Foster Care Personnel Invade Privacy of FLDS Childbirth

State of Texas 43, King George 28

43. Foster care personnel insisted on being in the labor and delivery room while one FLDS “child” (who wasn’t a child) gave birth.

The “child” who was giving birth, 18 year-old Pamela Jessop, says that she showed government officials her birth certificate before she was taken into state custody. A CPS worker signed a document attesting that Jessop had identified herself as being 18. And, the Bishop’s List – see page 8 – agrees that she was 18 at the time of the raid. Nonetheless, it was not until after she gave birth on 29 April that CPS released her from custody.

Childbirth is one of the most personal – if not one of the most sacred events – in life. The idea that the state would consider it necessary to intrude on such an event is an affront to the human dignity of the mother. One could understand such an intrusion in the case of a murderer. However, as far as I know, she was considered to be a child under the protective custody of the state and not a suspected violent offender. Which leaves as the remaining possibility that the intrusion was justified due to the mother being a flight risk. However, If the state was worried that the mother would grab the baby and run the moment she had finished giving birth, it would have been possible to protect against that possibility in a far less intrusive manner, by posting guards at the window and door. Unless the mother had incredible stamina, the guards wouldn’t even need to be Olympic sprinters.

Jessop said, “they’re dealing with our lives and they’ve treated us like animals.” And her lawyers are considering filing suit for civil rights violations against her. Given the grounds that Texas has provided for civil rights lawsuits, this case may end up being more expensive to taxpayers than previously projected (see previous post).

CPS Didn’t Allow FLDS Kid with 104 Degree Fever to Be with Mom

State of Texas 42, King George 28

42. CPS didn’t allow an FLDS mother to be with her child, even though the child was hospitalized with a 104 degree fever and the child’s doctor had requested the mother’s presence.

One of the riveting reports written by a mental health worker describes this incident (see all reports by mental health workers):

On … Thursday morning, April 24, 2008, I witnessed a young mother named Rosinith be required by CPS to board the bus back to the ranch, though her young child was in the hospital with 104 degree fever and even though the child’s physician had personally requested the mother’s presence at the hospital. This event haunts me still, and I cannot imagine such a heartless act.

Click image to enlarge

Texas Allegedly Knew Barlow Not at Ranch before Raid

State of Texas 41, King George 28

41. Texas officials allegedly knew, before entering the YFZ Ranch, that the only person who was suspected of causing harm to one of the FLDS children was not present at the ranch, leaving the officials with no valid constitutional reason to enter the ranch.

As mentioned in a previous post, attorneys representing three FLDS fathers filed a petition for writ of habeus corpus that described the living conditions faced by the FLDS children while in state custody. This petition also makes serious claims regarding the legitimacy of the raid of the FLDS community, alleging that Texas authorities had information indicating that Dale Barlow, the subject of the initial search and arrest warrant, was not located at the YFZ Ranch. According to the petition:

The Agency [CPS] entered the Community with law enforcement officers based upon a telephone call from a known non-local number in Colorado Springs, Colorado to the New Bridge Family Shelter by a thirty three year old childless female identifying herself as a 16 year old female who said that she was Sarah Jessup Barlow and spiritually married to a 49 year old man, Dale Evans Barlow, [who] was physically and sexually abusing her. The Agency’s pre-raid investigation determined that the accused 49 year old man was an Arizona resident, under supervision on probation by an Arizona probation officer who resided in Arizona. Before execution of the warrant, Sheriff Doran [sheriff of Schleicher County, Texas] was also advised that Dale Barlow was in Arizona and not within the Community. In fact, the Sheriff spoke to Mr. Barlow in Arizona by cell phone and, after confirming his identity, Barlow told the Sheriff that he did not know any Sarah Jessup and had never been to the [Y]earning for Zion Community nor to Texas for some twenty years. The Agency was also advised that there was no Sarah living in the Ranch….

Prior to entering the premises, Sheriff Doran actually spoke to Dale Barlow in Arizona by cell phone, confirming his driver’s license number and the fact that he was in Arizona. Moreover, Mr. Barlow advised that he did not know any Sarah Jessup, had not been to Texas in over 20 years, and had never been to the YFZ Ranch. Thus, before the search warrant was executed, the officers had been apprised, and even verified, that the only person these officers alleged to be suspected of criminal activity or to pose “an immediate risk of physical or sexual abuse of a child” was not located on the premises, or even in the State of Texas. [emphasis added]

The Sheriff’s version of the story, as reported by the Deseret News, does not convincingly challenge this basic claim made by the petition:

A dialogue was made between myself and this gentleman that proclaimed to be Dale Evans Barlow. That still left in question the victim Sarah. As far as we were concerned she was still in jeopardy, was still on the property and still in need of intervention.

The original search and arrest warrant only alleged abuse by Dale Barlow against Sarah. Given that law enforcement had substantial reason to believe that Dale Barlow was not in Texas and given that there were readily accessible means – such as checking with his probation officer in Arizona – for confirming that Barlow was not in Texas, it appears to me that the search and arrest warrant fails to meet the constitutional standard.

