Many of the 430 children who were removed from a Texas polygamy ranch amid abuse allegations will be allowed to return to the ranch after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the seizure was not justified.
In April, Child Protective Services removed the children from the Texas ranch after authorities received a phone call from a 16-year-old mother who claimed she was abused by her husband and that other girls in their mid-teens were forced into marriage with older men. The ranch was built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs who is serving time for being an accomplice to rape.
Although the children will be released to their parents, law enforcement officials said they will continue investigating the alleged abuses.
However, would it be more logical for the judge to allow authorities to investigate the abuse allegations to determine if they were true before allowing the children to return to the ranch? Or should law enforcement have waited before they removed the children from the home?
Let me know what you think.
Tim Henley
Staff writer
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
In my opinion the Texas authorities executed the appropriate actions in regards to the protection of the children. I think most people would arrive at this conclusion if they thought for a moment about the accusations. What if you had found out your child, nephew or niece were possibly being sexually victimized by an adult? Would you want them to remain in that environment until the Texas Child Protection Agency started their investigation? Wouldn’t it be safer for the alleged victims to be away from the perpetrators if the abuse were occurring?
I think what a lot of people and those living with in that particular sect are forgetting is that it is not about the adults. Yes it would hurt to be the parent in that situation and they wanted their children returned immediately. The authorities cannot be too concerned about the feelings of the adults in these situations. It is as it should be, for the best interest and safety of the child. It doesn’t take a professional in this field of study to know and understand the seriousness and effects of sexual abuse on children. Statistics* and personal experience shows that over fifty percent of women when confronted by their child’s sexual abuse by her loved one, was aware of the abuse and allowed it to continue. A very hard pill to swallow but it is reality and the reasons for this are an entirely different blog.
The courts ruled that the seizure was not justified because they were not able to locate the 16 year old who made the initial phone call. However, they did find some of the children under the age of 17yrs to have birthed a child by adult men. I do not think this situation is by any means over. Once all of the paperwork and investigations are complete, arrests and more removals will follow. If, however, the accusations are not substantiated, at least those children and families had the opportunity to be protected, given due process and represented by the court or law.
*NRCYS
June 4th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
The court did the right thing in taking those children. There never was a question as to whether the children were being abused, but the question was getting enough evidence to make it stand up in court. Those women know nothing, but what they are told by the church leaders so they will not point fingers. So who does that leave to tell the truth? The authorities hands are tied without hard evidence. I just hope they get.
I think it is sick and perverted and all of the men in that church should be jailed. If they were in everyday society and not hiding behind religion they would already be in custody.
Although the children sent back to the families at least now they know they are being watched.
The biggest crime is those children will grew up to think it normal to be abused by some old man and the mothers of those children raised in that church feel the same way.
Charges should be brought against the church as a whole. I also think they should stop the checks from the state, that these people live on and then I bet you will hear someone screaming about unjust laws. I was totally amazed at the fact they live off of the state by declaring the fathers of these children are unknown. The government and its laws they choose to ignore is taking care of them
My biggest fear is that they will all just vanish and keep doing what they are doing.