This just keeps getting worse and worse
Women return to Texas polygamist ranch - CNN.com
SAN ANGELO, Texas (CNN) — A group of women from a polygamist sect’s Texas ranch returned to the compound Monday after authorities separated them from the 400-plus children now in state custody.
Rhonda Jeffs, mother of two of the children and a spokeswoman for the other women, said mothers of children 5 and older were told they could not remain with the children but could go back to the ranch or to a women’s shelter.
The number of women who chose to return was not immediately known, but it appeared to be fewer than the 130 who had accompanied the children taken after an April 4 raid on the compound.
“We wanted to come home,” Jeffs said. “Where else would we want to go? They didn’t even let us say goodbye to our children.”
Mothers who had children under age 5 were allowed to stay, Jeffs and Texas Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said.
She said state officials made the decision after consulting with lawyers, health officials and child-welfare officials.
“They reached a consensus that this was in the best interests of the children,” Meisner said.
How is it ever in the best interest of children to have their mothers sent away?I have kids over 5 and believe me when I tell you they need their mommies. Even the 18 year old needs her mommy from time to time and being being stuck in a strange situation where all the adults are against your parents and your way of life wouldn’t be easy for an adult let alone a child. The children didn’t make the choice to be in an isolated ultra-religious sect but that is what they are used to and the state is not trying to provide an environment that would ease the transition by sending the mothers away.
I can argue until I am blue in the face that the lifestyle these people have chosen is extreme and in my eyes unhealthy. That doesn’t mean I believe the state should step in and kidnap all their children. I have out of the realm of mainstream thoughts about religion to begin with so I could argue that most religions are cults in one way or another but I am trying very hard to remember that while polygamy is very much against the law their religion is protected by the 1st amendment. There are no allegations that children under 16 are being mistreated in any way. The only thing the state has is a call from an alleged 16 year old saying she was married off and forced into relations with her husband. I say alleged because even though they took every minor on the compound they haven’t found the caller yet. I don’t know guys, maybe I am just seeing this from a parents point of view more than most but this whole action taken by Texas is just sticking in my craw and it seems to get worse and worse every day.
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