If there were legitimate criminal cases involving members of the FLDS community, it appears that the manner of handling the raid has invalidated the evidence about such cases that was collected as a result of the raid. The CPS case has already largely gone up in legal smoke. If the above information presented in the petition is true, any criminal cases based on the raid are likely to go up in constitutional smoke.

FLDS Kid: “You’re the police, help us. Help me get my mother back.”

State of Texas 40, King George 28

40. In addition to the separation of mothers and children being unnecessary, the manner in which the FLDS children were separated from their mothers was inhumane.

In a previous post, I mentioned the mental health workers who documented what they observed at the shelters in the early days after the FLDS raid. Their description of the manner in which the children were separated from their mothers is riveting.

One mental health worker wrote:

One little boy of about four was frantically running from the CPS workers, avoiding capture in every way he could. Once caught, I held him firmly in my arms while he wept that he didn’t want them to take his mother.

Another mental health worker wrote:

Obviously they [CPS] did not know these people at all. Violence is not a part of their culture or belief…. On the awful day that they separated the mothers and children the level of cruelty and lack of respect for human rights was overwhelming. Crying, begging children were ripped away from their devastated mothers and the mothers were put on buses…. The floor was literally slick with tears in places. A baby was left in a stroller without food and water for 24 hours and ended up in the hospital. A 4 year old boy was so terrified that he snuck away and hid and was only found after the coliseum [had] been emptied the next day. I witnessed a small boy, maybe 3 years old, walking along the rows of cots with a little pillow saying “I need someone to rock me, I just want to be rocked, I want to find a rocking chair.” Two CPS workers were following him and writing in their notebooks but not speaking to him or comforting him. Sally and I started toward him but his 8 year old brother came and picked him up saying, “I will take care of him.”

Another wrote:

The last two days were the worst – over 100 State troopers surrounded these women and children in the arena, and they were told they were having all their children taken away from them and only the nursing mothers could keep their children.

Yet another described the incident:

I could see the women and children being escorted by a string of law enforcement into the facility…. CPS workers approached the “guests” and asked the women to follow them into another room while the children were asked to follow other CPS workers and escorted them to the other end of the facility. As the children became scared and realized that their mothers were not going to return to them, they began to cry and become emotional. CPS responded by placing (bed) cots upright and building a wall so that the children could not see what was going on at the other end of the facility. At one point, when the children were all separated, one male child who was about 9 years old, broke away from the rest of the children who were all [huddled] together, being comforted by each other, and walked up to a police officer. I heard him say, “You’re the police, help us. Help me get my mother back. She has done nothing wrong.”

There seems to be a building body of evidence that this case had little to do with protecting the children from emotional and physical harm and much to do with attempting to suppress an unpopular religion.

Texas Governor Not Worried about “Fine Legal Lines”

State of Texas 39, King George 28

39. Texas Governor Rick Perry says he is more concerned about the welfare of children than observing “fine legal lines.” According to a Dallas Morning News article, Perry said:

If responsibility needs to be taken for [court edicts] saying that we stepped across some legal line, I’ll certainly take that responsibility. I am substantially less interested in these fine legal lines that we’re discussing than I am about these children’s welfare, that’s where my focus is.

Governor Perry is essentially stating that he doesn’t mind if the government exceeds the limits that the law places upon the government, provided that the government has good intentions. Or, more bluntly, Perry is essentially arguing that – in the case of the government – the ends justifies the means.

As I observed in a previous post, Governor Pyle credited the Short Creek Raid of 1953 with ending his career as governor of Arizona. If the electorate of Texas makes the same judgment of the Eldorado Raid of 2008, Governor Perry has gone on the record saying that he accepts the consequences.

Perry has already stated that he plans to run for re-election in 2010. Hopefully, the voters of Texas are less proud of him than Machiavelli would be…

CPS Living in Fantasyland?

State of Texas 38, King George 28

38. CPS turned Warren Jeffs into the new villain who must not be named – or quoted – and whose signature must not be seen.

Pictures and quotations of Jeffs were confiscated from his own children, although – in a show of generosity – CPS said that if DNA evidence proved that any of those children were actually his, they would be allowed to have his photo.

FLDS children, including nephews and nieces of Jeffs, were not allowed to hear his name. However, a CPS spokesman admitted that CPS doesn’t have a general policy forbidding children in their custody to talk about relatives who are convicted sex offenders. The policy was specially concocted for the FLDS children, because – according to a CPS spokesman – Jeffs “is their prophet and spiritual leader.”

CPS had also entered the sermons business, picking and choosing which sermons by Jeffs or other FLDS prophets the children were allowed to have. Perhaps CPS felt the need to make sure that such sermons were consistent with the state religion?

And, naturally, even Warren Jeffs’ signature is so powerful, that the FLDS children weren’t allowed to have a copy of that.

