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Nobody here has defended child sexual abuse. I have said over and over that I think the FLDS should be required to abide by the age of consent in Texas.
But the larger question is this: is it right to remove 416 kids on the basis of one anonymous phone call? Is it okay to remove them, and to traumatize them, with very little evidence of abuse? What worries me is that the state has overstepped its bounds here. There is NO concrete evidence of abuse so far. There is absolutely ZERO indication that every one of the children removed is at risk of future child abuse.
What worries me is that the state is seizing children because the parents are different. If there is child abuse, yes, I agree---remove the kids who are being abused. If there is very significant evidence that other children are at risk, I agree--remove the kids who are at very high risk pending investigation. But I do not think that standard has been met.
Is it a violation of these parents' constitutional rights if their children are seized without concrete evidence of abuse? I think it is. And I think Texas is walking very, very close to that line.
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