Individual hearings began today. I found this article interesting in the detailed plan for reunification of moms/kids.
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700227301,00.htmlA young son of FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs was among the first children discussed in a custody hearing this morning in what will be weeks of court proceedings to determine the fate of hundreds of children taken from the YFZ Ranch. Judge Barbara Walther approved a family service plan for reuniting 6-year-old Samuel with his mother Sharon Barlow, 35, who appeared in the courtroom. The boy is in state custody in Amarillo. The goal is reunification by April 13, 2009.
(clip)
As part of the plan, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services want to assess not only the educational ability of the boy but that of his mother as well. It wants Barlow to submit to a variety of tests to determine her vocational interests. The department also wants her to undergo psychological testing which will inevitably decide what types of parenting classes she may need to take.
(clip)
The service plan also addresses the need for Samuel to undergo physical therapy because he has a prosthetic leg. Walther asked how the boy lost his leg. It was indicated in court that it resulted from a birth defect. (slightly bit more @ link)
More on hearings, including what they are asking of the parents for their children:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24695122/Judges will now filter the unruly, chaotic custody dispute into hundreds of individual cases to determine what the parents must do to get their children back or whether their parental rights will be permanently severed. This is standard operating procedure for family court, but these are hardly standard cases. First, these families are comprised of at least 168 mothers and 69 fathers, reflecting the polygamy in the renegade Mormon sect. And even as the hearings began, the state hasn't matched more than 100 of the children with mothers. The first of court-ordered DNA test results won't be back for two to four weeks.
(clip)
CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the state is using a "template" for the plans but insists they'll be individualized in coming weeks. "The issues in these plans are very similar which is why we were able to use a template as a starting point," she said.
In a sample provided to The Associated Press, the plan does not outline a specific allegation of abuse involving a particular child and only repeats broad accusations made previously of the entire sect. The template calls for parents to do things like "establish safe living arrangements" and "follow the recommendations of professionals who will be working with you to develop the skills necessary to work with your child." The template plan does not require them to renounce polygamy or to offer guarantees that their children will not be pushed into underage or polygamous marriages or teen pregnancies...(more@link)
Now, about the Canadian girl that was found there. I'm glad that this is being followed up on as it does look rather suspicious.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080519.POLYGAMY19/TPStory/NationalIt has been more than six weeks since Texas authorities took a Canadian girl into custody during a raid of the isolated compound of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, child-protection workers are still trying to figure out how old she is as well as verifying her citizenship. Questions are also being raised about why she was in Texas. A former church member familiar with the Canadian family has speculated the girl may have been at the compound in Eldorado, Tex., for up to two years, and may have been in a so-called celestial marriage with an older church member.
(clip)
Two Canadians who said they were parents of a Canadian girl at the compound went to Texas from the polygamist FLDS community in Bountiful, B.C., shortly after their daughter was apprehended. They told authorities their daughter was 17 and had gone to Texas a few weeks earlier to visit her grandmother. They wanted to take her home. The Department of Families and Protective Services in Texas has refused to release personal information about the girl. However, the department indicated in a document filed in a Texas court last week that she is "approximately 16."
(clip)
Debbie Palmer, who has compiled genealogical maps of families in the B.C. polygamous community, said the Canadian family of the girl apprehended in Texas has close ties with the polygamous community in the state. The girl's father was part of a crew that built 21,000-square-foot homes for polygamist families inside the Texas compound. Her brothers run a company that specializes in rapid construction of a style of home in the compound. But the girl could not have been in Texas to visit her grandmother, Ms. Palmer said. "There is no grandmother in Texas." The teenager's maternal grandmother lives in Alberta; her paternal grand-mother is in B.C., Ms. Palmer said. Ms. Palmer also questioned whether the girl was at the Texas compound for only a few weeks. She said she has heard the teen had been in Texas for significantly longer....(more@link)
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
