FLDS - Court Proceedings and Rulings

[mollymalone]

Texas doesn't have much choice. They will have to take it to the state Supreme court. And likely this one will end up in the federal Supreme Court which will take years to be heard.

And in the meantime, will the children continue in the system, with court hearings and reunification plans and all the rest of it?

 

[mysteriew]

And in the meantime, will the children continue in the system, with court hearings and reunification plans and all the rest of it?

I think so. The court can order them to release the children pending an appeal, but it isn't likely they will. Usually the appeal will halt any further changes until it is heard by the court. But they will have file within that 10 day period the appeals court gave them.

IE, Texas pulled the kids, the FLDS filed for an appeal and the kids remained in custody. Now the appeals court has given them 10 days to return the kids. If they file the appeal in those 10 days then everything goes on hold again. If they don't file within those 10 days, the kids will have to go back to parents and things will hold until it is heard farther up. At least that is my understanding of it.

 

[mollymalone]

I think so. The court can order them to release the children pending an appeal, but it isn't likely they will. Usually the appeal will halt any further changes until it is heard by the court. But they will have file within that 10 day period the appeals court gave them.

IE, Texas pulled the kids, the FLDS filed for an appeal and the kids remained in custody. Now the appeals court has given them 10 days to return the kids. If they file the appeal in those 10 days then everything goes on hold again. If they don't file within those 10 days, the kids will have to go back to parents and things will hold until it is heard farther up. At least that is my understanding of it.

Thank you.

 

[Elphaba]

Per CPS' agreement, 12 of the children are being reunited with their families, but with restrictions: they can't go back to the ranch... they have to stay in the San Antonio area and be under state supervision.

 

[SewingDeb]

This is posted in the media thread but it also belongs here:

FLDS couple get a ruling against state

Tanner agreed to the stay, but issued the restraining order, which for now keeps Child Protective Services investigators from continuing their investigation.

“I am not going to allow CPS or any other agency to interfere with parents in this state,” the judge said.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA061008.1B.FLDShearing.3899a1c.html

 

[mollymalone]

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700246257,00.html
A Texas judge has ordered the nation's largest child-custody case be severed into 234 individual cases, with separations based on biological mothers. Previously, 346 of the 440 children taken from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch were lumped into two large court cases. Texas 51st District Judge Barbara Walther issued the separation orders on Thursday in response to motions filed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Crimmins noted the new alignment of cases, in sibling groups according to mother, has consistently been one of his agency's goals, and is standard practice in child protective cases. He said his agency has been able to accurately establish family relationships of most children and mothers who were removed from the ranch.

 

[yolorado]

Yeah and the FLDS and its sycophants seem to be yelping about it, which I don't get at all. Isn't that exactly what they wanted, separate families? Now that they've got 'em, they don't want 'em? Breaking these cases into mom groups seems sensible to me. Many of the fathers seems to have taken off. Among some of the men, there seems a general reluctance to be identified with specific women and children, so father groups could be impossible to do. What else is CPS supposed to do in checking for specific situations where children could be in danger? If you've got a mom with a lot of child brides already, you could reasonably argue that her other daughters will be in danger as well once they hit puberty. Hopefully, they'll go after those moms who took pictures at their 12 and 14 year olds weddings as they harbored a known fugitive. Seems like a pretty good case could be made for taking little kids away from those moms.

 

[mollymalone]

I suspect there might be some charges for some of the women as time goes on and the investigation picks up steam.

 

[yolorado]

mollym,
I sure hope so. I know thee women are raised in this society where they must obey and must submit and where men call the shots, but allowing your 12 year-old daughter to marry a 50+ man is beyond the pale, totally unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. Putting up with your husband marrying other women is bad enough, but when he marries children, not doing anything to stop it and to protect those young girls should get that woman convicted of child endangerment at the very least. Women who sew these children wedding dresses and wedding-night gowns, who take their wedding pictures, who welcome them as fellow bigamists and who witness their pregnancies and attend their births should have some serious legal 'splainin' to do. All of them. The more I read and hear about this organization, the more I hope that someone, somewhere can do something to break the horrid cycle of abuse that this organization inflicts upon its members, particularly innocent children.

 

[mollymalone]

I don't think anything will change the sect overnight. It's going to take years. We'll see what kind of investigations and charges occur over time.

 

[mysteriew]

Unfortunately, what I think will happen is that the FLDS will sell their holdings in Texas and will move it to a state where they are amendable to the the lifestyle.

 

[yolorado]

Unfortunately, what I think will happen is that the FLDS will sell their holdings in Texas and will move it to a state where they are amendable to the the lifestyle.

Why must they burden us with all this mess? I don't understand why they are still in the US. They reject our general society. They don't want to follow the laws of the land. Why not go to another country where polygamy is legal and accepted? Why not just go somewhere their lifestyle is not against the law?

 

[Ciara]

I think its because they wouldnt find anywhere else as profitable for them with all their Government contracts and also the welfare that they rake in.
I know thats not supposed to be the case in Texas with the welfare money but it certainly was in Arizona and Utah.

They have it too easy in America and thats why they wouldnt go anywhere else.

 

[SewingDeb]

I love realitycheck's comment after the article Molly Malone linked above. The poster gets right to the heart of the matter.

 

[mysteriew]

Why must they burden us with all this mess? I don't understand why they are still in the US. They reject our general society. They don't want to follow the laws of the land. Why not go to another country where polygamy is legal and accepted? Why not just go somewhere their lifestyle is not against the law?

As Ciara says a lot of it, probably most of it is the money. But also don't forget they were all born into this culture, their parents were in it, and their grandparents. And it has always been ignored. So they feel entitled to continue. But I also think there is some arrogance in it. Their leaders are thought of as almost Gods.... they allegedly speak with God and know his plans and have powers denied to the rest of us mere mortals (prophesy). So the leaders at least, and probably the membership also feel above law- after all they believe they will go to heaven where the rest of us heretics won't.