Jul
09
A coalition of polygamous groups is taking issue with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ objections to the term “fundamentalist Mormon.”In a statement issued Wednesday, the group Principle Voices said it strenuously objects to what it calls “efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing.”
Last month, the LDS Church appealed to the news media and the public to make the distinction between it and the Fundamentalist LDS Church, whose YFZ Ranch in Texas has been the subject of widespread media attention.
“Mormons have nothing whatsoever to do with this polygamous sect in Texas,” said Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve. “The fact is that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890: 118 years ago. It’s a significant part of our distant past, not of our present.”
“People have the right to worship as they choose, and we aren’t interested in attacking someone else’s beliefs,” Elder Cook said. “At the same time, we have an obligation to define ourselves rather than be defined by events and incidents that have nothing to do with us. It’s obvious we need to do more to help people understand the enormous differences that exist between our Church which is a global faith and these small polygamous groups.”
Principle Voices said that the term has been used since the 1930s.
“We are proud of our Mormon heritage,” the group said. “Plural marriage is only one of the tenets of our religion, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith.”
Principle Voices is comprised of representatives of the various polygamous sects in Utah and Arizona, including the Bluffdale-based Apostolic United Brethren, the Davis County Cooperative Society, the Work of Jesus Christ in Centennial Park, Ariz., and independent groups.
There are an estimated 37,000 people in Utah and surrounding states who refer to themselves as “fundamentalist Mormons,” according to an unofficial census conducted by the group. While most do not practice polygamy, they adhere to doctrine that allows it.
A recent survey commissioned by the LDS Church found that there is confusion about the two groups. The survey said that 36 percent erroneously believed the FLDS Church was part of the LDS Church, while 29 percent correctly said the two groups were not related at all and 29 percent were unsure.
The FLDS Church is legally incorporated as the “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” The LDS Church excommunicates anyone who is a practicing polygamist today.
In a point-by-point statement published on the LDS Church’s Web site, the church noted the differences between the two faiths, including members who “wear regular modern clothing and have contemporary hairstyles.”
“Mormons practiced polygamy in 19th century Utah, but it differed in important ways from the way polygamous groups practice it today,” the LDS Church said. “A woman could choose to marry or not, and could leave such a relationship. Educational pursuits were valued. Two-thirds of plural marriages involved just two wives.”
Similar statements are made by Principle Voices about polygamous groups today.
“We regret that others would — in an attempt to try and distance themselves from fundamentalist Mormons — promote misconceptions about them,” said Mary Batchelor, the pro-polygamy group’s director. “We acknowledge the good the LDS Church does. They remain our fellow Mormons and we their brothers and sisters in the Gospel.”
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
Jul
09
Posted: 12:40 PM- A coalition that represents fundamentalist Mormons has issued a statement objecting to the LDS Church’s attempts to deny their claim to a shared Mormon heritage.
The Principle Voices Coalition, based in Salt Lake City, said that members “strenuously object to any efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing.”
Two weeks ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched a media campaign aimed at distinguishing itself from the breakaway sects.
Please follow this link for the rest of this article: http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_9828897
Jul
09
Last Edited: Wednesday, 09 Jul 2008, 12:32 PM MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — By JENNIFER DOBNER
Associated Press Writer
http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6945983&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
SALT LAKE CITY — By JENNIFER DOBNER
Associated Press Writer
http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6945983&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Polygamy-practicing fundamentalists with religious roots in early Mormon theology are rankled by the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ campaign to direct the way news organizations define those sects.
“We strenuously object to any efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing,” the Principle Voices Coalition said in a statement issued Wednesday.
“Fundamentalist Mormons have been referred to by that name since the 1930s, often by the church itself. We are proud of our Mormon heritage.”
Fundamentalists revere the same prophets as the mainstream Mormon church, including founder Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, both of whom practiced polygamy. They also share the mainline church’s use of the Book of Mormon as a primary text, along with the Doctrine & Covenants, in which plural marriage remains part of scriptural teachings.
On June 24, a Mormon church attorney sent a letter to newspaper, magazine and broadcast media outlets asking that the term “fundamentalist Mormon” be dropped from news reports.
