Texas court: State can take sect children to foster homes

The Daily Iowan ^ | 4/25/08 | N/A

[MizSterious]

Texas court: State can take sect children to foster homes

By: Associated Press

Posted: 4/25/08

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - Dozens of mothers from a polygamist retreat were bused away from their children Thursday, their legal efforts to stay united rejected as Texas officials sort out their massive custody case.

Two buses took the women from the San Angelo Coliseum, where they had been temporarily housed with their children. Texas officials were preparing to move the last of more than 400 children to group homes, shelters and residences, some hundreds of miles away, over the next few days.

One woman held a handwritten sign out the bus window that read: "SOS. Mothers separated. Help."

"There are no words to describe how it was," said Velvet, a mother who was forced to leave her 13-month old. She and other sect women have refused to give their last names, fearing it will affect their custody cases.

"We've been staying up nights to watch over the children because we didn't know what would happen," she said in a news conference outside the ranch gates Thursday.

In Austin, the state's 3rd Court of Appeals rejected the mothers' pleas to immediately stop authorities from busing the children taken from the ranch to foster homes.

The court agreed to hear arguments Tuesday, but attorney Robert Doggett, who represents 48 mothers, said that "having a hearing after the fact" was pointless.

[greyfoxx39]

That’s a picture of the judge fishing for some criminals! I think it a fitting theme picture for the FLDS affair.

Since we're posting "fitting theme pictures for the FLDS affair", I think this one is much more relevant to the subject.

[TheDon]

Spam has taken on a rather bad connotation these days, hasn't it? Wait a minute, come to think of it, it has always had a bad connotation...

[colorcountry]

Who's image is on the wall? Is it Brigham Young or Warren Jeffs?

[metmom]

X-rays of the wrist bones give a fairly accurate estimate of age.

I usually don’t like wiki, but sometimes they give a nice general explanation of things so here you go...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_age

[ansel12]

"And why would you wish such a thing?"

He thinks that our best state is a "Nazis" state and he is defending Warren Jeffs cult, and you are surprised that he wants your children taken away? I am surprised that he is so specific, but not that he would wish such a thing on you.

[ansel12]

"The Same thing was done in WACO"

This cult has been raided in 1935, 1944, 1953, and 2008, eluded a raid in Utah in 2006 because they were told of the 80 warrants and the named persons scattered to safe houses and other compounds and they barely missed a raid in Canada, and none of the raids were like Waco.

[greyfoxx39]

From http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/FA/content/htm/fa.005.00.000261.00.htm

 

Here is just ONE part of the Texas Family Code. How many sections can you see that are being violated by the FLDS cult?

   
FAMILY CODE

SUBTITLE E. PROTECTION OF THE CHILD

CHAPTER 261. INVESTIGATION OF REPORT OF CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT

SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS


§ 261.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:                                 
(1)  "Abuse" includes the following acts or omissions
by a person:         
(A)  mental or emotional injury to a child that
results in an observable and material impairment in the child's
growth, development, or psychological functioning;
(B)  causing or permitting the child to be in a
situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury
that results in an observable and material impairment in the
child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
(C)  physical injury that results in substantial
harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from
physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at
variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an
accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or
managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child
to a substantial risk of harm;
(D)  failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury
that results in substantial harm to the child;
(E)  sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental,
emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes
the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young child or children
under Section 21.02, Penal Code, indecency with a child under
Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section 22.011,
Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021,
Penal Code;
(F)  failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
(G)  compelling or encouraging the child to engage
in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code;
(H)  causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the
child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting
photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by
Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;
(I)  the current use by a person of a controlled
substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a
manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or
emotional injury to a child;
(J)  causing, expressly permitting, or
encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by
Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code; or
(K)  causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by
Section 43.25, Penal Code.
(2)  "Department" means the Department of Family and
Protective Services.  
(3)  "Designated agency" means the agency designated by
the court as responsible for the protection of children.
(4)  "Neglect" includes:                                                     
(A)  the leaving of a child in a situation where
the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or
mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child,
and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent,
guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;
(B)  the following acts or omissions by a person:                           
(i)  placing a child in or failing to remove
a child from a situation that a reasonable person would realize
requires judgment or actions beyond the child's level of maturity,
physical condition, or mental abilities and that results in bodily
injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child;
(ii)  failing to seek, obtain, or follow
through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in
or presenting a substantial risk of death, disfigurement, or bodily
injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and material
impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child;
(iii)  the failure to provide a child with
food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health
of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial
inability unless relief services had been offered and refused;
(iv)  placing a child in or failing to remove
the child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to a
substantial risk of sexual conduct harmful to the child; or
(v)  placing a child in or failing to remove
the child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to
acts or omissions that constitute abuse under Subdivision (1)(E),
(F), (G), (H), or (K) committed against another child; or
(C)  the failure by the person responsible for a
child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to
the child's home without arranging for the necessary care for the
child after the child has been absent from the home for any reason,
including having been in residential placement or having run away.
(5)  "Person responsible for a child's care, custody,
or welfare" means a person who traditionally is responsible for a
child's care, custody, or welfare, including:
(A)  a parent, guardian, managing or possessory
conservator, or foster parent of the child;
(B)  a member of the child's family or household
as defined by Chapter 71;
(C)  a person with whom the child's parent
cohabits;                      
(D)  school personnel or a volunteer at the
child's school;  or           
(E)  personnel or a volunteer at a public or
private child-care facility that provides services for the child or
at a public or private residential institution or facility where
the child resides.
(6)  "Report" means a report that alleged or suspected
abuse or neglect of a child has occurred or may occur.
(7)  "Board" means the Board of Protective and
Regulatory Services.        
(8)  "Born addicted to alcohol or a controlled
substance" means a child:   
(A)  who is born to a mother who during the
pregnancy used a controlled substance, as defined by Chapter 481,
Health and Safety Code, other than a controlled substance legally
obtained by prescription, or alcohol;  and
(B)  who, after birth as a result of the mother's
use of the controlled substance or alcohol:
(i)  experiences observable withdrawal from
the alcohol or controlled substance;
(ii)  exhibits observable or harmful effects
in the child's physical appearance or functioning;  or
(iii)  exhibits the demonstrable presence of
alcohol or a controlled substance in the child's bodily fluids.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 20, § 1, eff. April 20, 1995. 
Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 751, § 86, eff. Sept. 1,
1995;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 575, § 10, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; 
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1022, § 63, eff. Sept. 1, 1997;  Acts
1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, § 19.01(26), eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  Acts
2001, 77th Leg., ch. 59, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Amended by:                                                                  
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 268, § 1.11, eff. September 1,
2005.
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 593, § 3.32, eff.
September 1, 2007.

