Fundamentalist Mormons and the Fourth Amendment

Last week, an anonymous phone call was purportedly made by a 16 year old girl from within the Fundamentalist Mormon (FLDS) church’s mega-compound outside El Dorado indicating that she had been the victim of sexual abuse by her husband, a 49 year-old male, and that she was pregnant with his second child. The next day, the same caller supposedly called the authorities back and recanted the whole story.

Within a few hours of the first phone call, Texas authorities stormed the compound (which is private property) and removed hundreds of children from their mothers in order to filter out which of the young women was the one who made the phone call. Nearly 400 children have been placed into foster care, while the authorities are trying to straighten out what is or isn’t a crime, who to charge, and what to do about the situation.

The government (specifically, the government of Texas) is treading on thin ice. Let me say at this point that I am no stranger to Mormon beliefs, whether fundamentalist or the regular “diet” version, and although I disagree with virtually all of what both organizations believe historically and doctrinally, I believe that the raid of this compound is illegal, unconstitutional, and disturbing.

Let me re-cap the Fourth Amendment: ”The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Not only did the Texas state officials storm the compound without warrant, but they removed nearly four hundred children from their mothers in favor of placing them in foster care. I guess the Texas state officials have no clue how abusive and awful foster care can be. During the court hearings this week, one of the expert witnesses, psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Perry, who specializes in children raised in cults, conceded that although the FLDS teach an authoritarian doctrine, placing these children in foster care would cause more damage:

"If these children are kept in the custody of the state, there would have to be exceptional and innovative programmatic elements for these children and their families. The traditional foster care system would be destructive for these children."

Moreover, although the practice of sexual predation on minors and plural marriage in any form are disgusting, it doesn’t change the fact that these children have already been born and that they know and trust their mothers. They know no other way of life. Foster care, to an inbred cult society like the FLDS, will be more stressful and damaging on these young children (and possibly their mothers) than leaving well enough alone. They’ll probably have to go to public school and be ridiculed for their choice in wardrobe, their hairstyles, that they all have the same “Uncle Dad,” etc. etc.

Then you have the negative impact on the mothers. Although taken into marriage at young ages, it doesn’t change the fact that they are indeed the mothers of these children, and that the state has taken these children away from those caregivers who know them best.

To answer the plea of a minor over the phone is one thing, but to raid the compound and take away four hundred children is illegal and unconstitutional. Perhaps officials of the state of Texas don’t want another Waco on their hands, so they felt they had the right to sequester these children. This is no excuse. If a real crime has been committed, then the state has the right to extract the victim(s) and culprit(s). However, if all the state wants to do is prevent another Waco or learn more about the FLDS cult, they’re going about it in the wrong way.

I’m afraid that by placing these children away from their mothers and into a form of sanctioned government child abuse program (foster care), they’re only doing these poor children and their families more harm. I feel for the families who are victims of the state, and it is my hope that the state officials fail in their attempt to break up these families.

View the heartbreak of the mothers for yourself:



Update:

Apparently, a judge ordered that the children will have to stay in state custody until a trial can be arranged in June. The state may have won the first round, but hopefully these mothers will get their children back from an even more psychologically abusive situation - state foster care.

Update II:

Apparently, a woman named Rozita Swinton is prone to making false telephone reports, and could have been the person who made the initial call on April 3 to Texas authorities. This would severely damage the case if it can be proved that she was the one who made the initial call. Moreover, it would put Texas state authorities in a situation worse than what they already find themselves in - false arrests, illegal search & seizure, etc.