A Thought About the FLDS

I've been following the stories about the FLDS and I have found myself sympathizing with the women and children separated by this raid. This morning, as I sat in the Dentist chair, I listened to the latest talk show commentary on the story. The judges and attorneys kept talking about how we have "rescued" the children - all 416 of them.

But I gotta tell ya, I'm not sure I believe that their "rescued" state is any better than the alternative. At least on the compound they were with their families and mothers. Now they are in foster care, wards of the state, and vulnerable to who knows what, not the least of which may be neglect.

Dwayne worked with foster kids for a couple years. My friend Yvette has built her life and career around foster kids. Neither one of them have very encouraging stories about the foster care system. In my mind, those FLDS children are better off on the compound, surrounded by the support and network of their families, and parents - regardless of how many mothers they have.

Let me clarify - I don't agree with polygamy or child brides. Certainly not! But now there are reports that the 911 call by "Sarah" were a hoax and that leaves me asking the question, "So what abuses are these kids being subject to?" I hear tha fourteen year-old girls are getting married off. That's wrong, but during a recent segment of Talk of the Nation, Neal Conan interviewed an attorney and author expert in the field of polygamy who said that in actuality the FLDS rarely marry girls off younger than sixteen. And there was a time and place in this country when sixteen was considered the threshold of adulthood.

So tell me again, what have the FLDS done that merits tearing children away from their mothers? I'll grant you that perhaps I'm a little sensitive about this issue because I am a new mom. What if Christianity was in opposition to the law? I can't imagine having someone come into my home and take my little girl away from me because they thought monogamy was wrong.

Isn't there a better way to remedy the issue of polygamy than tearing families apart?