Did Texas Officials Botch the Polygamy Bust?
Some experts say it was wrong to remove polygamists' children from families.
April 25, 2008— -- Ever since the children were removed from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound, the state of Texas has maintained that it had no choice but to act.
"There was a clear pattern of sex abuse, of young girls being groomed to be sexually abused by older men and of young boys being groomed to become sexual predators," Texas Child Protective Services told ABC News.
As a result, children as young as 2 years old have been abruptly separated from their mothers. But Gary Gates, the founder of the Texas Center for Family Rights, and other family advocates said removing the children from their families should have been the very last option.
"It should only be done when there is an immediate danger to the health and safety of the children, not because CPS thinks there might be risk of abuse, not because CPS thinks differently of their religious beliefs," Gates said.
Even so, child advocates warn that not acting aggressively is dangerous.
"If you can save four or five children from continued abuse by having to separate a couple of 100 children from their parents, you do the math. Is it worth it? I would say so," said Alan Steinberg of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress in Los Angeles.
But some say there may have been another option.
Martin Guggenheim, a law professor at New York University, is one of them. "That would be to try to get a court order to remove any adult who they have reason to believe might have violated the law," he said.
There is a provision in Texas law that would have allowed for just that kind of action. Officials could have removed the men who were the alleged abusers, leaving the children with their mothers.
Richard Wexler, executive director of Child Protection Reform, said, "They didn't need to be taken from their mothers. Their mothers have been accused of nothing -- not of abusing them, not of harming them. To tear the children from their mothers on top of all the other trauma is like pouring salt into an open wound."
But Steinberg disagrees.
"For some children, it may be a relief. For some children, it may be upsetting. But I think it's a mistake to think that separation equals trauma," he said.
There obviously is no perfect solution in such an unusual case. But these extreme circumstances, which involve so many children, are precisely why some are asking if the state should have taken a different course. Texas authorities maintain they're absolutely certain they've done the right thing to protect the safety of the 437 children.