Whoa! Polygamist solution is frightening...

[Newman]

Well, it looks like CPS is going to appeal this which adds to the horror these kids are going through even though the Third Appeals Court was unanimous and outright hostile to what happened in the Court below.

[Esther]

If these girls are being forced to marry against their wills, who is performing the cermonies? Are they legal?

This whole thing is a disaster in my opinion.

CPS is way out of control and has been for some time. IMO

[SDG]

It was a disaster from the get go ... and now it's straight up embarassing ..

Now we'll get some DA pin heads who have there egos hurt try to make this thing work .... but guess what .... someone's getting fired.

[Nina]

Originally Posted by Nina

From a Yahoo News report:

"Even if one views the FLDS belief system as creating a danger of sexual abuse by grooming boys to be perpetrators of sexual abuse and raising girls to be victims of sexual abuse ... there is no evidence that this danger is 'immediate' or 'urgent,'" the court said.

"Evidence that children raised in this particular environment may someday have their physical health and safety threatened is not evidence that the danger is imminent enough to warrant invoking the extreme measure of immediate removal," the court said.

The court said the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children. Half the youngsters taken from the ranch were 5 or younger. Only a few dozen are teenage girls.

The court also said the state was wrong to consider the entire ranch as a single household and to seize all the children because some parents in the home might be abusers.




I believe the Texas Supreme Court will overrule the decision.

Nina

This was from a ONENEWSNOW article:

Seems like Mr Guy Jessop considers the ranch as one big household....



Child Protective Services workers have returned to the West Texas ranch of a polygamist sect after learning that there may be more children living there


Agency spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner (MIZE-ner) said Wednesday that workers went to make initial inquiries and are now conferring with law enforcement.

Guy Jessop was standing guard at the main gate of a ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He says he denied two state workers accompanied by a sheriff's deputy access without a search warrant.

[James Griffin]

Just wanted to beat Newman LOL



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080529/...gamist_retreat

Court: Sect children should be returned to parents

By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago

In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.

The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.

"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.

The high court let stand the appellate court's order that Texas District Judge Barbara Walther return the children from foster care to their parents. It's not clear how soon that may happen, but the appellate court ordered her to do it within a reasonable time period.

The ruling shatters one of the largest child-custody cases in U.S. history. State officials said the removals were necessary to end a cycle of sexual abuse at the ranch in which teenage girls were forced to marry and have sex with older men, but parents denied any abuse and said they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Every child at the ranch in the west Texas town of Eldorado was removed; half were 5 or younger.

"The moms are clearly very happy at the news that it looks like they're going to get their kids a lot sooner than expected," said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for legal aid attorneys representing 38 mothers who filed the complaint that prompted the ruling. "It's definitely an emotional day."

The case before the court technically only applies to the 124 children of those mothers, but it significantly affects nearly all the children since they were removed under identical circumstances.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled last week that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.

The ranch is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Roughly 430 children from the ranch are in foster care after two births, numerous reclassifications of adult women initially held as minors and a handful of agreements allowing parents to keep custody while the Supreme Court considered the case.

Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.

Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if there's a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate court that the seizures fell short of that standard.

CPS lawyers had argued that parents could remove their children from state jurisdiction if they regain custody, that DNA tests needed to confirm parentage are still pending and that the lower-court judge had discretion in the case.

The justices said child welfare officials can take numerous actions to protect children short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care, and that Walther may still put restrictions on the children and parents to address concerns that they may flee once reunited.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by James Griffin

Just wanted to beat Newman LOL



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080529/...gamist_retreat

Court: Sect children should be returned to parents

By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago

In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.

The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.

"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.

The high court let stand the appellate court's order that Texas District Judge Barbara Walther return the children from foster care to their parents. It's not clear how soon that may happen, but the appellate court ordered her to do it within a reasonable time period.

The ruling shatters one of the largest child-custody cases in U.S. history. State officials said the removals were necessary to end a cycle of sexual abuse at the ranch in which teenage girls were forced to marry and have sex with older men, but parents denied any abuse and said they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Every child at the ranch in the west Texas town of Eldorado was removed; half were 5 or younger.

"The moms are clearly very happy at the news that it looks like they're going to get their kids a lot sooner than expected," said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for legal aid attorneys representing 38 mothers who filed the complaint that prompted the ruling. "It's definitely an emotional day."

The case before the court technically only applies to the 124 children of those mothers, but it significantly affects nearly all the children since they were removed under identical circumstances.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled last week that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.

The ranch is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Roughly 430 children from the ranch are in foster care after two births, numerous reclassifications of adult women initially held as minors and a handful of agreements allowing parents to keep custody while the Supreme Court considered the case.

Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.

Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if there's a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate court that the seizures fell short of that standard.

CPS lawyers had argued that parents could remove their children from state jurisdiction if they regain custody, that DNA tests needed to confirm parentage are still pending and that the lower-court judge had discretion in the case.

The justices said child welfare officials can take numerous actions to protect children short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care, and that Walther may still put restrictions on the children and parents to address concerns that they may flee once reunited.

Well good for the courts to stick to the law. But I wonder if some of the older children might not want to go back home, but will be forced to for legal reasons. And if there are actually abused children too bad, they just have to suck it up and take it. Hopefully they won't move them out of state, but it will probably happen. Let's see, they can't go to Utah or Arizona, maybe up north would be better.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by cneasttx

Well good for the courts to stick to the law. But I wonder if some of the older children might not want to go back home, but will be forced to for legal reasons. And if there are actually abused children too bad, they just have to suck it up and take it. Hopefully they won't move them out of state, but it will probably happen. Let's see, they can't go to Utah or Arizona, maybe up north would be better.

Sister, if one of the older children didn't want to go back home I am sure CPS would be more than willing to investigate and not return the child for just cause.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Rico

Sister, if one of the older children didn't want to go back home I am sure CPS would be more than willing to investigate and not return the child for just cause.

I don't think they can legally do that, since the seizure was illegal. The really sad part is because the way that CPS did that seizure, it really messed things up for any children that were abused. You can't unring the bell.

[Newman]

Originally Posted by James Griffin

Just wanted to beat Newman LOL

YES!!!! I am thrilled to see the law works as it is suppose to. Today, I am glad to belong to a profession that safeguards civil rights for all Americans not just those we agree with.

Anything less would put everyone's liberty at jepardy.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Newman

YES!!!! I am thrilled to see the law works as it is suppose to. Today, I am glad to belong to a profession that safeguards civil rights for all Americans not just those we agree with.

Anything less would put everyone's liberty at jepardy.

Yep, but it is still horrific if any of those children had been abused. Whoopee for the law. And let the guilt of unpunished crimes of innocents be placed on the law and courts. But of course we do that everyday in our country. Have heard the arguement if one innocent is imprisoned how horrible, but gee we gotta let killer's, rapist's, and drug dealer's go because someone messed up. I am sure that really helps the victim's and their families.
Because I can tell you it doesn't.
Maybe we should just become criminals then we don't have to worry about laws and the courts punishing us, take a gamble the cop will probably mess up the bust, or the prosecutor will somehow manage to mess the case up and we can go back to freedom and a life of crime.

I pray that none of those innocent children are harmed but I fear for their safety and their very lives because of what they might have said to outsiders.
But hey that won't matter the law and the courts won, they lost..........My opinions.