Baby Substituted

March 2, 2009 permalink

One of the few FLDS mothers still involved in a child protection case was required to take her baby to to a meeting with social workers. She followed the advice on our help page: Never take your children to a place where CAS workers are present, unless required to by court order. They may use some trick to distract you, while they hustle the children away to a new custodian. The unnamed mother took a substitute baby to the meeting. The state of Texas wants her to have a psychological evaluation. They think the mother is crazy. She was deceptive, but not crazy.

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State alleges baby brought to meeting does not belong to FLDS teenager

YFZ Ranch » Texas officials want girl to undergo psychological test

By Brooke Adams, The Salt Lake Tribune, Posted: 03/02/2009 05:59:02 PM MST

Texas child welfare officials want a 17-year-old FLDS girl to undergo a psychological evaluation because they fear she may have been separated from her baby.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said in a new court filing that genetic tests show a baby the girl brought to a meeting with caseworkers is not hers.

The department asked 51st District Judge Barbara Walther to order the girl to meet with a psychologist because it is concerned for her "emotional welfare" and believes the girl is "being improperly influenced, against her best interest, into making choices to not produce her child and to produce another individual's child."

Walther will consider the department's request at a hearing on Thursday.

The girl gave birth in June while she was still 16. The teenager and one other girl are the only FLDS children who have active lawsuits before the court.

The state has dismissed cases involving 437 other children removed last April from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. The ranch is home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The department said its efforts to observe the girl and her baby have been repeatedly "thwarted," as have its efforts to do a second DNA test and arrange an evaluation for her.

FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said the girl had been traumatized by the raid and feared what the state might do to her baby, concerns she shared with Walther.

The state and attorneys for the girl and her mother agreed in November to a "meet and greet" where caseworkers could observe the infant, not take DNA, he said.

But representatives of the Texas Attorney General's Office also showed up and performed the test.

"We don't know what their motives are but one thing we do know is it's not about protecting [the girl] or her baby," Jessop said.

He also said there have been instances when genetic tests performed on FLDS mothers and children returned false results and had to be repeated.

But Patrick Crimmins, Texas DFPS spokesman, said no genetic tests had to be redone.

"The testing in this particular case was done by law enforcement," Crimmins said. "We believe it to be accurate."

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Addendum: This family is now free of Texas CPS.

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State drops teen mom

She's no longer part of probe of possible abuse

By Paul A. Anthony, Saturday, March 14, 2009

And then there was one.

The state's Child Protective Services agency has dropped a 17-year-old mother from its investigation of alleged abuse at the YFZ Ranch, leaving just one child of the 439 initially removed from the polygamous Schleicher County compound.

The nonsuit, filed Thursday, removes from the case a girl who has vexed state and court officials with her refusals to produce her 8-month-old baby, which CPS had sought for genetic testing. The Salt Lake Tribune reported CPS opened a new case in San Antonio, where the girl lives, seeking access to the baby to monitor the girl's parenting skills.

The girl gave birth in June, just days after the return of hundreds of children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. CPS has alleged she was married to an adult man at age 14. The only child remaining in the case is a 14-year-old girl whom sect documents and pictures show as having been married to sect leader Warren Jeffs at age 12.

The girl has struggled to adapt to outside life with two foster families since 51st District Judge Barbara Walther gave the agency custody of the girl last summer. CPS filed a request that the girl be placed with a distant relative, Bandera resident Naomi Carlisle.

Carlisle, 52, is an FLDS member but has never been a resident of the YFZ Ranch, and five of her 11 surviving children have left the sect upon adulthood, according to investigation documents.

No hearing date on the placement has been set, court administrators said Friday.

Carlisle provided temporary shelter for her brother's children after their removal from the ranch in April until Texas courts ordered their return in June, the documents state.

"Ms. Carlisle has many strengths that make her an appropriate placement" for the girl, wrote Amanda Way, child placing manager for Adoption Priorities Inc., which conducted the background check on Carlisle. "She is of the same cultural and religious background as (the girl) and will be able to foster those needs. However, she is just far enough removed from the controversy of the FLDS case and the various participants in the case that she seems to be a safe placement option."

Source: San Angelo Standard-Times