What happens now for polygamist sect's children?
April 11, 2008
The removal of women and children from a polygamist sect's ranch outside Eldorado has raised a number of questions. On Thursday, some of those questions were put to Marleigh Meisner, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, and John J. Sampson, a University of Texas law professor who teaches the Children Rights Clinic. The clinic provides legal representation for abused and neglected children in Travis County.
Written by Michael Graczyk, Austin American-Statesman
Marleigh Meisner says: 'It's... always the judge's decision.' (Tony Gutierrez/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The removal of women and children from a polygamist sect's ranch outside Eldorado has raised a number of questions. On Thursday, some of those questions were put to Marleigh Meisner, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, and John J. Sampson, a University of Texas law professor who teaches the Children Rights Clinic. The clinic provides legal representation for abused and neglected children in Travis County.
Q: What's the next legal step?
MM: April 17, a full adversarial hearing, 10 a.m., in the Tom Green County Courthouse. At that point we will make a recommendation to a judge. There will be attorneys appointed or even perhaps have already have been appointed to represent the children.
Q: For each child individually or as a group?
MM: Normally, it's each child individually but the judge is making a decision how she's going to do that.
JS: You have X number of mothers and Y children and Z number of fathers, presumed fathers, alleged fathers, unknown fathers. All of the fathers are entitled to service. All mothers are entitled to service. All children are entitled to representation.
Q: What if the judge decides not to grant custody?
MM: This is all to do with temporary custody. If the judge decided the children needed to be returned, then the children will be returned. It's ultimately always the judge's decision.
JS: They've already made something of a case to the judge when they convinced the judge we need an order not to investigate but to take possession of the children. This kind of gets into speculation because since this is unprecedented ... Since there's smoke here, we suspect fire.
And so the court is almost always going to say: "Yes I realize the statute says the parent should walk out with the child unless it would be dangerous. I've already had a preliminary determination that there's a danger to the child and we've had a hearing there's a danger to the child, and I find there's a continuing danger to the child so naturally the state is going to be continued in the foreseaable future."
Q: Could the 139 women be separated from their children?
MM: That's a decision that's to be made later and it's a decision that's not been made yet.
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