The letter is primarily aimed at drawing a hard line between the Salt Lake City-based faith and the Utah/Arizona-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which practices polygamy and has been prominent in news reports since authorities in April raided the sect’s west Texas ranch and seized more than 400 children during an investigation of child abuse allegations.
“I don’t know how you can’t call them fundamentalist Mormons,” said John Walsh, a Mormon and religious scholar, who served as an expert witness for the state of Texas during the FLDS case. “A Mormon is someone who believes in the Book of Mormon … who has a belief that Joseph Smith was called of God in some way.”
From the fundamentalist point of view, they are the “real Mormons” because they continue to adhere to Smith’s original teaching that polygamy brought exaltation in heaven, said B. Carmon Hardy, a polygamy expert and retired history professor at California State University-Fullerton.
A Mormon church spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the coalition’s statement.
In 1890, a Mormon church manifesto denounced polygamy and opened the door for Utah’s statehood. But church leaders continued to privately sanction plural marriage for decades, scattering some Mormons to Mexico and other locations to continue the practice. The author of two volumes on polygamy, Hardy said it wasn’t until the 1920s that church leadership began to actively excommunicate known polygamists.
“These fundamentalists had good reason to look upon themselves as the most faithful,” Hardy said.
The raid on the FLDS’ Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas, led to two months of news reports that cast negative publicity on the 13 million-member mainstream Mormon church. A Mormon church-paid survey of 1,000 Texans found 36 percent believed the two churches were directly connected. That prompted the Mormons to launch a campaign of videos, stories and bullet-point explainers that seek to better define differences between Mormons and polygamous groups.
Among the difference the church outlines:
– The Mormon church excommunicates members found practicing it;
– Members wear regular, modern clothes and have contemporary hairstyles;
– The church encourages both secular and religious education;
– The church doesn’t practice or condone arranged marriages; and
– One cannot be a polygamist and be Mormon.
Principle Voices co-founder Mary Batchelor said fundamentalists take exception to the church’s list.
“The inference is that the differences are wide,” said Batchelor, an independent who is not currently in a plural marriage. “We have a lot of those same values, we may not have millions of members, so we don’t have the same reach, but we are not that different.”
Batchelor said two pages of enumerated differences show a lack of understanding on the part of the Mormons.
“It stereotypes everybody based on what’s been printed in some newspapers,” she said. “We think that’s unfair. It generalizing.”
A survey by Principle Voices conducted in 2006 found roughly 37,000 self-described Mormon fundamentalists living across the West, including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota and Texas. The majority do not belong to any organized church.
Most fundamentalists live in average neighborhoods, wear modern clothes and hairstyles, encourage education and don’t practice arranged marriages, Batchelor said. Many engage in the wider community and trace their family roots to the early Mormon pioneers who founded Utah, she said.
In the statement, the coalition says what distinguishes fundamentalists from the mainstream church is their commitment to “original, fundamental” teachings that the Mormon church has repudiated in the last century.
“There is a disingenuous quality to what the Mormon church is doing now because they are having to deny so much of their history,” Hardy said.
From his studies, Walsh concludes that the main differences between Mormons and their fundamentalist cousins really boils down to differences in daily living, not theology.
“Obviously, Joseph Smith would be excommunicated today for practicing polygamy,” Mormon scholar Newell Bringhurst said. “That’s the supreme irony.”
——
On the Net:
www.lds.org
www.principlevoices.org
Jul
06
Those who worship with The Work of Jesus Christ in Centennial Park have to be prepared to preach on a moment’s notice.
During a priesthood meeting for male members of the church on June 21 the men were told to wear their “preaching clothes” to church the next day. And true to the announcement, church leaders called on random male members of the congregation the next day to come to the stand and deliver a message to the entire body at the Centennial Park church, located just across the highway and south of Colorado City.
Jonathan Dutson was among those to speak that Sunday. He says it’s common for church leaders to call on members of the congregation to speak because it reminds them that they must be ready at any time to explain their beliefs.
Those belonging to the Work of Jesus Christ believe they maintain the true Christian gospel as taught by Joseph Smith and as practiced in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However they believe the mainstream LDS Church has deviated from the teachings of Smith, including the abandonment of plural marriage. Leaders in The Work of Jesus Christ - the priesthood council- say they have the true authority from God on earth.