When CPS expenditures are released to the public, perhaps we’ll discover that Dolores Umbridge has left the Ministry of Magic and is now on the CPS payroll. How else could one account for such nutty rules? 😉

CPS Subjected FLDS Kids to Outrageous Living Conditions

State of Texas 37, King George 28

Now that the children are beginning to go home, maybe the state will slow down in its pace of questionable actions long enough to let me catch up on the backlog of such actions that I haven’t had a chance to document yet.

37. FLDS children and parents had two restrooms to share per 141 people in the early days after the raid. At that time, CPS was housing the FLDS at the Fort Concho National Historic Landmark, which consists of some original and some reconstructed buildings on the site of a 19th century fort.

A petition for writ of habeus corpus filed by attorneys representing three monogamous FLDS fathers (whose wives were “of age at the time of their marriage”) provided the ratio of restrooms to people at this facility (thanks to Grits for Breakfast for providing the link to the filing).

The petition says that FLDS mothers complained about the “squalid living conditions” at the fort and some of the FLDS were then moved to the Wells Fargo Arena. They may have just been moving out of the frying pan and into the fire, however, for the arena was so “filthy … that the mothers took it upon themselves to begin washing the walls”.

In a previous post, I discussed the emotional trauma the children were subjected to by being stripped from their families. The petition provides evidence that the children were also subjected to physically inadequate living conditions. Effectively, CPS subjected the children to real emotional and physical abuse based on the fear that some of the children at some unknown time in the future might be subjected to sexual abuse by some unknown perpetrator. It’s a good thing the Texas Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court reined in CPS…

Positive Moves by Both the State and the FLDS

The state is allowing all of the children to return to their parents, and the FLDS have announced a policy forbidding marriage before the age of consent in the state they live in. The drama is not over yet as CPS announced that abuse investigations will continue but also promised to operate within the constraints of the court order.

Judge Persists in One Household Approach

State of Texas 36, King George 28

36. Even though the appeals court explicitly rejected the CPS interpretation that the YFZ Ranch constitutes a single household, Judge Walther persisted in treating the FLDS in a manner that remained, essentially, a one-household approach.

The appeals court wrote:

The notion that the entire ranch community constitutes a “household” … and justifies removing all children from the ranch community if there even is one incident of suspected child sexual abuse is contrary to the evidence.

The district judge, Barbara Walther, added her own conditions to a deal worked out between lawyers representing the parents and lawyers representing CPS, including a request that all families “give state agents around-the-clock access to homes at the YFZ Ranch.” However, one attorney questioned why one of her clients would need to give twenty-four hour a day access to her 9 month-old son, stating that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by any of her clients. Other lawyers complained that the “same ‘global’ claims of wrongdoing rejected by the Texas Supreme Court and Third Court of Appeals” were being perpetuated. The added conditions requested by the district judge caused negotiations to fall apart Friday.

However, lawyers worked out a new deal on Sunday (1 June), and Judge Walther says she will sign this deal if the parents do. It’s a hopeful sign that resolution of the impasse is nearing, but I’m not brave enough to hold my breath…

Issues Raised in Texas Supreme Court Decisions

State of Texas 35, King George 28

34. The Texas Supreme Court minority opinion appears to complain about use of the Fifth Amendment.

When the Department arrived at the YFZ Ranch, it was treated cordially and allowed access to children, but those children repeatedly pled “the Fifth” in response to questions about their identity, would not identify their birth-dates or parentage, refused to answer questions about who lived in their homes, and lied about their names.

There are valid reasons for the Fifth Amendment being part of our system of constitutional protections. The main motivation for that amendment was derived from religious prosecutions in England in which people were pressured to testify against themselves.One such victim of religious prosecution was John Lathrop, who arrived in the American colonies in 1634 after spending two years imprisoned in England for refusing to take the “ex officio” oath, which was the tool used by the Court of High Commission to compel religious dissenters to testify against themselves. Lathrop had been caught holding a religious gathering in a private home, which was against the law at that time in England. He spent two years in prison without ever having been convicted, merely because he refused to take the ex officio oath and testify against himself. It is not surprising that the founders, remembering their English history, made certain to protect the citizens of the new nation from such powers.

When CPS “arrived at the YFZ Ranch,” law enforcement possessed a search warrant that was limited in scope to the abused girl named “Sarah” (now presumed to be fictitious) and her alleged abuser, Dale Barlow (now presumed to be innocent of the abuse allegations, since he has never visited the YFZ Ranch).

CPS had no legal authority to be engaged in the line of questioning that they directed at the children when they arrived at the ranch, and I believe that the FLDS community would have been within their legal rights to refuse to discuss any issues not directly relevant to “Sarah” or to Dale Barlow (see item 30 in a previous post). I am disappointed that the minority opinion did not acknowledge the context in which those CPS interviews were conducted.

35. According to the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services “took possession of all 468 children at the Ranch without a court order.” With 468 cases of what essentially amount to kidnappings, it looks like someone could be in danger of having the pants sued off of them for civil rights violations…