http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/us/22raid.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
Monday, April 21, 2008
Yearning for Zion...
As many people already know, recently, police got a phone call from "a 16 year-old girl who was pregnant and being sexually abused by her middle-aged husband" on April 3rd. This phone call came from the small town of Eldorado, Texas from an isolated Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints sect on the Yearning for Zion ranch. Police investigated the polygamist religious group's site and found 416 children, none of whom had defined parents. No child could identify one mother or father, but pointed to many. Court and state officials are trying to sort out how these isolated children can be housed and cared for in the outside world without anymore shock or trauma from the whole case. They believe it will also be hard to trace the children's parents and family lines because of the girls 15 years or younger who have interrelated blood lines. The other main question is, how old were these women when they gave birth? It is illegal in the state of Texas for a girl under 16 to marry, even with her parents' consent. What do you think will be the outcome of the whole ordeal?? How do you think officials will/should handle case??
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5 comments:
Wow O_O
I think that the officials are in a really tough position. Because most of these kids are all related somehow, they cannot really be separated into smaller families of two or three kids. The officials also can't really put the children up for adoption because they would be breaking up a family. Anything they do will cause some emotional trauma to the children. However, when these children learn that what they have been subject to is not the norm, they will suffer much more emotional trauma. So, I have no idea what the officials should do, but there is no doubt that, not matter what happens, these kids are going to most likely suffer many emotional issues. The officials should try to place them in the most conventional, normal, comfortable, and safe homes possible in order to lessen the blow of the culture shock these kids are going to get in the real world.
This is just a messy situation all around. I think it is a good idea for the officials to put the kids up for adoption. This seems like the only logical solution. Doing this would not break up any families because half the kids don't even know who their parents are. It is unfornuate that this has happened because many kids are going to have a rough time adapting to the real world. We should be more aware of these types of practices that are going on and try to intervene before its to late.
I heard that they're making all of these kids / parents in the lot do DNA testing to figure out their actual parents .. but i don't think that we should automatically put minors in the jurisdiction of possible unknowing mothers and fathers. Hopefully all goes well and these minors / old spouses get situated in contemporary America..
I feel overwheled just reading about this case. I wonder how the officials must feel. I guess they could find some way to split up the children that will be sufficent, the children however, will have to get used to it. Theyre coming from a life of abuse, both sexually and violently. They are going to need alot of help.
On another note, the children need that they are not supposed to be treated that way, and that they do have rights. No girl should be treated like a sex slave as these were.
As far as breaking up a familiy, its inevitable. They all are used to living together in a large complex. They just are going to have to get used to these changes whether they like it or not. All we can do is hope this children can recover to be happy adults, and forget their horrific past.
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