Although they share a common origin with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the polygamist group based in Colorado City and Hildale, The Work of Jesus Christ and the group that became the FLDS parted ways in 1986.
While many outsiders may focus on the practice of polygamy, members of The Work say their beliefs all come down to legitimate authority from God. Like members of both the LDS Church and the FLDS Church, they do not believe that authority continued after the death of the apostles Christ called when he walked the earth. Instead they believe the authority was restored in the early 1800s to Joseph Smith, a man they all revere as a prophet.
Among the principles Smith taught was the doctrine of plural marriage as described in the Old Testament. The LDS Church officially abandoned that practice in the late 1800s, citing a revelation from then prophet Wilford Woodruff that God wanted the practice to cease. But members of some current polygamous groups - including The Work - say Woodruff’s predecessor John Taylor authorized a few men to carry on the practice of plural marriage underground, organizing them as a priesthood council in 1886.
When the mainstream church began excommunicating those who practiced plural marriage in the 1930s, the underground priesthood council and its followers broke away from the LDS Church and created a congregation of their own on the Utah/Arizona border in what was known as Short Creek.
In the priesthood council, the most senior member serves as president of the church, the man who holds the “keys” and authority from God to lead the church. The Work and the FLDS Church began to split in the late 1970s and early 1980s because of a difference on this subject.
The two groups were united under Leroy S. Johnson as leader of the priesthood council. But a rift formed in the council and Johnson asked two members of the council, J. Marion Hammon and Alma A. Timpson, to step down.
Following Johnson’s death in 1986, Rulon T. Jeffs assumed the prophetic leadership position of the FLDS Church, saying Johnson had taken the priesthood authority away from Hammon, the most senior member of the council. The group that became known as The Work believed that Hammon retained his authority so they chose to follow him and Timpson. They split from Jeffs’ followers and formed the community of Centennial Park in recognition of the 100 years since the formation of the priesthood council that enabled plural marriage to continue.
Although The Work split from the FLDS Church many years before Rulon T. Jeffs’ son Warren S. Jeffs assumed the leadership in 2002, most members of The Work have sought to distance themselves even further from the post-Johnson FLDS Church and the allegations of underage marriages and other criminal behavior.
Hammon and Timpson have both passed away but members of The Work believe they passed on their authority to a new priesthood council that currently leads the church. The names of these leaders are not publicly known.
Church services
With the recent attention given to polygamous groups that claim to practice Mormon fundamentalism, some might expect church services at one of these sects to be some sort of fantastical event led by a charismatic, law-defying prophet type. But the weekly services of The Work of Jesus Christ are not all that different from many other Christian religions.
As the members gather in the modest church building at the southern edge of Centennial Park they greet each other with warm “hellos” and handshakes. A 25-voice choir sings hymns common to the Christian world and those that share a history with the LDS Church. “Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning” and “Come Listen To A Prophet’s Voice” are among the selections they sing, accompanied by Marlyne Hammon, who also serves as the church’s spokeswoman, on the piano.
While members of The Work still dress modestly, most have more of a contemporary look than their neighbors across the highway in Colorado City. While some of the women pull their hair back in either buns or braids, many would not stand out in a crowd of women in the middle of St. George. And in recognition of the announcement made in the previous day’s priesthood meeting, the men and boys all wear dark suits.
Portraits of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and other church leaders hang on the walls. A U.S. flag stands on the podium. The words “Holiness to the Lord” are printed on the lectern.
The choir sings “Secret Prayer” and “Did You Think To Pray?” as the benches fill and families begin to sit in overflow seating in the adjoining cultural hall. A group of men, who are apparently priesthood leaders, sit at the front of the chapel on the podium.
The services begin with announcements about community game nights and water shortages before the entire congregation sings “I Stand All Amazed” as the opening song. A leader conducting the service asks another man from the congregation to offer an opening prayer. As the man begins to pray he raises his right arm to a square, asking for blessings on the priesthood council and a sister congregation in Salt Lake City.
Following the prayer the leader mentions the previous night’s announcement about wearing “preaching clothes” and begins to call men from the audience.
