Actually she’ll sign it its the FLDS that refuse.
She wasn’t even mandated to return the kids immediately. The TX appeals ruling stopped short of that.
It was my understanding that there was a 10 day ceiling on returning the children.
She will be hearing directly from the Texas Supreme Court in the next round.
It sounds as if the judge is getting advice from Janet “Waco” Reno.
It doesn't matter. The custody and the agreements are two different issues. The judge is WRONG to suggest that all 400 or so children must be taken from their parents unless the parents agree to some conditions which obviously have not been based on particular family circumstances.
The judge shouldn't even be involved in the agreements at this time. Each family deserves to hear from CPS specifically why they should agree to some intervention. Then, and only then, if the family fails to convince CPS that the agreement is not warranted and refuses to agree, the judge can consider removing the children from those parents' custody.
The Texas Supreme Court has ordered a complete do-over, but the CPS is making a blanket claim that failure to do whatever CPS demands is sufficient to take the children. The Texas Supreme Court has already ruled that insufficient evidence exists to take the children.
The childrens' lawyers need to go back to the Appeals Court asking for the court to clarify that release of the children is not conditioned upon any agreement. The Appeals Court should then order the children returned and relieve the lower court judge of any further involvement in this case.
Yeah, she'll sign it under her conditions. But that is not what the higher court ordered her to do. They ordered her to vacate her previous order. She can impose new conditions under a new order, but she'll have to "tailor" that to individual cases. That she seems unwilling to do. It would require evidence, but there seems to be sufficient of that now, in some cases. But she may not want to risk that evidence being challenged.