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.
Sure, blame the kids, just like people blame the rape victim.
I didn’t see that they actually took the baby away (but maybe they did, do you have more info?). I would have to imagine the baby was placed in state custody because at this point, the girl is in state custody. What other option did they have?
susie
I may have missed something. The article said the baby was placed in state custody, not removed from the mother. The mother is also in state custody, so are we sure they are not together? I would hope they would be, myself as well.
susie
Great explanation. I hope you have it archived for future use.
Actually, it appears that the cult did the same thing, removing children from their parents at will.
susie
I keep seeing the “For the children” mantra trotted out. So, let me get this straight.... Because a liberal goober used that phrase, we are never ever allowed to do anything to benefit children for fear of being labeled leftist? Surely you have something better than that in your arsenal.
susie
I’m floored anyone has to be told this.
susie
You shouldn't have to put up with jokes on sex that offend you.
Love your tagline. Please don’t change it!
You’re confusing minor mothers and adult mothers. Adult mothers were only allowed to stay with their children if the the children were under one year old. Minor mothers are being kept with their own children of all ages, to the extent the state has been able to figure out which children belong to which mothers. The Children’s Shelter may be where both this minor mother and her first child have been staying, or it may be a temporary shelter equipped to handle very young children without their mothers, where the child was placed while his mother was in the hospital giving birth.
What’s going on here? Is someone sending you all inappropriate emails? Cause that’s sure what it reads like.
What gives you reason to believe that in a cult where the main sources of income are from defrauding the government via welfare and cheating on government contracts, that a bishop of that same cult would not submit a phony certificate?
There are no legal, RECORDED birth certificates available for cult members, thus the need for DNA testing to prove parentage.
Are you in the market for an ocean side condo? I know of one in Arizona.
Until anyone has been convicted of a crime in a court of law, these people are innocent and hundreds of children have been harmed.
Once these people have been convicted of a crime, then I will agree with many of the statements expressed. But until that happens, I will defend the families.
I used a personal example of my own daughter loosing custody, because she lied to the judge in a court of law. False accusations of child sexual abuse must have strong penalties.
Many of the views expressed by some Freepers on this topic are held by myself also. We really do not disagree, and I could care less about the FLDS. Personally, their choices go against almost everything that I believe in.
I may not state my feelings about a specific topic diplomatically, but I do stand by what I have tried to say.
If I expressed a concept in a way that offended someone, it was never intended that way.
If a child is being abused, then they are responsible for reporting it to another responsible adult, if they want help.
When the police are notified, physical evidence can be gathered, which can be used in a court of law to convict the abuser.
Actually, they did. One of them used to be married to the head of the Texas fLDS group. The hard part is not only getting authorities to listen, but to act. This is a huge, wealth, and powerful cult. (Ever ask yourself how Jim Jones operated so freely and for so long? Same situation.)
That’s just stupid. The girl is a ward of the state. How could the baby NOT be a ward of the state? By giving it to the other cultists?
I have seen ample evidence that the state did the right thing, but I’m open to suggestions as to how it could have been handled differently (and perhaps better).
As for damage to the children, unless the women who have escaped from the cult and written books and done interviews are just flat out lying, it’s hard to imagine they are more damaged from the removal than they would have been from staying in their situation.
The most interesting thing to me will be to see who their parents really are.
susie
It’s the economy, stupid!
Do I win? ;)
susie
Most of the kids in that compound wouldn't know that. They've been told all their lives that this is God's will and that the outside world is evil and of the devil. That has effectively stopped any chance they have of reporting it. They're not like the kids outside the compound who are taught that that option exists.
Your constant blaming of the children for staying in their abusive situation is disgusting beyond words.
The parents are responsible to make the abuse stop. It's their JOB to protect their own children. That's why God gave kids parents, to protect them when they are unable to protect themselves.
NO, NO, NO, a thousand times NO!!!! The children are not the ones responsible to stop the abusive situation, it is not their burden to bear; it's the parents responsibility. And if the parents won't do it, someone has to and the government is the only body left with the legal authority to do something.
Blaming them for something they have no control over is abuse in and of itself. That's just adding psychological abuse in the form of a guilt trip on top of all the physical abuse they've suffered.
However, this must be done on a 'case by case' basis.
I do have some major concerns when hundreds of people are rounded up and presumed guilty of an alleged crime, as a group.
This is so self-evident, that I am ashamed that so few Freepers have not stood up and cried fowl also.
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