| CPS says 'Here's what we found' Agency: Neglect or abuse happened in 91 families |
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times |
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A high percentage of families at a Schleicher County polygamous compound abused or neglected their children - and more than a quarter of girls age 12 and older were forced into underage marriage, according to a final report from child welfare officials released Tuesday.
The report marks what amounts to a final salvo from the state's Child Protective Services agency, which has borne the brunt of criticism stemming from its raid of the YFZ Ranch northeast of Eldorado that began April 3. "People may have lost sight of the fact that the reason we went to the ranch was to do this investigation," said CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins. "CPS did what it was required to do under state law." The 21-page report, sent by the Department of Family and Protective Services to the state's Health and Human Services Commission late Monday, provides a detailed retelling of CPS' probe into whether members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints fostered a "pervasive pattern and practice" of underage marriage and sexual abuse at the ranch cited in allegations to the court following the raid. According to data detailed in the report, 274 girls were "subjected to neglect" - including 12 girls married to adult men while age 15 or younger. The alleged victims comprise 91 families, or 62 percent of the total identified at the compound, and the cases involve 124 alleged perpetrators. Of the 12 girls the report identifies as victims of sexual abuse, two were 12 when they were married, the report states, while three were 13, two were 14 and five were 15. Seven of the girls had one or more children as a result of the marriage, according to the report. "The report is saying, 'Here's what we found,'" Crimmins said. "We did find that pattern." FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop, terming the report's release "a very disappointing situation," rejected the allegations as an attempt to save face after the costly and controversial raid. "These desperate charges are simply a desperate effort to justify the horrible actions they took on April 3," Jessop said. "This department has continually put out information that is inaccurate, unsubstantiated and unfounded." CPS and law enforcement, acting on a tip now believed to be a hoax, removed 439 children from the ranch, making it the largest such case in American history. State appellate courts later ordered their return, ruling the state had not presented enough evidence to justify the removal. Since then, the agency has been at the center of a firestorm of criticism, even as cases involving individual children have progressed through San Angelo courts. Of the 439 children initially removed, CPS has dropped the cases of 424, according to the report, leaving 15 still pending. The agency continues to work on resolving those pending cases, Crimmins said. One girl, alleged to have been married at 12 to sect leader Warren Jeffs, has been removed from her parents' care, and her case is scheduled for a hearing Jan. 8. Seemingly sensitive to much of the criticism leveled at the agency in the past eight months, the report details efforts made by caseworkers and other CPS employees to care for the women and children while in state care. It also details some of the process behind the decision to remove the children - most of which has been discussed in court and in a Standard-Times interview with CPS investigators in June. The report, however, does not address allegations made by FLDS members and some state health care workers, who said the agency did not properly care for the women and children, and that some CPS caseworkers and investigators treated them poorly. "Staff and volunteers worked around the clock to care for the children," the report says, "with some spending nights huddled in blankets outside to give the families more space and privacy." The report also brushes aside the widespread belief that the March 30 phone call to San Angelo-based ICD/NewBridge Family Shelter purporting to be from a 16-year-old girl married to a 50-year-old man is a hoax. Instead, it focuses on the contents of the allegation and the agency's duties under state law. "The (allegations) met the statutory definition of abuse," the report states. "Therefore, DFPS was required to act." Although the report's release comes less than a month before the opening of a legislative session expected to address aspects of the raid and subsequent investigation, Crimmins said tying the two would be "reading too much" into the situation. Nevertheless, the report is highly unusual, he acknowledged, as child-welfare cases are usually kept confidential. "To my knowledge, there has never been a report like this one," Crimmins said, "because there's never been a case like Eldorado." Ultimately, Crimmins said, the unique nature of the case - including a $14 million price tag that continues to grow, and intense international publicity - compelled a full review of the steps taken by the agency. The report concludes with a final defense, an echo of statements made through the months by Crimmins and other CPS spokespeople. "For the Department of Family and Protective Services, the Yearning for Zion case is about sexual abuse of girls and children who were taught that underage marriages are a way of life," the report states. "It is about parents who condoned illegal underage marriages and adults who failed to protect young girls - it has never been about religion." Jessop scoffed at such claims, as he has since the investigation began - noting now-discredited claims from DFPS officials of broken bones among the children as an example of unsubstantiated allegations made against the group in the past. "This was a stage raid," he said, "and they've been trying to justify this raid." By the numbers Allegations in the final investigation report released by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services:
A chronology of the events before and after the raid on the YFZ Ranch that began April 3:
Excerpts from Eldorado Investigation: a report from The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Dec. 22, 2008. To read the full report, visit gosanan gelo.com and see related links with this story. "The very first interviews at the ranch revealed that several underage girls had been 'spiritually united' with adult men. Investigators also noticed a pattern of deception. Women and children frequently said they could not answer questions about the ages of girls or family relationships. Children were moved from location to location in an apparent attempt to prevent investigators from talking to them. Documents were being shredded. Girls told investigators that no age was too young for marriage and that 'the Prophet' determined when and who a girl should marry. Other school-aged children and teens would provide only first names and said they did not know their dates of birth or had been told by their parents not to answer questions." "For the Department of Family and Protective Services, the Yearning for Zion case is about sexual abuse of girls and children who were taught that underage marriages are a way of life. It is about parents who condoned illegal underage marriages and adults who failed to protect young girls - it has never been about religion. As in all CPS cases, the state's goal is to help parents and caregivers refrain from abuse in the future and create a safe environment where children can remain in their families and be protected." "Many factors contributed to the length of time needed to complete the investigation, including the number of children involved, the voluminous records that had to be reviewed, the unique circumstances of the removal, the emergency sheltering operation, placement of the children in foster care, and their subsequent return to their parents in June." "There were 124 designated perpetrators as a result of this investigation. Designated perpetrators included men who engaged in underage marriages; parents who failed to take reasonable steps to prevent an underage daughter from marrying an older adult male; and parents who placed their child in, or refused to remove their child from, a situation in which the child would be exposed to sexual abuse committed against another child." |
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gosanangelo.com Originally published Wednesday, December 24, 2008 |
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