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.
Comments
There are horror stories about what children have to endure in government projects and Muslim enclaves, but you don't ever hear of raids on these places to remove all of the children to "protect" them. It seems the first amendment doesn't apply equally.
Nothing applies equally. Especially common sense. So many times we say things like...better 100 guilty go free than 1 innocent be executed. But that's not really true. In this case, common sense was used in removing all of the children together. When it comes to the CPS workers I would say better that 100 guilty CPS workers go free than 1 innocent child be harmed.
I fail to understand why the authorities have not arrested the adults for practicing polygamy in the first place. It is against the law in all states-even Texas. I hope they win on appeal to the State Supreme Court.
Trying to protect children. The very idea! Bad government, bad government!
Me, too, Jack. Maybe the jails wouldn't hold all those dirty old men.
Men wanting to marry men. Women wanting to marry women. Boys and girls consensually sexually active and mature enough to be having babies at 12. If they can reproduce seems they are biologically mature and it wouldn't be pedophilia-having sex with a child (although I agree mentally and chronologically they are children-they are having babies). I see a really slippery slope with gay marriages success and eventual adult-adolescent marriages having success. Man thirty marries girl fourteen. Given the thought that homosexuality and pedophilia are biological and many of the same factors are associated with each. I see "legally" the logic will be if you allow gay marriage then mature-adolescent marriages should be condoned. Both propose a sexual preference for the right of marriage and all partners are consensual (be it a 30 yr old and 14 yr old). Yucked Up ain't it. Legal logic. Legally the logic will be it is a biological sexual preference, the partners are consensual. Given historically the age of marriage has already entertained adolescents marrying-it seems a possibility.
The first amendment allows drug use, that would normally be illegal, in religious rituals in this country. (American Indian) It also makes allowances for female genitalia mutilation in some cultural rituals. Why would polygamy seem illegal within a closed religious society like FLDS? Why aren't the travelers raided and their children removed by force? Isn't that a somewhat similar situation...Less the polygamy?
Bizarro, if homosexuality and pedophilia are the result of physical anomalies, why not polygamy? All we have to do is have it declared the result of genetic make up and it will be so. Do you know how insulting it will be to refer to any of those three lifestyles as "chosen"? Gasp!
Add polygamy to the slippery slope. Hee,hee.
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