I'm inclined to think that the kids should stay with their moms, even though the moms are probably brainwashed and crazy. Because could there possibly be hundreds of nice foster homes for these kids? Would they really be better off in some massive temporary orphanage? I think not. But I am glad, too, that it's not my decision. I would hate to make that call.

This sort of melds with your previous post about the Indians preferring boy children, but what is the breakdown of the children in the ones taken away from the cult in Texas? It seems that this sect has a lot more girls than boys. I remember reading stories about the branch of this cult in Arizona basically discarding all the boys when they reached a certain age. Because the old men need their child brides and they don't want any competition from their boy children. Is the situation the same with this Texas group? Why should any of these adults be allowed anywhere near these children? I guess the women have also been victimized and probably don't have a whole lot of options for leaving the cult. But maybe the state needs to figure out a way to deprogram the mothers first along with the kids and then reunite them later. As the judge says it is a complicated problem for sure, but I don't see how they can allow these people to go back to business as usual like Jeffrey Toobin seems to think they should.

I started to say that King Solomon himself couldn't judge this case, but then realized that he was, himself, the compleat polygamist.

Forget that.

I'm relieved I'm spared this, but if I were nearby, I'd see if I could volunteer to work with the kids. Or with their mothers, the ones who have fled.

These kids should be allowed to stay with their mothers. The whole rationale for making such a drastic sweep, as I understand it, was the documented history of girls who have just reached puberty being forced into marriage with much older men. How does this make the mothers the abusers? Just because they have been used as brood mares doesn't mean that they're bad mothers. And the trauma induced by breaking up a community so violently is likely to be as bad or worse than the pathology of that community in the first place. These women should be able to stay with their children and be given material options to integrate with healthier communities, if they so choose.

that any of these 400 children were abused in the compound?

I don't want to seem to be coming down on the side of creepy cultists, because I'm not. I've been following this story, and all I've read so far is that the alleged 16-year-old whistleblower has not yet been found. Meanwhile, they've removed all the children from the compound.

Can someone explain to me how the state can legally hold all these children without evidence, and keep their mothers away from them? I understand that polygamy is illegal, but why are the children being penalized for the societal sins of their parents?

With respect, I disagree. It appears that the mothers in this

case conspired with the men in perpetuating a nasty set of crimes.

They may have defenses, like they were abused into the action, or acted in fear, or something else, but the policy of the state is to separate the children from the parents in abuse cases until something approaching the facts can be determined.

Having mothers able to coach the kids while the investigation continues, mothers who appear to be remaining loyal to what seems like a nasty bit of ideology and criminality, does not seem like it is in the best interests of the children or of justice.

If I was the judge I don’t too many of these children would be reunited with their mother’s. These are women who think it’s a-ok to let their 13 year old daughters sleep with adults and that it’s a fine idea to toss out their 13 year old sons in the middle of nowhere. And to hear them on the news asking ‘why is this happening?’ makes me sick. It’s only the adults who have asked for help to get away from this crazy life that deserve their kids back.

Let the rednecks put their money where their mouths are. Same thing with abortion - call their bluff and outlaw it completely then turn around and make the states pay for the care and feeding of all unwanted children until age 18. You will see Bible thumpers beat a path to resurrect abortions like you've never seen. Sanctity of life is fine, we're talking the sacred holy tax dollar.

The mothers are both victims themselves and abusers. If we were talking about any individual who was known to have provided sexual access to her child, then she would be separated from her child and allowed only supervised visitation until such time as the child services system could ascertain that the children would be safe going forward. Why should it be different when there are 400 children?

There's a branch of this cult up in Canada, in Bountiful, BC. It is causing the authorities conniptions, trying to figure out what to do. There is a law on the books against polygamy, but the authorities are pretty sure that it won't stand up to a constitutional challenge. And investigations have been met by a wall of silence, and rather vocal public protests from the women. It is a messy, nasty situation. And my heart really goes out to the young men ejected from the community, they are so lost and unable to function in the larger society.

They are going to have their hands full in Texas too; they aren't going to get much in the way of cooperative testimony from anybody, likely the kids included. The odds are rather high that the kids will ultimately all be returned to their mothers, and the mothers will return to the compound. At best a couple of men will go to jail for a short spell. The outlook is pretty bleak.