Patterico's Pontifications

4/25/2008

Update on FLDS Mothers and Children

Filed under: Civil Liberties,Law — DRJ @ 11:26 am



[Guest post by DRJ]

My frequent posts on this topic makes it appear I’m more interested than I really am but it seems like there’s new and interesting information everyday. Today’s Houston Chronicle has news about the FLDS women that I think is encouraging:

“Forty women opted Thursday to go to a family violence shelter rather than return to the West Texas ranch where authorities allege children are unsafe because of the polygamist group’s practice of “spiritually marrying” underage girls to older men.

Seven of the women who had been staying with their children in public shelters for the past three weeks returned to the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado.

The number of women choosing to go to an undisclosed family violence shelter was a turnaround from last week, when six sought shelter and 51 returned to the isolated compound.

“It was entirely up to them,” said Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.”

Seventeen mothers with infants under 1 were taken to San Antonio where they will be housed together at the Baptist Children’s Ministries.

The total number of children in State care was revised to 462 with the addition of 25 girls who claimed they were adults but who are believed to be minors.

— DRJ

5 Responses to “Update on FLDS Mothers and Children”

  1. Sure wish they weren’t being taken to “Baptist Children’s Ministries”, though I realize that must be because of lack of alternatives. Even if they are both Christians, Baptists and Mormons are notoriously tough bedfellows.

    It sounds like it was a real hell to be a woman in that compound. Beaten, raped, not allowed to wear clothes or chose a hairstyle other than the ruler has directed for you, not allowed to stay with your husband if the ruler says so, not allowed to raise your teenage daughters because they are going to be taken and raped.

    You watch those interviews of the women and realize they really are in tremendous pain, and are little more than cattle to their own people.

    I don’t know how a single one of them could remain sane under this environment, where they are being scrutinized by a world that they must think is awfully vulgar, and a world that treats them like dirt.

    Jem (4cdfb7)

  2. Jem,

    Re: the Baptist Children’s Ministries connection — I read a report (I think it was in the San Angelo Standard Times) that the Baptist group has a contract to provide CPS services in the San Angelo area.

    DRJ (a431ca)

  3. I have no use for the FLDS but if you believe Mr. Crimmins that no pressure was applied or hints dropped that it would easier to get their children back if they didn’t return to the compound, I have some land I’d like to sell you. It’s about 40 miles west of Catalina.

    Ken Hahn (7742d5)

  4. So I wonder how that works. Woman says she’s 18, CPS says, “no, don’t think so”, and orders them detained. Can they petition for a writ of habeas corpus? If any of them are, in fact, 18 or over it would seem to be an unlawful detention to me.

    As for the huge chunk of the women that suddenly decided to go to the shelter instead of back to the ranch, color me skeptical that so many would change their minds. My immediate thought was that some of them might be gaming the system, doing anything they could to ensure they got their children back.

    Skip (ba6438)

  5. According to the media, there were at least 35 habeas writs filed the day after the initial hearing, which as I understand it was the first day writs could be filed under Texas law. The reports also said there were many more pending that the Clerk’s office had not yet processed and/or electronically published. The parents and attorneys are contesting these matters.

    DRJ (a431ca)


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