As young as 12, as old as 18. The fact that you remain ignorant of this particularly troubling feature of the cult suggests to me that you're not at all interested in the particulars of the case and prefer to argue a hypothetical case utterly disconnected from the present reality.
Yes, it's illegal. It's called child abandonment. And even if it wasn't, surely we could argue against it on moral grounds. After all, the government's actions in this case have been perfectly legal. And you have no problem arguing against them on moral grounds. Or you're just naturally cognitively dissonant.
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.
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.