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 don’t think it would be wise to hit abuse on me as I have done nothing wrong that I can see. I just want him to leave me alone & if it continues I will handle it. I am no Keep it Sweet Girl!
My brother was about that age when he broke his, jumping off the dog house at his sitters (who were old friends of my parents. My mother still speaks with her from time to time. She remembers the old days, but often not what she had for her last meal)
Kids living on a ranch are probably more likely to suffer broken bones and stuff. But then again maybe not, I don't recall any of my farm cousins breaking arms or legs.. or do I...???? I do know that my grandfather fell off a horse as a young man( Not that young though) and had a plate in his head, although I didn't know it until well after he'd died, although my mother and several relatives, even some my age did. Grandpa didn't talk much though, until grandma died that is. :)
Remember I'm not saying there was not abuse, there probably was, since polygamy is a socially unhealthy lifestyle. But just the fact of 41 kids with broken bones, does not yet prove anything. The testimony of the medical experts will have to do that.
Yes. That fact alone means absolutely nothing. It will have to be established on a case-by-case basis with expert testimony. I think it's silly to continually point at this "statistic" as evidence of anything. Not enough info to know.
I have been trying to be extra nice, and sent a private email so that I may understand what I said that was so upsetting.
And yes, following Freeper rules, I would be allowed to report these personal attacks against me.
Sorry, but this is a case when I was trying to do the right thing.
This time, I am archiving EVERYTHING that I have posted tonight.
If you haven't figured it out, I don't think a FReepmail's gonna help. I mean that with all sincerity. Just my $0.02.
I think Freepmail can be an added insult to injury, in that in some cases people move their disagreement with the other party to Freepmail to hide it from the eyes of Freepers on the thread.
Frankly, I generally avoid using Freepmail. Ping the mod, if you want to complain.
Oh well.
When you try to talk behind the screen to prevent a misunderstanding, sometimes it can bite you in the ass.
It was worth a try.
I suggest pandora post your FReep mail so we can all see how you were trying to get along. That’s what I would do.
You told me you were threatened with a banning a few weeks ago.
Are you worried you’ll be banned today and that’s why you are archiving your posts? Are you archiving the back and forth exchanges between your posts and others and you post to each other, keeping the context in the discussion intact?
I ask because I wonder how detail oriented you are and if you are really concerned.
NEVER EVER POST TO ME AGAIN. I MEAN IT!
From Hunble | 05/01/2008 10:54:14 PM PDT read
Do you want me to hit the abuse button?
Yikes, I was being nice to you tonight.
I was shocked by the number of people here on FR who defended the cult. And not even seriously based upon Constitutional reasons, etc. (there are a fair number of those who legitimately make those arguments). But more than a few seemed to simply identify with the cult leaders more than the government. Perhaps your explanation is one possible reason for that identification. I had not considered it.
I hadn’t considered it either. For some reason Tiger’s post sent shivers down my spine.
I send a Freepmail using something my own daughter wrote me tonight, because I thought it was important and on topic.
No problem, I learned my lesson tonight.
EVERYTHING I WRITE IS BEING ARCHIVED!
Never again will I get banned and have no defense, because my "offensive" posting was deleted.
You're not the only one with archives. ;^)
I hadn’t seen it before. I’ve stayed off these threads for the most part. IMO the FLDS is undoubtedly abusive of women and children and the TX authorities have yet to make their case. I hope they do and demonstrate that they did it right. Right now I can’t say one way or the other about that.
You are awfully nervous for a guy that did nothing wrong....
I WAS BANNED!
As a Freeper for 10 years, JimRob allowed me to return, but on probation.
Since my "offensive" post was deleted, I had no defense. I have learned a valuable lesson.
I too keep all my emails you know. I just hate to delete the funny stuff you know?
I have a question, about email.
I have a prolific email joke-sender who can’t catch a hint that I don’t approve of juvenile humor regarding the “unmentionables” like hygiene or sex. I would never share such vulgarity with another. But, I must be on her “favorite” list or something.
How do I kindly ask her to STOP sending these to me?
You can let me know if my choice of words was wrong, and if so, I will try my best to explain myself better.
However, I am proud of my thoughts which that I have expressed and stand by them.
Sometimes I am trying to say one thing, and people read it the wrong way, because of a poor choice of words.
If so, just tell me!
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