On My Mind...

People have been talking a lot lately about the polygamist sect raid in Texas. More than 400 children were removed from their homes and parents and placed in foster care, after police received a call from a 16 year old girl claiming to be a victim of sexual abuse. Since they swept in and took away all the children, the Texas Supreme Court has ordered the children returned.


I, for one, am happy with the court's decision.


Now, I've based my opinion on what I know. And this is what I know:


~ they still haven't found the 16 year old girl who made the anonymous call. In fact, they are now saying that it might have been a crank call.


~ I know of situations in some families where one child is abused and the rest aren't. When this happens, usually the court only take the abused child out of the household and let the rest of the children stay: their goal is to keep the family as intact as possible. So, even if some children were being abused, why in the world would they essentially round up every child in the ranch? If one child in one family in a small town is being abused, do you round up all the children in the town? Of course not. You find out which children are being abused and deal with them.


I believe that this may have been a case of religious persecution. After all, if a couple of families on the ranch believe in marrying off their 13 year old girls, then they must all believe it, right? So round them all up! If one or two families on the ranch are abusing their children (and they should be punished for it), then they must all be abusing their children, right? Round them up! It has already been proven that the officials have not been completely honest about the situation:

Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.

And:

The case before the court technically only applies to the 124 children of those mothers, but it significantly affects nearly all the children since they were removed under identical circumstances.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled last week that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.

So, let's review. The police receive the call from the 16 year old girl, who they never found. They immediately go in and round up all the children, over 400, and rip them from their mother's arms and their homes, even though they had no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against those children. So what the the reason for their removal? Their religious beliefs? Must have been. Their beliefs are different, so it must be wrong, right?


Of course they should investigate for child abuse. Of course the parents who abuse their children should be punished. But taking them all away from their homes and family was, in my opinion, uncalled for. I'm happy to see they are able to go home, and I hope the cases of child abuse are resolved soon.

On My Mind...