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400+ kids taken from polygamist compound
by amyjudd | April 7, 2008 at 08:06 pm | 458 views | 5 comments
by greg1usa
Over 400 children, mostly girls, have been taken into state custody from the polygamist sect in Texas, in what authorities describe as "the largest child-welfare operation in Texas history".
The dayslong raid on the sprawling compound built by now-jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was sparked by a 16-year-old girl's call to authorities that she was being abused and that girls as young as 14 and 15 were being forced into marriages with much older men.
Dressed in home-sewn, ankle-length dresses with their hair pinned up in braids, some 133 women left the Yearning for Zion Ranch of their own volition along with the children.
State troopers were holding an unknown number of men in the compound until investigators finished executing a house-to-house search of the 1,700-acre property, which includes a medical facility, numerous large housing units and an 80-foot white limestone temple that rises discordantly out of the brown scrub.
"In my opinion, this is the largest endeavor we've ever been involved in in the state of Texas," said Children's Protective Services spokesman Marleigh Meisner, who said she was also involved in the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco.
The members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints spent their days raising numerous children, tilling small gardens and doing chores. But at least one former resident says life was not some idyllic replica of 19th-century life.
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April 7, 2008 at 08:06 pm by amyjudd, 458 views, 5 comments
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Comments (5)
at 20:48 on April 7th, 2008
It would be right I think if the State authorities commissioned a longitudinal study into the effects of what it means to have developed as a child (or many children) under the circumstances of polygamopus practices. There may well be mental health implications but substantiating that too is part of balance ..
The problem is with some of these micro-cultural sects etc is there is an attraction to oppressive patriarchy and the passification of women to narrowed roles ..That is repugnant and worrying I feel.
On the other hand there has to be a careful line drawn over State interferences into micro-cultures too and this whole field of State intervention has to become scrutinised and made very transparent...
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at 20:56 on April 7th, 2008
I agree, but I think in this case, it was important for the state to intervene and remove the children from this environment - at least until their investigation has concluded.
at 21:12 on April 7th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Although I can understand concerns about state vs. families, the bottom line here is that imminent danger to children trumps everything. It's not all that easy to "take back" a forced "marriage" which is actually an internally-sanctioned rape. In fact, it's impossible--so better safety for kids rather than "oh, sorry 'bout that."
at 21:15 on April 7th, 2008
I totally agree PEP!
at 09:39 on April 8th, 2008
This whole thing was predicated on an "anonymous" phone call by someone they have not been able to locate. The one person they may have an arrest warrant for was known by the police to be in Arizona. The excuse of protecting the childrem may be a noble one but how much harm will be done by the inquisitors who will grill the people until they "admit" what happened. It has been reported that none of the adult women are talking. How much pressure will be placed on them until they cave in and just say what the authorities want them to say in order to be left alone?