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	Children Had to Be Removed from Polygamist Ranch, CPS Tells Court By Robert T. Garrett Dallas Morning News May 9, 2008 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/051008dntexpolygamists.3bc8544.html AUSTIN Child Protective Services didn't overstep its bounds by yanking hundreds of children even toddlers from parents who belong to a polygamist sect, the state told an appeals court Friday. CPS had no choice but to remove youngsters because of a risk that their parents would take them to other states, a state lawyer said in a filing with Texas' 3rd Court of Appeals. However, lawyers for the 464 children removed and their parents say CPS and state District Judge Barbara Walther of San Angelo trampled sect members' rights last month. While the law requires the CPS to show there's danger of physical abuse if youngsters return to their families, it proved at most only a highly speculative risk of possible emotional harm, some of the lawyers said. "The real issue in all of this is whether you can punish an entire community for the sins of a few because they share the same faith," said Susan Hays of Dallas, lawyer for a 2-year-old girl removed from the sect's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado. The Austin-based appellate court hasn't scheduled oral arguments in two lawsuits by 48 mothers seeking to overturn Judge Walther's decision to let CPS temporarily keep the children. If they can't get their children back, the mothers want expanded visitation privileges. Last month, the appeals court rebuffed mothers' pleas that it stop placement of children in 17 group homes and shelters across the state. About 32 very small children were placed with 20 traditional foster homes, according to court documents. Michael Shulman, lawyer for CPS' parent agency, the Department of Family and Protective Services, said in a brief that "the department could not risk leaving children in an environment that promoted, even encouraged, the systematic sexual exploitation of children." Court-appointed lawyers for the mothers, led by Robert Doggett of Austin-based Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, replied in a brief filed late Friday, "That is a very strong allegation, yet it is not supported by sufficient evidence." Mr. Doggett wrote that instead of proving that children are at risk of physical harm, CPS merely suggests "that the mothers are culpable as a group because of group beliefs." He also said the state has produced no evidence "that any of the mothers are flight risks." The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which owns the Eldorado ranch, also has members living in Western states, Mexico and Canada.
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