In April, 2008, Texas officials initiated the largest removal of children by CPS (Child Protective Services) in the nation’s history. The removal was instigated by phone calls from a woman who identified herself as a sixteen-year-old girl in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) community near Eldorado, Texas. She said she had been forced to marry an older man (in his fifties) and was being abused. On the basis of her calls, a judge granted a court order to authorities to enter the property of the group, investigate the allegations, and issue an arrest warrant for the man identified as the husband of this woman. The state has now all but admitted that the call was a hoax and has dropped the arrest warrant for the man named.

Read other articles about the FLDS Situation:

Parents’ Rights Upheld by 3rd Court of Appeals!
Appeals court rules Texas had no right to seize sect kids

The Worm Has Turned
The CPS fiasco in removing all the children from the FLDS sect in Eldorado has been going since early April. The Texas Third Court of Appeals ruled CPS violated the law requiring evidence that children are in immediate physical danger before they can be removed from their parents. The Texas Supreme Court agreed. MH/MR workers who had worked with CPS in this case chronicled CPS abuse of the women and children in unsigned reports. Now Texas media outlets are now beginning to chronicle the abuse of these parents by CPS.

Finally, there is an excellent article on this whole tragedy that gives background on the legal issues and points out this is not the first time this kind of tragedy has occurred. It is vital to balance the concern for the safety of children with the rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their own children. Cycle of Abuse: The FLDS Raid.

Texas Supreme Court Minority Opinion upholds 3rd Court of Appeals ruling on FLDS