AP says that preschoolers were sent to live at Zion ranch WITHOUT their parents.

[pnwmom]

No wonder some of these kids don't know who their biological parents are. This also puts into context an article I saw yesterday about two mothers who were "away" from the ranch when their children were taken, and now are upset that their children are being kept from them.

Do parents who would send their babies off to live in another state by order of a child abuser like Jeffs deserve custody? Can we really think that those parents would protect their children in the future? I'm sorry, but this is getting me really angry.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIdMpRHjN4hpNKBhfYyAsR4DDo4QD8VVTC0O0

SNIP

The children and the 139 women who followed them voluntarily out of the compound are being so secretive that child welfare officials are having trouble sorting out who the youngster' parents are.

Most of the children are the offspring of the faith's inner circle — including its now-imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs — who were born since construction began on the compound in 2003, or were hand-selected by Jeffs to come to the enclave, which the sect regards as part of Zion on Earth

In 2003 and 2004, Jeffs, the spiritual leader of an estimated 6,000 followers in two adjoining towns along the Utah-Arizona line, plucked children under the age of 6 to bring to Texas without their parents, former sect member Isaac Wyler said.

"Over age 6 they were too contaminated for the world to be of use to God," said Wyler, who still lives in Colorado City, Ariz., and has 39 siblings. "He picked the ones that would be the most obedient, the ones that would be qualified to go to Zion."

SNIP

[TomInTib]

1. I cannot even imagine where these people's minds are.

What the hell happens in someone's life that makes them so malleable, so acquiescent?

And you can add me to your "angry" list, pnwmom.

[pnwmom]

4. Why are they so malleable? Did you read about how Merrill Jessop

would waterboard babies?

Really. According to an ex-wife, he would spank them till they cried, then hold their faces under running faucets until they finally gave up and stopped crying. He called it "breaking" them.

The other thing is, imagine you're growing up in a community, where you're completely isolated and abuse is equated with love. You're told that in the outside world things are even worse. Why wouldn't you believe that? What would give you hope?

Carolyn Jessup, the mother who escaped with her 8 children, has described what finally opened her eyes. After a lifetime of hearing about how evil outsiders were, she finally came in contact with them when one of her sons was hospitalized for cancer surgery. She felt abandoned by her sister wives and other FLDSers. But the outsiders in the hospital impressed her with their caring. That's what finally gave her the courage to reject everything she'd been taught from childhood and to risk everything in a (successful) attempt at escape.

[TomInTib]

5. Goodness

I grew up in a fundie, tho less crazy (Southern Baptist) environment.

But, at about the age of 7 or 8, I realized it was all a bunch of malarkey.

[pnwmom]

6. But you went to public school, right? Where you met other people

and were exposed to other ideas? And you had a TV, I bet.

Even in a fundie school, you wouldn't have been as isolated as these people. It's almost unimaginable.

[TomInTib]

7. Nope.

I never attended school a day of my life.

But I wanted to. So badly.

No TV, either.

I led a more isolated life than those kids in El Dorado could even imagine.

Tom

[pnwmom]

8. Yikes!

Did you have books? What do you think saved you? Was the service the first time you were exposed to the "real world"?

[TomInTib]

9. Well....

I am not going into it here.

Those fools from that "Other Place" track me, incessantly.

Jerking off in their Mother's basement.

PM me, remind me.

[kestrel91316]

2. I understand that because of all the confusion and, ahem, prevarication,

any of the "parents" who want to reclaim these kids down the road will have to undergo DNA testing to make sure they are on the up-and-up. Also, DNA testing could be a cornerstone of the rape prosecutions which will no doubt ensue.

If an old man and a 16-yr old girl are found to be the parents of, say, a two-year-old............well, you can use your imagination.

I applaud how well-organized and professional the TX CPS appears to be so far in this case.

[PDJane]

3. This tale gets longer and wilder...........

What the hell is wrong with these people???

Religion seems to have superceded even their parenting instincts......I don't get it at all.