| Bountiful mother wins custody of her children Interim Order; Fled polygamous community in British Columbia | |
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By Michael Higgins, National Post, with files from Keith Fraser, CanWest News Service National Post - Ontario, Canada | |
A mother of three from the polygamous B.C. community of Bountiful, who was accused by her husband of snatching her children and taking them to the United States, has won an interim order for sole custody of the children. Teressa Blackmore, who recently testified against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, took the children to Idaho, claiming she was trying to get them out of the clutches of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon community linked to Bountiful, near Creston. Her husband, Joseph Roy Blackmore, filed suit and claimed the Church issue was a "red herring" to justify wrongful conduct and sought to have the children returned to him. But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Thomas Melnick found the religious issue was not irrelevant. The judge said it was "an elephant in the corner of the room of this proceeding that inevitably casts a shadow over it." In his ruling the judge read from an affidavit from Ms. Blackmore's sister that criticized the education system within the community and he also noted that the Church practised polygamy, a crime in Canada. Mr. Justice Melnick said the couple agreed on only a few things -- they were married in July, 1998, they had three children -- two daughters, eight and five, and a son, aged seven -- and throughout their marriage they were members of the FLDS Church in Bountiful. "It is also common evidence that theirs was a monogamous marriage," he said. In the summer of 2007, Ms. Blackmore decided to leave the marriage and went to Payette, Idaho. Mr. Blackmore said he thought she was taking a vacation. "From Mr. Blackmore's perspective, the issue before me is simply to deal with a mother who snatched their children from under his nose under the guise of having them for a summer holiday when she really intended to change their residence. "Ms. Blackmore stoutly denies that Mr. Blackmore was not aware that she was changing the residence of the children. However, apart from that, to her the issue is not simply one of matrimonial relations. She claims the real issue is her desire to keep her children, particularly her two daughters, out of the clutches of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." The judge also made reference to an affidavit before the court from Becky Musser, sister of Ms. Blackmore, reflecting her experience with the FLDS Church. "I have a great deal of concern for any children being raised in the FLDS religion," according to the affidavit. "I personally saw and heard the directive of Warren Jeffs to 'clean up' the education system. By that, he meant that children could only be exposed to a very narrow education that was totally centred on the Church's teachings. The majority of what is taught is fashioned around their Priesthood history, its ideas, and teachings. Math is probably the strongest subject that is taught. There is little, if any, world history or science. English and Reading are taught only from stories written by FLDS followers. "The focus for the FLDS people, its children, and education system is to prepare for the apocalypse, which they believe is coming any day. They openly teach that nothing else matters but to obey and serve God, their prophet and their parents. To pursue a 'school' subject, or sport, or talent is only looked upon as a distraction, and is useless to their 'salvation.' " The judge said some of the statements were challenged by Mr. Blackmore. He ruled that the mother may continue to live in Payette with the children pending the outcome of a final custody ruling in the case. In November, Jeffs was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison for forcing a 14-year-old to marry her first cousin. | |
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NationalPost.com Originally published Thursday, December 6, 2007 | |
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