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.
You are not, in your posts defending the family as a concept. And you are at the very least SUPPORTING criminal behavior.
When you make a statement like that, you should be able to provide links to my previous posts, which support what you just said.
If not...
Why hello, I thought you had gone to bed...
Then why did you and your brother not report this to the police?
That is horrible, and no children should be forced to live in that type of environment.
Well, Meryl (or Merrill, I’ve seen it both ways.) Jessop (The leader of this compound, and Carolyn Jessop’s former husband, Mr. “Break the Baby...) has a criminal lawyer meeting with him several times a week, but I don’t believe he has made a statement beyond announcing he’d been hired.
Doubt it. Texas didn't know they were there until they had already built much of the compound. Some have speculated that Jeffs chose Texas because of the recent SCOTUS sodomy decision in re: Texas law and thinking that his polygamous practices might find refuge in Texas state law.
Is it wrong for Texas to change the law in anticipation of problems with the FLDS?
That’s funny. I have hit it on myself about 4 times. LOL
Rinse repeat, over and over.
I did, but my darn cats kept me awake.
I received an email tonight from my daughter that was related to this topic:
She was upset, because her ex-husband would not allow her to take her kids to Utah.
Sometimes, I need to debate with other Freepers, just to keep my sanity.
-------------
As always, warn me if I say something insulting!
I respect the views of all Freepers, and sometimes emotions can make me say stupid things.
Not really. (See post #373). Not if "many" of the kids haven't had exams; and not if 200 of the kids are 5 & under--the extremely unlikely ones to have broken an arm (unless abused).
In before she points out to you that foster care in a bygone era was full of pedophiles, much more than today, and getting food wasn't so guaranteed either. We all knew it as kids, and biographies to date confirm what we knew - by and large. Plus she loved her Mom. You really are clueless
That is your excuse for saying that I support criminal activity?
.........................
You really think all 400+ kids are victims of abuse?
Not me!!!!
The only abuse, was taking little children away from their loving mommies and daddies.
I will rub some Freepers noses, who supported this government action against little children, when the time is right.
It will not be forgotten!
If you are being abused, then notify the police.
If you did not notified the police, then do not cry about it on some website years later.
You are responsible for your own life!
Very good, you seem to know what it was like....You just didn’t have an out unless it was a relative or something very bad happened. My dad owned 5 bars & everyone in my town & county knew him. he was well liked & was very good to everyone but his family. It is sad now for him as everyone he knew is dead. I go see him at his nursing home, he is 87 yrs old. I am working on forgiving him but even in dementia he isn’t very nice. He does love my children though. He never abused them but I also told him if he did I would easily kill him & I think he knew I meant it. I found it hard to take my children from my mother. A doctor once told me that the abused child always seeks love from their abuser, no matter how old they are...And that I would have to deal with this my whole life.
You expect children to know what to do? That explains your apparent callousness towards the FLDS children.
Everyone must weigh what is important to them and make personal choices based upon what they know.
If a kid is being abused, then they should notify the police. If not the police, then at least their teacher at school.
Even a doctor is required to notify the police, if a child tells them about abuse.
Not that long ago in America, abuse of children was routinely ignored.
And even today, families still hide physical and emotional abuse for a multitude of reasons. The abuser says he’s sorry, he loves them, he’ll repent, etc. Or they feel ashamed of their family situation and don’t want outsiders to know about it. Especially for children.
Young children do not understand that safety can be found. All they know is that they live in their home with an abuser. What would their option be? From their perspective, this is their home. They cannot fathom that life could be better for them, that law enforcement could help them. What is there to help? They don’t understand. That it can stop. And even as they mature and understand that, they cannot imagine living without the abusive parent that they love.
And the abused man, woman or child commonly forgives. The answer they generally give is that no matter how cruel the abuser was, the abused child, woman or man still loves the abuser.
I’ve watched this happen from a distance. Those children in this particular family were emotionally abused from infancy and are now adults. Their mother is mentally ill and abusive, and being raised by her, they don’t even notice that abuse is hurting them and leaving scars that will never heal.
All they know is that they love her.
Standing back from the outside, it is obvious that the mother is still emotionally abusing her children.
But inside of the family, it is considered NORMAL behavior from the mother. They don’t even question it.
I guess the concept of being a minor, not fully grown, under the control of adults, incapable of entering contracts because societies for thousands of years recognized the lack of experience, education and maturity of children is beyond you. So no wonder you think the FLDS isn’t abusing their children because you hold the children responsible for “choosing” to stay. You said you wanted someone to warn you when you were being stupid. It doesn’t get any more stupid than that.
Hunble I have seen you post some stuff on here & I would remind you that it was about your family. I don’t know what is up with you but back off. I am EXPLAINING SOMETHING ABOUT ABUSE & THE AFTERMATH OF ABUSE. NOT CRYING FOR YOUR INFORMATION. NEVER EVER POST TO ME AGAIN. I MEAN IT!
Only you can be responsible for your personal life!
If, as a child, you decided to ignore the abuse and not report it, then that was your choice.
Accept your choice and do not cry about it years later.
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.