As one of the speakers, Dutson references his gratitude for worshipping at the feet of the priesthood leaders. He then mentions a quote he heard on ESPN radio that the biggest lie ever told was that the devil is not real.
“I hope and pray that we will not be caught in that lie,” Dutson says.
Nathan Burnham, the next speaker, follows Dutson’s remarks by mentioning that the devil is “constantly picking at us.” He says those who are parents need to step up and be responsible for they all will have to face in the afterlife the consequences of their actions in this life.
Later in the meeting an older member of the church, Walter Dixon, also talks of the devil, saying he uses science to battle religion. Dixon says that true science is a search for the truth.
Dixon also talks about how he first began to follow the priesthood council decades earlier while living in Salt Lake City. He says he was in darkness before discovering the light found in The Work of Jesus Christ.
“Nothing else is of any importance,” he says. “Priesthood is everything. Without it there is nothing of value to me.”
Following the meeting Burnham says he was born in Bountiful and raised in Hildale. He was a child at the time of the 1986 split between groups and has an older brother who remained a member of the FLDS Church. Despite their differing beliefs, Burnham says he is on friendly terms with family members in the FLDS Church.
“We all still have Thanksgiving dinner together,” he says. “We still love each other.”
He says his faith teaches him how to treat others and explains the purpose of life.
“The gospel explains to my mind where we came from, why we’re here on this earth and where we’re going,” he says. “My parents showed me by example how beautiful the gospel is.”
Jul
06
by BRIAN PASSEY • bpassey@thespectrum.com • June 28, 2008
They believe in plural marriage. They live near the Utah/Arizona border. But they have nothing to do with Warren Jeffs and his FLDS Church.
Those belonging to the Work of Jesus Christ in Centennial Park, just across the highway from Colorado City, believe they maintain the true gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by Joseph Smith and as practiced in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However they believe the mainstream LDS Church has deviated from the teachings of Smith and that they — through the priesthood of The Work of Jesus Christ — have the true authority from God on Earth.
Joanne Yarrish says she is fascinated by religion. She owns a Koran, a Torah, a Bible and a Book of Mormon. But she says the fullest gospel of Jesus Christ that she has found is within the belief system of The Work of Jesus Christ.
“I go to church on Sunday and listen to the brethren (priesthood leaders) and that’s what I receive,” she says. “That’s my manna.”
The practice of plural marriage, or polygamy, is a major element of their faith that sets members of this group apart. Marlyne Hammon, who often acts as a spokeswoman for the group with the media, is in a plural marriage. She is her husband’s first wife and she has “sister wives” as they are called.
“I’m converted to what I am,” Hammon says. “I’ve chosen that and it’s worked well for me.”
Hammon often touts the blessings and advantages of polygamy. The group in Centennial Park, which numbers about 1,000 people, places a strong value on education, especially for women, so you might find many women among the group with Master’s degrees. Because of that education, there are more people in a household to contribute to a higher standard of living.
There are often allegations of welfare fraud among members of polygamous sects but those in Centennial Park say the allegations are false. On a drive through the community you’ll find plenty of large and beautiful homes — the fruits, they believe, of their faith.
“The people are hard working,” says Al Yarrish, a former Catholic from the East Coast who was baptized as a member of The Work. “I don’t know anyone on welfare.”
Because they are so well trained in many industries, Al says they don’t use welfare, they get jobs.
Joanne, Al’s only wife, runs the local health clinic and says all the welfare programs offered by the state of Arizona are underutilized.
“People are very proud of being self sufficient,” she says. “The more ladies that come into a family, the higher the income and the better standard of living that family has.”
Polygamy
Not all who live in Centennial Park and worship at the group’s Sunday meetings practice polygamy. However, they still believe in the practice as a gospel principle.
Al says his friends accused him of joining the group so he could have more than one wife. Yet he’s been married to Joanne for 13 years and does not feel he’s worthy to have another wife, even though Joanne would be open to it. However, he has come to appreciate his wife’s culture and beliefs.
“They’re really, truly dedicated to what they believe,” he says. “It has opened my eyes. The people here are honest. They’re certainly very proud of where they live. They love their kids.”
He says anyone who thinks all polygamists abuse children or marry underage girls needs to “have their head examined.” Members of The Work believe that only consenting women of legal age can enter into a marriage.
