Court: State Wrong To Take Polygamist Sect Kids
15 Sect Mothers Wrongly In Foster Care

POSTED: 12:52 pm EDT May 22, 2008
UPDATED: 1:39 pm EDT May 22, 2008


SAN ANGELO, Texas -- An appeals court ruled Thursday that the state of Texas had no right to seize hundreds of children from a polygamous sect.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas, ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law.

Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to be grown-up predators.

The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.

The ruling comes the same day as authorities learned that half the mothers in the sect that Texas child welfare authorities put in foster care as children have now been declared adults.

Attorneys for Child Protective Services say 15 of the 31 mothers are adults. One is actually 27.

Another girl listed as an underage mother is 14, but the state has conceded she is not pregnant and does not have a child.

The underage mothers had been cited as evidence that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints committed widespread sexual abuse of girls.

State officials raided a ranch run by a polygamist sect in west Texas. Their contention that abuse was widespread led to the removal of more than 460 children.



http://www.nbc4.com/family/16363534/detail.html

To read the opinion from the 3rd Court of Appeals, click here.

Religious experts: Texas polygamist sect skilled at misleading authorities
11:40 PM CDT on Saturday, May 24, 2008

By EMILY RAMSHAW and ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN - Child welfare officials were up against a culture of secrecy, unlimited resources and sect members well-schooled in the art of misleading authorities as they tried to build their case for removing hundreds of children from a West Texas polygamist enclave, religious experts and former adherents say.


Details.

I wonder how much this will cost the state in lawsuits.



Court: Sect kids head back to parents
About 440 children seized from West Texas polygamist compound

updated 4:32 p.m. CT, Thurs., May. 29, 2008

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch should be returned to their parents, saying child welfare officials overstepped their authority.

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 children were taken into custody after someone called a hot line claiming to be a pregnant, abused teenage wife. The girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the calls were hoaxes.

Child welfare authorities have argued that all the youngsters should be removed from the ranch because the sect forces underage girls into marriage and sex. Members of the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, claim they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs, including that polygamy brings glorification in heaven.


This breaking news story will be updated.

� 2008 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24878696/

quote:

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Members of the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, claim they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs, including that polygamy brings glorification in heaven.

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Ick!

All the Rastafarians want is their sacramental ganja.
Stop the religious persecution of Rastafarians!

Deal to return sect kids collapses
Texas court earlier ruled kids to returned; talks between sides hit snag
The Associated Press
updated 6:36 p.m. CT, Fri., May. 30, 2008

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Negotiations between Texas officials and a polygamist sect hit a snag Friday evening, delaying an agreement to return more than 400 children to their parents, NBC News reported.

A Texas judge refused to sign an agreement ordering the return of polygamist children after attorneys for their parents objected to changes she sought.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther wanted to place additional restrictions on the parents and give state child protection workers more authority to monitor the families.

Walther said she would sign the order after the parents, all members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, agreed to those terms.

Recent developmemnts followed the state Supreme Court ruling that children would be returned beginning Monday.

Under the ruling, the children won't be able to leave Texas but they will be allowed to move back to Yearning For Zion Ranch, where child-welfare officials have alleged that underage girls were pushed into spiritual marriages with older men. The parents say there was no abuse, and two courts ruled that the state overstepped its authority in removing all children from the ranch, from infants to teenagers.

Texas Child Protective Services took custody of the children from the west Texas ranch after a raid nearly two months ago. A court order that a judge restore custody to parents applies to only 124 of the children, but state officials said about 300 others taken under identical circumstances also will be returned.

A draft agreement released by CPS attorney Gary Banks said the parents can get their children back after showing identification and pledging to take parenting classes and remain in Texas.


The agreement was reached with 38 mothers of 124 children who filed the complaint that prompted the Texas Supreme Court's ruling Thursday.

The agreement does not specify that the fathers must stay away, and it allows the children to return to the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, about 40 miles south of San Angelo.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24887140

A very interesting article that shows just how badly the state's case has collapsed.


FLDS couple get a ruling against state

Web Posted: 06/10/2008 01:48 AM CDT

By Elizabeth Allen
Express-News

A couple from a polygamous West Texas sect won a victory Monday, even as their custody hearing was put on hold. Judge Martha Tanner of the 166th District Court granted Lori and Joseph Jessop Sr. a temporary restraining order against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, along with the temporary custody they had already gained of their three children.

.....

The Jessops and their lawyers were squaring off against lawyers from the state attorney general's office Monday when the state's lawyer, Frank King, filed a plea arguing that the case should be heard in the West Texas court where it originated. Tanner ruled that the plea was actually a motion to dismiss and denied it, a move the state was ready for. After dispatching another lawyer out of the courtroom, King stood to say his office was filing an appeal, putting a stop to the hearing until the 4th Court of Appeals rules on it.

Tanner agreed to the stay, but issued the restraining order, which for now keeps Child Protective Services investigators from continuing their investigation. "I am not going to allow CPS or any other agency to interfere with parents in this state," the judge said.

For the rest of the story:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA061008.1B.FLDShearing.3899a1c.html