 

[metmom]

It makes me very worried that the state has the power to take children then say an anonymous phone call is what spurred them into action.

That's all it ever takes for them to investigate a call. They THEN determine if there's a reason to remove the kids. They don't just walk in and take them without questioning and investigating first, as far as I've ever heard.

In this case they got a call for help from someone who claimed to be in the compound herself and said she herself was being abused. Considering the long history of the cult and the fact that their leader,Warren Jeffs, is currently serving two terms for arranging marriages of underage girls, her call had a lot of credibility. In every case where there's a call for help, they have to take it seriously and they had all the more reason to in this particular case. They got a warrant as required and went in to look for her.

Once they were in looking for the girl, they saw other things that led them to get another warrant over concerns for child abuse.

From what I understand no grand Jury was assembled to investigate if a crime had been committed was there?

In cases like this, there isn't time for a grand jury investigation. Besides, I believe a grand jury is primarily for determining what evidence will be admissible for a trial and that this sort of thing is not what a grand jury is for.

The state is the only entity that I can see that has the legal authority to deal with criminal activity. Yes, they could have dangerous power and sometimes things get out of control, but there are also checks on it. They followed procedures this time with getting warrants and all. Even after the second warrant was issued, I understand they were in there for much of the night and part of the day interviewing people before they decided to remove the children.

This was not a Waco style swat team bust down the door with guns blazing situation, much as some people would like us to believe.

I'm as concerned about the government overreaching it's authority as anyone. We homeschooled for 12 years and know people who have been investigated and have always been very aware of the possibility of having social services called on us. You live with that all the time as a homeschooler.

I really believe that the state of Texas is making sure that everything is done properly. This group has gotten away with too much for too long and they, if anyone, would know the consequences to blowing it and I doubt they'd be willing to take that risk..

[TheDon]

Hi Coco! Too funny! Did you draw it?

[metmom]

You’re way late to the party. That line has been tried before. Grow up.

[metmom]

People who abuse one child will often abuse all. If you wait until the child is abused before removing them, they aren’t being protected.

Plus, there’s a big mess about knowing who the mothers really are, which is the doings of the cult itself. The state cannot give custody to a non-custodial adult.

[colorcountry]

Nope didn't draw it. It came from this website Utah History to Go

Anyway, I like my nickname. Coco is sooooo much more authorized than say, um....coffee, or tea!

[TheDon]

It is cute! I like it.

[Politicalmom]

Not according to state law.

Georgia statutory law expressly permits “physical forms of
discipline...as long as there is no physical injury to the child.”
Ga. Code Ann. § 19-7-5(b)(3)(A).
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl?code=19-7-5

In addition, Georgia law includes “the reasonable discipline of a
minor” as a defense of justification. Ga. Code Ann. Section 16-3-20.
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl?code=16-3-20

Finally, Georgia law permits schools to impose corporal punishment, as
long as it is not “excessive or unduly severe.” Ga. Code. Ann.
Section 20-2-731.
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl?code=20-2-731

From the GA State CPS manual:

“Corporal Punishment-This is any physical punishment of a child to inflict pain as a deterrent to wrong doing. It may produce transitory pain and potential bruising. If pain and bruising are not excessive or unduly severe and result only in short-term discomfort, this is not considered maltreatment.”

[rightazrain]

Thanks, metmom -— BTTT

[Colofornian]

Re: pix in 101 and earlier fishing photo by TheDon.

Hey, if the...
...lake represents the pond of perps;
...the fisherman = the judge;
...then we need two pix side by side...
...the one of the Mormon temple juxtapositioned by a pix of a fish hatchery!!!

[TheDon]

That’s why I love MDS sufferers, they are so creative!

[greyfoxx39]

That’s why I love MDS sufferers, they are so creative!

Well, I don't "suffer" from Menopausal Delay Symptoms" (do you?) but I believe in meeting fire with fire, and spam with spam!

[Enosh]

"Re: pix"

It made me hungry for trout, I got a little bass. Twice. Same fish, twice. Silly thing.

I ate it.

[TheDon]

That's not SPAM, this is SPAM.

Drat! I've succumber to the lure of a MDS sufferer again.