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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2008
Contact: Robert Doggett, Attorney
512.374.2725
rdoggett@trla.org
Cynthia Martinez, Communications Director
512.374.2764
cmartinez@trla.org
AUSTIN, Texas – The Third Court of Appeals has decided to hear arguments over whether the State of Texas can place children from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints currently in their custody into foster care without giving each of their families the opportunity to defend themselves in court.
The decision comes after Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), the leading provider of legal aid in Texas, filed a request with the Court to order State District Judge Barbara Walther to hold hearings where each family would be able to respond to allegations of abuse. TRLA is arguing that the children should not be sent to various locations throughout the state until the Court decides whether these hearings should take place.
“These families have the right to have their voices heard in the legal process,” said TRLA attorney Robert Doggett. “The idea that these children can be taken away without giving their families the opportunity to address allegations and fight to stay together is absurd.”
The Court will conduct a hearing on April 29th at 2:00 pm in the matter. Though the State of Texas has said that all of the Eldorado children would be placed into foster care by the end of the week, these developments make it unclear as to whether that will still occur. More than 100 of the children were taken to facilities across Texas on Tuesday.
Added Doggett, “Our hope is that the State will do what is in the best interests of the children. Spreading them out across Texas before the Court makes its decision would only traumatize them even further.”
Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality legal assistance and related educational services.
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April 24, 2008 at 11:33 am
I have no problem with the parents having their chance to address the allegations of abuse.
However, please be aware that this sect is notorious for “Lying for the Lord” and that many of the parents don’t even know what constitutes abuse. So, how would they know if their children are being abused if they don’t have a complete grasp on what abuse is?
Marrying off little girls is child abuse – plain and simple. These children are held as virtual prisoners on that ranch that is surrounded by fences and a guard tower. They are not taught that marrying old men is wrong; they are taught it is righteous and their only ticket to heaven. They are not given a choice in the matter, unless you consider the threat and fear of being damned to Hell for saying “No” or kicked out of the sect for saying “No” are viable choices for these little girls.
Texas has done the only thing it can – get them out of that situation and living in a safe place until all of this can be sorted out.
I will also bet you that they will find a large number of children who were living on that ranch were there without their biological parents. It is alleged that children have been taken from their parents in other areas where the FLDS live and taken to live on the Texas ranch.
If this is the case, will NON-parents be allowed “to fight to stay together” with a child that is not even theirs?
Just be aware that these people need these children to continue the practice of polygamy. They don’t take converts, they breed their own victims. What is in the best interest of these children was done by Texas CPS. Trust me, those children need to be out of that compound and away from that environment.
April 25, 2008 at 12:41 am
Texas Social Cleansing Machine is at work again.
Remember Tulia? A community of Black people — targeted, rounded up on made up charges with no evidence; demonized with inflammatory labels and Swift Boat prosecuted in a Kangaroo court.
Now the same pattern of state abuse is being used against the American Families living in El Dorado that read from the Book of Mormon. This time the stakes are even higher, over 400 innocent children are in jeopardy of doing time in the dangerous Texas Department of Child Protective Services (CPS) custody.
The Corporation that thinks it is a government has a bug in the system; we are getting the wrong results. It is time to fix the law and prevent these government abuses.