You can't be too careful," the old saying goes.

Well, yes you can.

That's apparently the situation in Texas, where an appeals court ruled Thursday that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services overreacted in seizing at least 130 of the 468 children it began taking from the polygamist ranch near Eldorado, Texas, beginning April 3.

The state had been concerned, perhaps understandably, that the children were in danger of sexual abuse or being inculcated into such a lifestyle. They had an anonymous tip, which may turn out to be a hoax, allegedly found five underage girls pregnant -- and, after all, this was the compound of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the breakaway Mormon fundamentalist sect who is now serving 10 years in prison for arranging illegal marriages between men and underage girls.

But no matter how odd the culture of his sect, this is still America. And the government's power to detain people and remove children from their homes must necessarily be strictly contained.

In short, authorities better be doggone sure all the children they seize -- not just five of their friends -- are in imminent danger before they are forcibly taken away from their homes and families. And the Texas court has said authorities there simply did not have the proof.

The ruling pertained to only about 130 of the 468 seized children, but presumably would be a precedent for all of them.

The whole case has been a muddled mess, but this much has been made clear: You cannot herd a group of children out of their homes based upon vague, albeit understandable, fears of abuse. Each child represents a different case, and his or her case cannot be judged based upon generalizations. There has to be proof.

However well-meaning, state officials must now face a stark reality: that they may be hurting the situation rather than helping it. The kids have no doubt been traumatized, as well as the parents, and the sect can now register claims of persecution that many will buy as legitimate.

We don't know what kind of parents the folks at the Yearning for Zion ranch are.

But history shows what kind of parent a government is.