of parental rules. The State says the girls, who were "underage ", could have their ears pierced, even if the parent's religion teaches against it. What if the Kingston's sect of Mormon Fundamentalism or the FLDS was the predominant religion of society? Should THEY be able to come into your home and overrule your own house/religion's rules and stop you through force from allowing your children to get their ears pierced?

the reason for the children being removed from the house was because their father threatened them with violence for getting their ears pierced...

I would like to see Deseret News move away from sympathetic stories of polygamous groups--I feel that they are trying to help the public develop sympathy for criminal acts. Rather than be sympathetic, maybe we ought to be encouraging of law enforcement, and move away from the subject of polygamy in the news all together. We've had enough.

Did he threaten to beat them to a bloody pulp? Or did he threaten to spank them? Or were the kids telling the truth?
We had a case down here where a mother and step father refused to let their 13 year old see a movie they thought was inappropriate--her girl friend called CPS and made charges of abuse and the girl, who denied that her parents were abusive, was taken from the home for over a year. I don't know what their housekeeping was like.

The way assistant Utah attorney general Nichols sympathizes with the actions of the CPS down in Texas is particularly galling. That there is no respect for the 4th amendment and due process by this public official is of particular note.

Do we need this attitude in the Attorney General's office?

How many times has Nichols exceeded the speed limit, or broken some other traffic law? Does Nichols intentionally ignore traffic laws, and choose not to follow them? How about choosing to ignore copyright law by watching YouTube?

The fact of the matter is that Nichols and everyone else routinely breaks laws. The state routinely decides not to enforce laws. Trying to target Polygamists for sticking to their religious beliefs is stupid.

I can't believe that the reporter didn't ask Nichols a single tough question. Wait, this is the Deseret News. I guess I can believe it.

The pro-polygamy advocates are tiresome.

One more time, the FLDS are engaged in highly inappropriate activities:

* Underage marriages, which amount to child rape
* Expelling teenage boys from the community so the older men have more women to marry
* Reassigning family members from one wife or husband to another wife or husband
* Denying family members access to other family members
* Following a prophet who is a convicted pedophile who marries twelve year-olds to himself so that he can rape them

Some want to claim that the issues here are constitutional rights or parental rights. But, the only reason for these hearings and the appeals is to balance those against the bad behavior of this group.

Members of the FLDS community have the right to believe anything they want. They don't have the right to do whatever they want.

So, now, they are crying "violation of rights". We'll see. The Texas supreme court will shortly weigh-in. And, criminal charges will shortly be forthcoming (in all likelihood). They will have the right to defend their behavior in court.

But, they are undeserving of sympathy. This is a repulsive group that engages in and supports repulsive behavior.

to Anonymous: I cannot agree. The Deseret News has done a fairly good job of covering developments in the Texas/FLDS case. "Polygamous groups" vary and the individuals in the groups vary. They are not all evil. As far as "enforcing the law" against polygamy, well, I'd be for it if society enforced laws against adultery, shacking up, fornication, sodomy, etc. Instead, Hollywood and pornographers like Hugh Hefner preach anything goes and society shruggs its shoulders. So, if society is going to allow the pornographers to "do their own thing" then while get all riled up over polygamy?

He beat his daughter for running away from an arranged marriage to HIS BROTHER? There just aren't enough EWWWWWSSS in the world for that. Your dad forcing you to marry your uncle. So creepy.

When "religious beliefs" include ordering young girls or women into FLDS harems where are nothing but concubines and baby-machines, that is not a bona fide religion, that's sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation is abuse. The FLDS elders use the pretext of religion to get what they're really after ...a plentiful supply of sex, airbrushed to look like a religion. By the way, the FLDS are blasphemers when they use the name of Christ in their title. Both Christ and St. Paul say a man must have but one wife -- read Matthew 9, v 3-9, First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, 3, v 1,2 and 12, and the Epistle of Paul to Titus 1, v 4-7. However, the FLDS prefer to ignore Christ's commandments, and instead go for the Old Testament, where many of the patriarchs collected women in the same way they collected sheep. Solomon had 300 "wives" and 700 concubines, and one day when he wasn't in a good mood (must have had a bad hair day) he slit all their throats. What a lovely fella! And this is the kind of role model we're supposed to follow?

The anti Bill of Rights lynch mob marches and Steve is running for lead rope bearer.

Of 5 charges Steve lays at the feet of the FLDS, the 3 middle ones weren't even alleged by the state of Texas, much less proved, in their case again them. The first charge, an appeals court ruled, the CPS made but then didn't even provide any evidence that could be construed to support that allegation.

In the final charge, Steve can't even get right what the Jeffs guy was convicted of. The second half of that charge may well be true, but of what application to the 460 in state custody?

Unfortunately, criminal charges against any of the adults in Texas will have to stem from evidence gained independently of the whole raid fiasco for them to be valid. No convictions will make it through the appeals system otherwise.

This whole mess is what happens when investigations are launched with such prejudiced notions.

Steve

One more time, the FLDS are engaged in highly inappropriate activities:

* Underage marriages, which amount to child rape
* Expelling teenage boys from the community so the older men have more women to marry
* Reassigning family members from one wife or husband to another wife or husband
* Denying family members access to other family members
* Following a prophet who is a convicted pedophile who marries twelve year-olds to himself so that he can rape them

The FLDS is not being charged it is individuals. You have show that a person is guilty. When you have a pastor that is charged as 2 Baptist in Texas were you don't go after the whole congregation. Show where individuals have done these thing and then go after them.

Opps! Typo, correction should be Disgusting! Sorry :-)

Jancis
If your are going to use the New Testament, where does it say a man is to have one wife? If you use 1 Tim 3 it deals with church leaders and can be taken as not divorced.

Oh, sorry.

Warren Jeffs is an accomplice to pedophilia. My bad.

Read the Word, Old and New testaments are very clear about being again polygamy.

If it was God's original plan to have polygamous relationships He would have made it so in the garden. The garden of Eve dispels all myths about sexually deviant relationships.

who's law? what law?

Seriously, is there ANYONE in Utah that doesn't sexually abuse their children? I can't believe this is a legitimate news site. You actually SUPPORT pedophiles and sexual abuse of minors? What kind of religion is that? We're to be the protectors of the young, innocent and the aged elderly. You're ALL sick if you can have sympathy for weird, creepy old men who marry young girls and family members. EWWWWWWW!!!!