Appellate court overturns polygamist sect custody decision
May 22nd, 2008 @ 12:00pm
Team coverage
A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children.
The Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide Society (TRLA)represented 48 FLDS mothers. TRLA attorney Julie Balovich said, "The way that the courts have ignored the legal rights of these mothers is ridiculous. It was about time a court stood up and said that was, has been happening to these families is wrong."
Patrick Crimmins, CPS spokesman released a statement. It said, "We just received the information from the court of appeals, and it's being reviewed. We are trying to assess the impact this will have on our case. Any decision regarding an appeal will be made later."
The woman who helped send FLDS leader Warren Jeffs to prison says she has mixed feelings about fundamentalist children returning to the parents
Elissa Wall says she feels for the FLDS children in Texas protective custody but believes this could hamper the state's investigation.
She says, "And the sad thing is, is these people is so sequestered, and they are so secret that we don't know if these children will just disappear now, once they go back."
The former FLDS child bride tells KSL's "Doug Wright Show" that she worked with officials in the Lone Star State and says this may have never happened if members of the ranch would have been upfront and honest. She believes CPS officials did the right thing after entering the ranch.
Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.
The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.
