Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘CPS’ Category

More FLDS fallout - will this ever get resolved?

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 25th, 2008

Lawyers cry foul in FLDS seizures:

Many lawyers for children and parents in a Texas polygamist sect are boiling mad about the growing number of legal errors they claim the state has made in seizing and holding more than 460 children.

From the way officials handled an April anonymous phone tip about a sexually abused girl allegedly at the sect’s ranch, the seizure of the children, the court hearings and the questioning of children and parents alike, many attorneys are crying foul.

The lawyers breathed a slight sigh of relief Thursday when some of their cries seemed answered by an Austin appeals court. The 3rd Court of Appeals said the state had no right to seize most of the children and the local trial judge incorrectly left them in the custody of Child Protective Services.

But by Friday, CPS and its umbrella agency asked the Texas Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court decision and leave the children where they are — in foster homes and camps around the state, most far from their home at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas.

“They have created chaos. They don’t know what to do. This case has holes in it the size of the Grand Canyon,” said Laura Shockley, a Dallas family law specialist with six clients in the case. “There is no way to fix this.”

She and other lawyers say some of the seized people, especially those who it turns out are 18 or older, have potent federal civil rights lawsuits against the state.

And from the “cry me a river” files - FLDS sect case hits CPS staff in wallet:

The strain of handling the huge child custody case involving a polygamous sect in West Texas is trickling down through the ranks of Child Protective Services caseworkers who are pinching pennies while waiting for the state to repay them for overdue travel expenses.

Officials from the Texas Department of Family Protective Services say the agency is struggling to reduce a growing backlog in reimbursement requests for out-of-pocket expenses from caseworkers in the field who say the skyrocketing price of gasoline is hampering their ability to do their jobs.

Darrell Azar, a spokesman for the agency that oversees Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services, blamed the backlog in part on the ongoing operations at the West Texas polygamist ranch where more than 460 children have been taken into state custody. But he also said the agency will soon hire an additional auditor and as many as eight temporary employees to process the avalanche of expense reports being filed not only from the West Texas operations but also from caseworkers statewide.

Does anyone really care if some bureaucrat can’t get their money back from expense incurred during an illegal police action? If they’re complaining now just wait until they’re personally named in a civil rights lawsuit.

FLDS mothers told to shun their religion to get kids back

Posted by patriot on May 16th, 2008

And they say it’s not about religion…

Texas, calling a polygamist sect an abusive environment, is poised to tell its mothers they will lose their children unless they distance themselves from portions of their religion.

Some lawyers believe this could mean women would never be able to return to the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, and would have to choose between some of their beliefs and their children.

But other experts said adults who have tolerated underage “marriages” of girls to older men and apparently have cast out teenage boys might have forfeited all rights to raise their children – and are lucky to be given a shot at regaining their youngsters.

In advance of court hearings that begin Monday, Child Protective Services has drafted 10 goals and 14 tasks that parents will have to work toward to regain custody of their children.

CPS is proposing to give parents until next April to “provide a home free of persons who have or will abuse” children and “demonstrate the ability to protect the child[ren] from sexual abuse.” The children will remain in state custody until a judge is satisfied that the parents have complied.

Innocent until proven guilty, ha!

Videos inside FLDS Community

Posted by patriot on April 28th, 2008

Some interesting videos from Dateline with interviews of various FLDS members.

{ }

Search

Recent Posts

Sites of Interest

Archives

Categories