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.
Wow, you do have a way with words. You might make a better impression if you could make your point without resorting to to foul language.
susie
Men would deal with this situation themselves, and if a husband was abusing his family, they would get involved and stop it. If needed, the abuser would be challenged with duel and possibly killed.
For the last 30 years in America, reports of abuse have been respected by the police and they do get involved when notified.
My mom and I were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. I think one reason that it stayed in the familiy is because families were expected to police themselves. They all stayed close and fathers, brothers, males were expected to make sure that men treated the women right and no one seemed to get too upset if the abuser got roughed up in the process of straightening him out. JAT
Hey, the fire department is a governmental agency, as is the DMV, parks department, DPW, board of elections, road and highway maintenance to name a few. They must be wicked and evil as well. Better stay away from them.
If the whole government is one big evil entity, then it all is.
Your contention that the government is wicked and evil sounds eerily familiar.
I love a debate, but sometimes the subject can get us rather emotional.
Most of us understand that simple concept, and will not hold it against you.
Liars piss me off...
Those who put words in my mouth, even more.
I hold those types in the utter most contempt.
You posted, “You ping me... you best be quoting something I actually said...”
And my response was, “Or else what?”
I did not make anything up, I posted that that sounded like a threat. Now you are name-calling. Unless this “Likely tho, you are not just an idiot, but a premeditated post inventor who likes to distract from the substance of the post and attack the poster directly” was directed to someone else?
Quick thinking on mom’s part.
I grew up in the South a long time ago, and this is how I was taught to behave as a man. I was expected to "roughen up" someone that abused his family.
I didn’t think anyone needed to put words in your mouth for the post I commented on. You did quite a job yourself. But, you make better points if you keep it civil.
susie
That depends on where you live, many places were very slow to get with that program. In my area it is still not adressed as seriously as it is in most places.
See you are off topic, just as I said.
When you lack facts or substance, you take it personal.
No further response to you is required.
Thanks.
I missed that because I didn’t call a PERSON “stupid”.
I suggest that you don’t correct my behavior, and I won’t correct yours.
I have been here for a long time, and never even been warned. I’m pretty sure that I fell well within posting guidelines.
Bastard Out of Carolina has a wonderful scene where the Grandmother finds horrible bruises on the granddaughter, tells the men and they make sure step-dad gets the message.
However, in my experience, in quieter communities, abusers can hide neatly via fear, intimidation AND community status. IOW “He’s such a fine deacon and he says the most wonderful prayers to open Sunday School, he’d never do anything like that!”
For every way to protect, the monsters find away to do harm.
Yep!! :)
Agreed.
Personally, I would never notify the police...
I was taught to deal with the situation as a man, and confront the abuser on a personal level.
I assure you, I am reading everything you post and evaluating it for content.
Um, no.
Never mind.
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