A Texas appellate court says that the removal of the kids from their moms is unlawful. I wonder if that means the 15 year old moms married to 50 year old men, too. Holy f*ck what a disgusting mess. There is just something about seeing these moronic Little House on the Prairie women running out of the courthouse that pisses me off. You don't have to dress like Britney Spears to be in the culture but not of the culture. According to the New York Times:

The ruling asserted that the state's child protection agency acted hastily in removing the children from the Yearning for Zion ranch in April and did not make a reasonable effort "to ascertain if some measure short of removal and/or separation from parents would have eliminated the risk" of abuse toward the children of 48 mothers who filed the suit. The district court was ordered to remove its restraining order giving the state custody of those children, but it was not immediately clear how the hundreds of other children, now in foster care, would be affected.

Using religion as a cloak for pedophilia prone middle aged men grates (link via Maggie's Farm). I want those kids back in that situation like I want boils on my feet. But I'm just not sure about the best environment for these kids... And while it seems excessive to lump all 400+ kids in the abused category, it seems equally excessive to lump all the kids into the everything-is-hunky-dory category. (Which isn't the case, I guess this ruling only applies to 38 kids.)

Forget the abuse, isn't polygamy illegal in Texas? And why don't we prosecute them? And say the kids aren't "abused", what of the rest of it? And does this case mean the state will go after Muslims practicing polygamy?

And yes, I see the implications for parents worried about their kids being yanked away on the "evidence" of one anonymous phone call. I recognize that some kids suffer because the greater good is the presumption of innocence and sanctity of the family relationship.

What a mess.

Cross-posted at Dr. Melissa Clouthier