By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer 18 minutes ago
In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.
The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.
"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.
The high court let stand the appellate court's order that Texas District Judge Barbara Walther return the children from foster care to their parents. It's not clear how soon that may happen, but the appellate court ordered her to do it within a reasonable time period.
The ruling shatters one of the largest child-custody cases in U.S. history. State officials said the removals were necessary to end a cycle of sexual abuse at the ranch in which teenage girls were forced to marry and have sex with older men, but parents denied any abuse and said they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.
Every child at the ranch in the west Texas town of Eldorado was removed; half were 5 or younger.
"The moms are clearly very happy at the news that it looks like they're going to get their kids a lot sooner than expected," said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for legal aid attorneys representing 38 mothers who filed the complaint that prompted the ruling. "It's definitely an emotional day."
The case before the court technically only applies to the 124 children of those mothers, but it significantly affects nearly all the children since they were removed under identical circumstances.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled last week that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.
The ranch is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
Roughly 430 children from the ranch are in foster care after two births, numerous reclassifications of adult women initially held as minors and a handful of agreements allowing parents to keep custody while the Supreme Court considered the case.
Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.
Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if there's a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate court that the seizures fell short of that standard.
CPS lawyers had argued that parents could remove their children from state jurisdiction if they regain custody, that DNA tests needed to confirm parentage are still pending and that the lower-court judge had discretion in the case.
The justices said child welfare officials can take numerous actions to protect children short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care, and that Walther may still put restrictions on the children and parents to address concerns that they may flee once reunited.
Well now. I guess it is ok to molest and rape under-aged children in Texas. Why not? Texas is blind to the law- breaking illegal alien. No citizen should be arrested for ANYTHING, as long as the illegal alien is allowed to break the law. POWER TO THE LAW BREAKERS.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that the government of Texas is going to be required to follow the law, even when dealing with "weird" people.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of CPS workers, social workers and judges work so hard everyday to keep families together, this kind of abuse of the system is important to stop so that children that are really in need can get help. I worry more about the children of drug addicts that are being neglected because the state illegally seized 400+ children that were being raised outside of the mainstream.
It sure would be interesting to know who "no estupido" is, but I don't suppose I'll be granted the privilege. I don't agree with all flds does, but they are still Americans, and this seizure was against the law, plain and simple. Yes, there are bad flds members. As I recall, we had some bad priests, too, and probably still do. But I know, as a Catholic, that the rest of us are not hurting people, just because we're Catholic too! That's terrible logic.
ReplyDeleteThis whole case was completely off. As Rikki-san said, there was no room in the foster care system as it was, and now children who were in mortal danger and needed to be removed... where were they put? Or were they left in mortal danger so we can take children away with no actual evidence?
Innocent til proven guilty. Remember? There was not one ounce of proof in this case. When they find proof, THEN remove the kids. But maybe not 400 or more at a time! Besides that, several of the 400 weren't even children! They were adults! If the officials can't even tell a child from an adult, what else aren't they getting right?