by Linda Burleson

Created on: June 27, 2008   Last Updated: December 02, 2010

The dilemma of good intentions versus what is actually the best action to take is a never-ending one. Things regularly occur in all our lives where we must make a choice without benefit of all the facts.

The FLDS is a religious sect that broke away from the traditional faith due to one man's "beliefs". He and his followers knowingly practice tenets that go against federal and state laws. It is no secret that they believe in polygamy and arranged marriages of underage girls to older men. This, no doubt, was something that the State of Texas leaders had genuine concerns about, and because the sect lived in a protected compound, there was no way to go in and investigate just exactly which children were being victimized and how.

There is little reason to fault anyone who desires to protect a child from harm or victimization. That is a worthy goal. The State received a call from a young girl who supposedly had been one of these victims and seemed to be completely legitimate. After the fact, she never came forward to authenticate the call, perhaps out of fear or perhaps out of embarrassment.

Many things were found in the compound to evidence the sort of behavior that is frowned upon by the bulk of society; nevertheless, to remove over 400 children from their parents produced more than a little chaos. There was confusion as to who belonged to whom in family groups. In some cases it was difficult to determine who was a child and who was a parent. DNA testing is still going on and will hopefully help in the investigation. In mainstream society, these "husbands and fathers" might just be considered "dirty old men". Why would there be a bed in the worship area of the temple? Does that sound like a normal object necessary for worship?

Meanwhile the parents were moved from place to place, the children were separated from siblings, and were on the verge of being placed in foster care. The Foster Care system in most states has deep problems beginning with lack of funds which leads to minimal staffing. This leads to foster caregivers, who abuse the system and sometimes abuse their foster children, slipping through the cracks. Nightmarish conditions have been uncovered in foster families that have gone undetected for years. Placing 400 children into a system that, at best, is overcrowded and under-supervised was not a good solution.

The conditions those children lived in were all they had ever known. There will be some who will have lasting confusion over what happened, so I must conclude that in spite of good intentions, the whole episode was poorly handled. Even so, I find myself worrying about the futures of those youngsters and sincerely hope that the investigation will not be dropped altogether. Children are being victimized all over the world, but when we can do something about it, we most certainly should.

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