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	In Our Opinion: Cps Report Clearly Shows FLDS Abuse San Angelo Standard Times January 4, 2009 http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/jan/04/in-our-opinion-cps-report-clearly-shows-flds/ It wasn't long after the April raid on a religious sect's compound focused attention on the Concho Valley that critics began blasting state child welfare officials as grossly overstepping their authority. The accusers felt vindicated when the Texas Supreme Court ordered that most of the 439 children taken into protective custody be returned to their families at the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County. That's why all who followed the investigation should take note of the final report issued recently by Child Protective Services. It lays out the extent of the improprieties among members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and it is the people who defended them as victims of government excesses who must explain why FLDS children shouldn't have been protected. The investigation found that 274 girls were victims of neglect - and worse. Twelve girls age 15 or younger were forced into marriage, including two who were just 12 and three who were 13. In all, 124 adults in 91 families at the ranch were implicated. The scope of the case - the largest of its kind in U.S. history - should make it easier to understand why the investigation was carried out imperfectly, beginning with the fact it originated from a phone call alleging abuse now believed to be a hoax. That doesn't exonerate the perpetrators any more than if police responding to a shoplifting complaint went to the wrong address and found a bank robbery in progress. Almost from the start, CPS has been accused of religious persecution. Given the details in the report, it is the people who condone the sexual exploitation of young girls as an appropriate expression of religious beliefs who must explain themselves to a society that places a high priority on protecting children. FLDS members are free to worship as they please, but state law and public decency say there are limits, and the clearest of those is that children may not be mistreated. The report makes clear that the bottom line in the FLDS case is that CPS uncovered and stopped a reprehensible practice and has made it less likely that other young girls will be sexually abused in the future. For that, the agency deserves praise, not criticism.
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