Who Are the Heroes?
By now, everyone’s heard the horrible story of the children ‘rescued’ from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. 416 kids were taken by Texas authorities from the polygamist compound. There is suspected abuse of some of the kids including, but not limited to, underage girls being forced into marriage with much older men.
There are differing opinions on who is in the right in the matter of the raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch. Some believe that while the abuse was suspected, it isn’t known which of the rescued kids were abused, if any.
So why, then, are they the ones being punished by being taken away from their families? Why weren’t the abusers taken instead of the children, after there was sufficient evidence? For whatever it’s worth, a family is a family and good or bad, those children were taken from their families and now all are suffering as a result. The fundamental belief here is that the civil liberties of the families involved in this situation have been violated and that those civil liberties must be protected at all cost.
The other opinion is that these children were born into a situation upon which they have no control. It comes down to the rights of a child verses the right of an adult. Child Protective Services acts on the behalf of the child, and if abuse is suspected, they can intervene. Do we wait for proof that abuse has happened when there is ample evidence based on prior incidents that abuse will occur? If the parents know that the end result of how they are raising their children will be an abusive situation [although they may not acknowledge and/or agree with this statement], can and should they be held accountable?
I fully understand the argument that we must protect our civil liberties, and I uphold that. I wouldn’t want someone making some random accusation against me that would result in having my children taken from me. And I feel for the mothers and children who are suffering without each other as the complexities of this case reveal themselves. But I also have to believe in a system that is meant to protect our children when they can’t protect themselves and when they have no voice.
Question[s] of the Day:
Who is [are] the heroes in this case?
The authorities who are trying to protect children from future, as yet unrealized, abuse…
The mothers who are suffering without their children and who are defending their way of life…
The children who have endured abuse and are now likely scared and enduring enormous fears of the unknown…
Government shouldn’t interfere with our individual lives, hence our civil liberties. We have the right to our freedoms. But in this case, is the ‘rescuing’ of these children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch an interference or is it valid and warranted?
April 28th, 2008
Misa 
in
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April 28th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Frankly, this is a case of where there is no heroes. Texas isn’t coming out of this with a white hat, nor is this faith, or the mothers. I don’t think the answer is taking the kids away from the mothers. But for some reason the mothers have created a lot of these problems, by refusing to cooperate with authorties. They refuse to name the childerns fathers, they refuse to tell them their own age. If they would just tell the truth and cooperate their children would be with them now. The men in this case need to be removed to allow the children to stay with their mothers. They are the problem, with the insistence on taking young girls as “spiritual wives”. The older women, well I can’t post what I think of them. The men have by way of mental abuse and brain wash, have these women believing in what they are doing is right. So Texas is forced into doing massive DNA testing, and determines who is related to who and discovers 60 some odd under age girls, who have given birth or are pregnant. What a mess. These woman need to defy their men, step up to the plate and go to battle for their childern, because the men running their lives will just make more babies, and let the 400 souls be lost in a system that is well known for its lack of care. This is a remarkably sad case of where no one is there for these children. The Ranch has created such a extremely complicated case for themselves, it will be years before is all sorted out, and the possibly get their kids back, and by then you have these kids in fostercare, where even worse abuse may be happening, but definately a lot of confusion and culture shock.
But for me, the blame goes right onto the shoulders of the mothers. they need a good dose of common sense. They’ve let the clut, the men and now the state of Texas destroy their childrens lives. All for what? To give bodies to heavenly souls? Little souls here on earth need them more. Its a heartbreaking situation. I wish I was supergranny and could swoop up all those kids and make them safe and whole again.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:49 am
I totally agree, Lee. And yet, if I had to choose, I would say the authorities are the heroes for at least trying to protect these children when even their own mothers are not. My heart aches for those kids.