Hammon says she does not feel as if she was forced to stay in the Short Creek area and enter into a plural marriage. She said the group does not believe it is right to force the idea of plural marriage on anyone. But she acknowledges the practice might seem odd to outsiders.
“People don’t understand it,” she says. “So they fear.”
Joanne grew up in Colorado City as a member of what was then a unified group of people that would later split into two groups: the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and The Work of Jesus Christ.
Although she is not a plural wife, she grew up in that family structure. Joanne says she saw many things improve in her family when other wives came into it. She said she has seen similar blessings for those who believe in the principle in Centennial Park.
“We really feel very blessed,” she says. “We feel God smiles on us.”
Joanne notes that some might wonder how a father can love 60 children. She replies with a question of her own: How does God love billions of children?
“Love is not a finite amount … it’s limitless,” she says.
Yet Joanne acknowledges that for many it is a “constant crisis of faith” and some are on the losing side of that struggle. What will make sense to one person will not make sense to another. So she believes there needs to be understanding of those who chose to leave the sect.
Unlike the allegations of being trapped in polygamous marriages made against members of the FLDS Church, Al says the women in Centennial Park are not trapped there.
“They’re not slaves,” he says. “It’s their choice.”
Joanne agrees.
“To be told we are subservient … that’s so far out of reality … that’s negating us completely,” she says.
Al even says, with a laugh, that his wife is so liberated that he does all of the cooking.
And the women agree that the men who have plural wives are honorable men who take their beliefs seriously.
Community
Other than plural marriages, Hammon says members of The Work are not that different from others. She mentions how they encourage the young people to get an education. They want the girls to have confidence to face life, and that is not something they can do if they are marrying at age 15.
She also says the group does not believe the U.S. government is the enemy, as has been alleged about the neighboring FLDS group. A U.S. flag hangs at the front of the chapel in Centennial Park. Additionally, Hammon says many have served in the armed forces. Her husband served in Vietnam and her uncle died in Saipan during World War II.
“We’re a country together,” she says. “We’re very patriotic.”
She even sees polygamy as patriotic. Because it encourages large families, Hammon says the people of Centennial Park are creating many good citizens for the nation that follow the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joanne says “bleeding the beast” — a term associated with allegations that members of the FLDS church rely on welfare to take money from the U.S. government — is not a problem in Centennial Park. However, she believes it is not a problem with most members of the FLDS church either.
Because of shared cultural and family ties there are still many connections with the two groups. Joanne believes healing the rift between the two groups could bring positive results but the FLDS members became increasingly hostile to those in Centennial Park under the leadership of Warren Jeffs.
The two groups split in 1986 after the passing of Leroy Johnson, who was regarded as the prophet by those who practiced plural marriage in the Hildale/Colorado City area. Rulon Jeffs, Warren’s father, then became the prophet and leader of what became the FLDS church but many believed he did not have the authority to lead.
Others belonging to the church’s ruling priesthood council — Jonathan Hammon and Alma Timson — split from Jeffs’ followers and created Centennial Park to provide a place for those who felt they couldn’t live in Hildale and Colorado City.
“That split rocked the world,” says Jonathan Dutson, Joanne’s brother-in-law. “It’s good to get back to that sense of community.”
His wife, Guinevere, says she loves the community and the safe environment it offers. All those who live in Centennial Park look out for each other’s children, she says.
Jonathan says the community is religious-based, yet they allow people be who they are.
“We might be considered odd because we’re a very religious-oriented community, but that would be the only reason to call us odd,” he says. “We truly believe that the gospel and what it can give you is beyond anything this earth can give you.”
“We’re willing to pay a price to be odd,” Guinevere, adds, referring to the modest way of dressing among the members. “If modesty is going to be odd in the community then we’re going to be odd.”
When it comes down to it, Guinevere says, it’s not how you dress but how you act that is important.
Jul
02
Hi everyone, we had a great visit to the YFZ Ranch. I, for one, was very impressed. I will be sharing some feelings about the experience soon. One thing I did notice, as Amanda Chisolm says in the article I posted below, these FLDS families are not zombies or drones or without personality. We were welcomed with smiles and hugs. Their personalities were not smothered, some exhibit a great deal of spunk, some have hearty senses of humor. One thing we saw everywhere we went: grace and genuine kindness. These people are genuine.
