Third Court of Appeals tells CPS that its kidnapping of the FLDS children was illegal

The Texas Third Court of Appeals issues a writ of mandamus to Child Protective Services (CPS) that its kidnapping of the FLDS children was illegal and CPS has ten days to return the children.

It was not clear when the children — now scattered in foster homes across the state — might be returned to their parents. The ruling gave a lower-court judge 10 days to release the youngsters from custody, but the state could appeal to the Texas Supreme Court and block that.

The decision in one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history was a humiliating defeat for the state Child Protective Services agency.

But the appeals court said the state acted too hastily in sweeping up all the children and taking them away on an emergency basis without going to court first.

Even if one views the FLDS belief system as creating a danger of sexual abuse by grooming boys to be perpetrators of sexual abuse and raising girls to be victims of sexual abuse ... there is no evidence that this danger is 'immediate' or 'urgent'," the court said.

- Michelle Roberts: Texas seizure of polygamist-sect kids thrown out

CPS won't let go, files an appeal with the Texas Supreme court, and then indicates it will ignore the Third Court of Appeals' writ to return the children within 10 days.

... the agency also asked the Supreme Court to delay family reunions, arguing that an "orchestrated conspiracy of silence" by ranch residents made it impossible to ensure that the correct children would be returned to their parents. Girls and mothers interviewed by Child Protective Services switched names and refused to answer questions about who lived in their homes, the appeal said.

Amy Warr, an Austin lawyer representing the 38 mothers, said the agency's argument was a red herring.

Family relationships should come as no surprise to the department — CPS workers supervise weekly parent-child visits and have developed service plans for parents to complete before they can regain custody of specific children, Warr said.

"That definitely seems disingenuous," she said.

Meanwhile, Warr said, her clients have been told to expect no reunions while the state's request for emergency action is pending before the Supreme Court.

- Chuck Lindell: FLDS RAID
Texas appeals polygamist ruling
State Supreme Court to decide whether families will be reunited

Maybe because each kid taken could represent income of ~$400,000 to CPS? For a great blog post on the whole subject (even has pictures!) check out Becky's:

The first clue this was all very wrong was when the newscasts showed pictures of the kids being herded into “First Baptist” Buses—which is apparently an approved religion in Texas.

Regardless, the cops went out to the compound to investigate. They never found the pretend girl, but noticed some pregnant teenage girls—as if that is something quite unusual these days.

- Becky C.: Court Corrects FLDS Raid Travesty

Hopefully, the Third Court of Appeals will continue to do its job properly, and issues contempt of court fines to CPS officials after the ten day deadline is up. We could be so lucky if that also includes jail time!

And still, the best part of this whole saga? Child Protective Services can't identify exactly how many children (or pregnant adults we now find out) they kidnapped....

Please let a reign of civil suits descend upon District Judge Barbara Walther, the CPS supervisor who authorized this, and the police officer in charge who went along with this...

Fighting tyranny one word at a time,

MJ
PS: Please add the names of those directly responsible in a comment, I've seen the names in a few of the early articles, but now it's like finding a needle in a haystack...