Posted on 05/01/2008 4:44:54 PM PDT by Politicalmom
SAN ANTONIO — A judge ordered that the baby boy born to a girl taken from a polygamist sect's ranch in West Texas be placed in state custody, according to documents released Thursday.
Texas District Judge Barbara Walther signed the order Wednesday giving the state custody of the 1-day-old infant born to a teen believed to be 15 or 16 years old.
The girl has claimed to be 18, according to an affidavit signed by Ruby Gutierrez, a Child Protective Services caseworker, but officials believe she is younger and placed her in foster care with other children taken from the ranch.
The newborn is the teen's second child; the first is a 20-month-old boy. The father of both children was identified as Jackson Jessop, 22, but state officials say they don't know his whereabouts.
Child welfare officials now have 464 children in their custody, swept from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado because authorities believe underage girls were forced into marriages and sex with older men. Authorities are also now investigating possible sexual abuse of boys.
Church members have vehemently denied there was any abuse, and civil liberties groups have raised concerns at the sweeping nature of the removals.
Individual custody hearings are set to be completed by June 5.
CPS and law enforcement raided the ranch on April 3 after a girl who was purportedly 16 called a domestic abuse hotline to complain of abuse at the hands her much older husband. Authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.
Regardless, child welfare authorities say 31 of the 53 girls aged 14-17 have children or are pregnant.
Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can get married with parental permission at 16, but the girls who belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are not believed to have legal marriages.
FLDS is a breakaway sect of the mainline Mormon church, which disavowed polygamy a century ago.
I'm sure someone will flame for this but the technique you just posted has been used for possibly thousands of years.
Somebody has to have legal custody. The girl CAN’T.
Why don’t you understand that?
Don't worry though you are at the top of the class in that endeavor. You are unfamiliar with the evidence and witness testimony that is known. And you further oppose a normal investigation into the allegations.
If a crime has been committed, we don't round up the usual suspects and throw them all in jail. We do the legwork, we gather evidence (legally), and we present a case. This is the way our founding fathers set things up.
That has been my only argument for the last few weeks.
Kinda of a stretch.
disavow
1 : to deny responsibility for : repudiate
2 : to refuse to acknowledge or accept : disclaim
The prefix "dis" generally implies a reversal or a taking away of something. "Un" can be used that way, but usually indicates an ongoing lack of something "unrepentant", "unambiguous", "unbent", etc. So it it has said "unvowed" you might have a point, maybe.
It didn't though and you are showing your hate for all Mormons. I know too many really good people who are Mormon to swallow that bilge.
And before you ask, No, I'm not Mormon, and not Hispanic or Spanish either Mostly I'm of Swabish and English ancestry
Not in this cult they don’t: babies are removed from their birth mothers on whims, and passed around to more than one other woman. They are also removed from their birth father’s at the whim of the cult leader, in many cases, and then given to other ‘fathers’; and this can and does happen multiple times as has been reported by those wo have been there, and who have lost their children. Several sad stories of men who were kicked out and whose children and wives were given to others have been available to read about on the net.
One spokeswoman from their group claimed in a CNN interview that they wanted the children returned to their ‘mothers and “gaurdians”. That they called some “gaurdians” confirms what has been said already by those who have left that cult. Not all the children there belong to the women and or men there. By the time this is sorted out there will be prison time for a lot of people -or warrants for their arrest while they flee, as Warren Jeffs did for a time.
. Therefore, there is no family unit such as the apologists are claiming the State is “breaking up”.
Many of the children pointed out several women when they were asked to show who their mother was...And you are willfully ignorant to make such a statement or else you are a plant.
I am not sure what this case does to support the “horny old goats” theory. Seems to more closely fit the “promiscuous girls/horny young goats” mold. Any mention of a marriage, spiritual or otherwise?
I will wait all evening....
Sorry. I'm not going to let you gloss this quite this easily. If your daughter said "My name is Sarah Jones" to one investigator and then 15 minutes later said "My name is Suzie Smith" to the investigator. And then said, "I'm 18, honest" when it was quite obvious she wasn't. And then when asked who the father of her child was, she said "I dunno" would you expect CPS to say, "Okey dokey. Have a great day!" ?
It's not a "reluctance" to talk to government interrogators. It's the willful, coached obstruction of a government investigation which caused the problem. Not a kid saying, "I'm scared."
Yes. Loretta bragged that he never hit her that she didn’t hit him back harder. His infidelity was well-known.
I have absolutly no idea, since I was not there!
That is what a jury will decide in a court of law.
Then find the people responsible for child abandonment, and punish according to the letter of the law.
I don't care what is moral, I'm concerned about the government over-stepping their authority. If a law is broken, find the culprit and bring them to justice. Being a immoral, lousy excuse for a human being is not a criminal act - feel free to bash them to your hearts content. However, this person is entitled to the same Constitutional rights that you and I enjoy. My only concern is what appears to be wholesale bypassing of due process and seizure of children from families without evidence of abuse.
IMHO, to take 462 children away from their parents requires 462 individual cases - not one set of 'what-ifs'. To say that 100% of this group is a child abuser is like saying that all Blacks like soul food. It's a stereotype, and should be inadmissible in any competent courtroom.
So reluctance to talk to state investigators is proof of guilt?
Yeah. It's the girl's fault. She was asking for it. Those provocative dresses. Whoo boy. Thanks for your contribution.
It is evidence, however, that the family unit that they "treasure so much" is merely a construct to criticize the government in this case. They care not a whit for the family as a unit. They are only playing propaganda games and you are doing an admirable job as an unwitting mouthpiece.
Sorry, can't let you have a 'bye' on that one. The gov't actions are in question, and teams of lawyers are going to be looking at every 't' and every 'i'. Pray that no one took a short cut and that no civil rights were violated.
If the courts find out that civil rights were violated, the state of Texas is going to be writing out a VERY large check to the FLDS. This is my fear.
(Emphasis is mine)
T R I A L D I S C H A R G E is the most common way for children to be discharged from foster care. During trial discharge, your child is still legally placed in foster care but is living with you. This means that ACS and the foster care agency are still involved and will supervise your home after the children come home. The greatest risk to families during trial discharge is that ACS can remove your child from your home without getting the approval of the judge.
FINAL DISCHARGE means your child is living with you and you have legal custody of your child. Final discharges can be with or without agency supervision.
Sounds nearly impossible to get off the rolls, once you're on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.