I’ll be blogging more about it later. I will say this: it is a very different experience to meet these people in person, and see the ranch in person…and hear directly from them what they went through, and what they think.
Jul
02
Love Your Lawyer Suit!
Publish Date: July 1, 2008 | Permanent Link
Two Alpine attorneys help win back custody of hundreds of children taken by Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services in the April raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas.
By Marlys Hersey, Editor
“I am…an attorney with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid…currently representing forty-eight mothers in the child custody proceedings that began as a result of the raid of the YFZ [Yearning for Zion] Ranch in early April.
Last month, TRLA filed a Writ of Mandamus with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas, on behalf of the mothers, where we argued the state did not follow Texas law when they took these children without providing any evidence that these households were creating abusive environments.
The Third Court ruled on this matter, and stated that Child Protective Services had no evidence that these children were in imminent danger and that CPS acted hastily in removing them from their families. According to the Court, the existence of the FLDS [Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints] belief system, as described by the department’s witnesses, by itself does not put children of FLDS parents in physical danger.
As you can imagine, both TRLA attorneys and the parents we represent are ecstatic about this news. In ruling this way, the Third Court of Appeals has stood up for the legal rights of these families and given the mothers hope that their families will be brought back together very soon.
It is a great day for families in the state of Texas.”
– Julie Balovich, attorney for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, speaking at press conference on May 22 in front of the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo, TX
While many of you have probably followed the drama of this intriguing story of national interest as it unfolded in the news, you may not know that two of the key players in the case are locals. In fact, Julie Balovich and Amanda Chisolm, lawyers for TRLA and residents of Alpine, are two of the ten attorneys responsible for the return of the children to their parents after six weeks in state custody.
To recap: In late March, a woman called a domestic violence shelter, claiming to be a 16-year-old who lived at the “Yearning for Zion” ranch, near the town of Eldorado, TX in Schleicher County (about a 225-mile drive northeast of Alpine), reporting that she was sexually and physically abused by her 50-year-old “husband.” The shelter contacted the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ Child Protective Services (CPS), and the investigation of this community of fundamentalist Mormons began, resulting in a raid, beginning on April 3, in which CPS and law enforcement officials “took possession of all 468 children at the Ranch without a court order,” as the Supreme Court of Texas decision reads, ostensibly to protect the children from an immediate threat to their physical health and safety.
In what CPS has called “the largest child protection case documented in the history of the United States,” the agency claimed to have ample evidence of a “pervasive pattern and practice” of abuse in the YFZ community.
Two weeks later, in a hearing in State District Court in San Angelo on April 17 and 18 – the courtroom so jam-packed with attorneys for both parties, attorneys ad litem (“for the suit,” appointed to protect underage clients), guardians, and others that an additional auditorium was filled with the overflow – Judge Barbara Walther ordered that the children remain in the department’s temporary custody, and mandated DNA testing of each child to determine maternity and paternity.
All of the children older than 12 months were then separated from their mothers and relocated to foster homes and other state-overseen facilities in various and sometimes far-flung parts of the Lone State.
Thirty-eight of the mothers petitioned the court of appeals seeking a return of their 126 children; on May 22, the Third District Court of Appeals ruled that CPS failed to meet its burden of proof under Texas law (as detailed in Balovich’s statement above) and “vacated the temporary orders” which granted CPS custody.
CPS then petitioned the Supreme Court of Texas for a review. On May 29, the Supreme Court of Texas, “In Re Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Realtor On Petition for Mandamus (No. 08-0391)” issued its opinion: “We are not inclined to disturb the court of appeals decision.” Included in the court’s relatively brief, 905-word decision was this unambiguous statement: “On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted.” The argument put forth by ten TRLA public defense attorneys prevailed in the court of appeals and in the state’s highest court.
By June 3, all of the children were released back into the custody of their parents; some of the families have since returned to the YFZ Ranch, some remain in different homes rented during the time their children were in state custody.
Please follow this link for the rest of this article: http://www.bigbendgazette.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/1/3771392.html
