Texas Had No Right To Take Polygamist Sect Kids
by Staff - May 22nd, 2008 - Brietbart.com
The state of Texas had no right to remove hundreds of children from a polygamist sect because it has not proven they were in imminent danger, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
Officials raided the sprawling compound of the reclusive sect on April 3 and took 250 girls and 213 boys into state custody amid allegations of systemic sexual and physical abuse.
[snip]
"The Department did not present any evidence of danger to the physical health or safety of any male children or any female children who had not reached puberty," the nine page ruling said.
Investigators were also unable to prove that the teenaged girls who had become pregnant had been married to older men.
"The Department conceded at the hearing that teenage pregnancy, by itself, is not a reason to remove children from their home and parents."
It is now clear that the original report of a teenage girl being abused was a fraud and a lie.
The court also said the state was wrong to consider the entire ranch as a single household. and to seize all the children on the grounds that some parents in the home might be abusers.
Of the 31 girls the state initially said were underage mothers, 15 have already been determined to be adults. One of them is 27. The rest are not yet proved to be underage but investigation continues.
The bureaucrats deny they did anything wrong and continue to defend removal of the over 400 children. They reject that this removal has done more harm than any harm that was possible by leaving all but the teenage girls with their parents. Being bureaucrats, they never will. This entire episode is indicative of the egregious results of a socialist society. The abuse by these bureaucrats is typical of people who have the power of government and the arrogance of self righteousness.
posted by Dean Stephens @ 4:47 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Has it been forgotten that polygamy is against the law, and by allowing these children to be raised in a society that promotes polygamy, you are basically raising them to break the law? If they are taught this law is okay to break, what other laws will they be taught to ignore? I realize that most of these parents may be very loving and nurturing (with exceptions as in any group- just as I'm sure there are some male members who only want to be members to get young girls to have sex with them with no punishment). But no parent should bring a child up to disobey the law- that is a crime in my book.
I agree polygamy laws should be enforced. However this case is NOT about polygamy. That is the key point you seem to have missed This case is about child abuse. Our Court system is becoming arrogantly unconcerned with abiding by the law when they use child abuse as an excuse to punish people for polygamy. 213 male children who were NEVER at risk, were taken from their parents and imprisoned in juvenile facilities. Are you really ready to excuse using lies by public officials to enforce the law? Do you really think this is going to make these children, or their parents, respect our form of government and encourage them to abide by the rule of law? The conduct by our public officials is at least as corrupt as practicing polygamy in violation of the law. That SHOULD frighten you. Does it?
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