Are those Texas momon cult kids better off in foster care or with their whacko mothers?

This whole thing was kicked off by some 33 y.o. woman in Colorado calling the police and pretending to be a 16 y.o abused girl in the compound.

The entire probable cause in this case, as it appears right now, is based on a lie that the police did not diligently track down.

Not a one of those polygamist “wackos” is actually under arrest.

I don’t have to agree with their religious/political views. The rights and liberties as American citizens were trampled. And the spin will be that “we only had the best interests of the children in mind.”

Well, hey, those kids don’t belong to the government. They are their parents’ responsibilities. They have the right to raise them as they see fit. Sheltered from the “real world” is perfectly acceptable… unless you want to round up the Amish, too?

Until (or better, if) legitimate probable cause does eventually emerge, I think the kids should be returned with a great big apology.

How dilligently do you want police to investigate when someone claiming to be 16 says she’s being sexually abused before going in to investigate? I don’t know all of the details and I’m all for civil liberties, but there is legitimate latitude when investigating a crime in progress.

Plus Amish people aren’t sexually abusing children that I’m aware of. There’s nothing wrong with having odd religious beliefs, but the first amendment can’t be used as an excuse to molest kids.

You’re assuming a lot. What little is known about this particular case is under debate. And what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Let’s, for sake of argument, say that your next-door neighbor gets mad because you let your dog dump on their lawn, so they call Child Protective Services claiming you abuse your kids (your neighbors just being crazy mean like that). Do you really want CPS to storm into your house with assault weapons, pull your screamin’ kids away from their crying mother, and then drive off with them?

You’re seriously okay with that… and with the months of court wrangling, supervised visits, etc… just so they can have “legitimate latitude”? (BTW, if you are defending the state of Texas in this case, then your definition of “legitimate latitude” would not require probable cause.)

I’m certainly not an expert in Texas police protocol for responding to an emergency hall for help, and I can appreciate the neighbor concern you raised, but I would hope that all calls like this get taken seriously and treated as legitimate until the authorities can determine the situation is safe. Better that than them assuming all calls to be a hoax until you can convince them that there really is a man with a
gun breaking into your house. Certianly anyone pranking in this situation should be liable for all the damages that result.

I think Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would trade freedom for security are neither free nor secure.”

Until proven otherwise, these folks have done nothing wrong. I don’t think (but could be wrong) that there ever was a knock-on-the-door, how-do-you-do visit from CPS… let alone any serious investigation of the allegations… it was elevated to immediate full-on assault and government-sponsored kidnapping of the children.

Man, that ain’t cool.

The case is still unfolding… but right now, all we know is that a quiet community of apparently otherwise law-abiding folks were ripped from their homes… on the strength of a lie from a single person that was obviously unsubstantiated.

The FLDS people you are discussing are not “momons”. (mormons)

@tehbomdiggity yep, sorry for the typo. I was on the iPhone when I started this thread.

The one issue about this compound that has not been reported (or grossly under reported) is that the polygamist men pro-create with many women… they do not pay child support or show them living with or caring for the children and therefore the women in these compounds apply for welfare and social service benefits AND GET THEM. We pay for their children. The point here is there is no commitment by these men to pay financially for there responsibilities.

If you wanna have many wives and tons of kids… that’s alright with me… but at least pay for them.

The alarming rate of welfare recipients in the areas of these compounds is seriously out of control. The health and safety of the kids would be my first concern and then the scam of getting all that money to run their compound on our government’s tab would definitely be a close second.