Last Word: Who will be next?

I totally agree with you. It reminds me of Waco & Ruby Ridge except for the violence. The government has no business taking these children away from their families. It is an abuse of power by the government. It sure didn't take much time for the governement to act...what is wrong with this picture. Why is the not more outrage at what is happening...talk about taking away people's individual rights..SPEAK UP America.

This Sarah may or may not exist, but the fact is there have been women who have escaped from thid FLDS lifestyle. Look at Flora Jessup, she has provided the evidence of underage marriage and pregnancy. She was part of it and a witness as well. isn't that enough for the state to step in and investigate? besides, polygamy is against the law. These men should have been rounded up long ago and arrested. I'm tired of hearing that this isn't about polygamy. The heck it isn't! This plural marriage lifestyle is what started this all!

First of all the cps had no reason to suspect that the tip was a hoax..therefore they had an obligation to investigate. Secondly, 16 year old mothers of two children are "proof" that abuse was taking place on that ranch, 13 and 14 year old children cannot legally "decide" to get married and have children. Consent does not equal legal in these cases. Thirdly, cps is the child PROTECTION services so they can and should act on mere suspicion, proof comes later in court.

I disagree with Diane, As far as individual rights go, you lose those rights when you endanger children. When you break the law and ploygamy is illegal. Not to mention statutory rape.
The children ALWAYS come first! who will protect these kids if we feel we should leave these commune living people alone to live their secretive lifestyle. The govt. hae EVERY right to take these kids and protect them from a very sick lifstyle. Now maybe, with therapy and a new family, these kids can finally hva e a normal healthy life.

Here's the thing... They had a number of phone calls to a women's shelter, asking for help. (Those calls may have been false, and that's a whole separate case.) Those calls named a member of the FLDS who has a criminal history of having sex with minor girls. A judge issued a warrant to search the compound. And, you must admit, it's difficult to get a parent's consent to a DNA test when even the children can't seem to identify their parents. (The whole point of the test IS to identify the parents.)

Sorry, I can't work up much outrage, here. They went to investigate a specific report, that "Sarah" was being beaten and raped by her "husband." They still haven't found Sarah (although I heard a report that some of the children know her), but during the search for her, they found a number of other young women who've been given to men several times their own age and forced to have sex. No, no outrage, here.

This is really a frightening situation on many counts. I can only imagine the fear of these children. I am outraged at the ultimate invasion of their privacy by taking DNA from everyone. I am stunned at the rapidity with which this is all happening when there wasn't any real proof that "Sarah's" claims were true - when Flora Jessop herself thought there was something odd about the calls she received and she was suspicious about the truth of them.

The whole "big brother" aspect of this sickens me. But what can be done to protect the women and children of the FLDS from the abuse they apparently suffer? Can we really leave them in the "compound" with the men who are doing this to them? What other options are there than to remove the minor children? On the other hand, though, what will happen to any women and children who voluntarily leave the FLDS? How will they be able to support themselves? Where will they live? Who can they turn to for help? Remember, we're talking about hundreds of women and children - do we have the resources to help them if they leave? I worry that the authorities will abandon these women once they (the authorities) have achieved their goal of breaking up the YFZ Ranch and that the only choice the women will have then is to find another FLDS place that will take them.

I don't know what the answer is to the FLDS situation, but I feel that everything is moving too fast and isn't really well thought out. The children and the abused women have been victimized by the FLDS men, and now the abuse is (in my opinion) being continued by the authorities . . .