Mothers, fathers, grandparents - your child, baby, grandchildren can also be taken away in a heartbeat if "Childrens Protective" Services decides that it is "in the best interest of the child". They have more than God-like power, and it is almost impossible to get your child back one they have been stolen from you. If you think innocence is a defence, think again. The abuse of power perpetrated by CPS's worldwide are just beginning to be exposed. Don't wait until they take your child, because some vioious person wants your child, or wants revenge, or is jealous of you or your house or whatever - stop this madness now, and speak out and act against the inhumanity of kidnapping children to "protect" them. All you lawyers out there, pipe up! What could be more important? This is an issue that will only get more and more publicity - don't go down in history as one of the silent ones, who allowed crimes against humanity. Think, speak, ACT!

This is a crime against humanity. How come people can give millions and be outraged in their fight against AIDS, seal hunts, endangered whales, rain forests, on so on infinitum, but these same "humanitarians" do NOTHING when this vicious, heinous crime against babies, children and families is being perpetrated in their back yard?

These people are human beings - they deserve the protection afforded them under the Constitution. They have been treated in the worst way possible, so cruelly, by Childrens "Protective" services and the State of Texas. Don't add to that cruelty by remaining silent. Everyone! Now is the time to help free the children of the FLDS. There was no abuse, and if there was, it was far less than in the general population, and definately far less (and statisics PROVE THIS) in foster homes.

The fact that these two women were among the minority who chose to return to YFZ Ranch suggests they are among the most loyal to Warren Jeffs and the FLDS. So, it is not surprising that they would tell lies. Obviously, no parents will lose their parental rights at this early stage of the process.

I do wonder if the 'mothers' are really biological parents of all children they claim, or if they are foster parents Jeffs assigned children to. The DNA tests should be revealing, though I expect many FLDS adults to try to avoid them. Fortunately, X-rays can usually show whether a female has given birth and suggest when, so there is another way to gather evidence.

I agree with you Sophlady, they chose to go back to the ranch. Ill bet that very few of those ladies are their real mothers. The FLDS thought that they were going to take the party to Texas. I bet that warren jeffs was going to go there after he got out of jail. Texas said NOT! Good for the great state of Texas!

I fully agree with SophLady and Marie. Kudos to Texas for trying to stop this cult and its abhorrent practices.

I agree with the last two comments. Also, if the mothers are so dedicated to the children why wouldn't they do anything to stay near them? The women (and I do feel very badly for them) left Texas no other options. I do not understand why they could not simply tell the truth and make this easier on themselves, those poor children, and Texas officials. It is so frustrating to listen to them complain; yet they would not tell their (or the children's) correct full names, birthdays, ages, spouses. It goes on and on. My heart goes out to these women; but especially to the children. How could the Texas officials possibly know who the real parents are for each of these children.

Using masked agents with automatic rifles to seperate mothers from their children -- you guys think this is a great idea?

If so, shame on you.

I just couldnt believe all of this I have been reading for the past week. If there is indeed abuse then I am grateful that Texas is taking charge and if there is not abuse then the issue to be resolved and some changes to be made within the FLDS to comply with federal and state laws. I am not saying I support polygamy which I technically dont cause I feel one husband and one wife and one family is the real purpose of earthly life. True if your spouse dies and you wish to remarry then that applies to whatever children is with that other spouse you legally marry. I can only pray that the misintrepretations that FLDS has on the general public is not evil as they think we are. Most of us are loving Christian folks. I am LDS by faith and believe in Christ and support the teachings of the church. I dont fully understand why polygamy got started early on in the church history but we are not practicing those things of the FLDS sect. A true church would not hide its religion but merely share the gospel with others.

With a werid cult like the flds you go in fully prepared for anything. Remember some other werid cults like the Jones cult and the Branch Davidians. If the YFZ flds had not isolated themselves within their compound and had intermingled more with the local people there may have been a greater degree of knowledge and trust which may have changed the tactics used. Where is Merril Jessop, Wendell Nielsen and Lyle Jeffs? With Warren in are'nt they the leaders? They are strangely silent. Maybe they are in Canada.

Honestly masked men with guns removing the children. I'm pretty sure there wasn't any news coverage saying that masked men were involved. I understand the heart break of the nursing moms, I have three children and have breastfed all three, but honestly if anyone tried to take my kids I would stop at nothing to keep them. These women had choices to make, there are things they could have done to stay with the children. The children weren't crying for their mothers they were happy laughing waving fromt he windows of the busses they thought it was fun. It is a terribly sad situation, and I hope and pray that the issues are resolved quickly. Lets be honest had Utah and Arizona put a stop to this years ago then the spotlight wouldn't be on Texas now. Texas is just cleaning up a mess, a horribly sad mess.

What horrifies us about this is not that the fact that the government stepped in to protect children, but the scale on which it unfolded. Every day in the US, CPS takes minor children into custody to protect them from sexual and other abuse, and as a society, we’re grateful that someone intervened.

Instead of fantasizing about how jack-booted government thugs could take ALL our kids, we should be asking some larger questions:

1) What's next: the FLDS women could all get pregnant and within a year, be raising another crop of young victims. What legal steps can be taken to prevent further abuse like the horrific beatings and waterboarding of babies we’ve heard described? Will DNA testing be done on all future babies of mothers who were underage at time of conception, to be able to prosecute the fathers?

2) What’s really going on with these assigned matings and re-pairings? Is there a genetic engineering goal? When people have no say in with whom they will reproduce, it calls to mind Hitler, Mengele and The Boys from Brazil. Those confiscated Temple documents might be really revealing.

These kids need options and the ability to make choices later in life (not just the boys choice of which sister or cousin to marry). Its 100 yrs of intermarriage and brainwashing. Good for Texas to take the heat and step up to do something about this. Have you heard the aweful things these people do to their kids? Read some of the testimony by ex-FLDS members - we had to get the children out of there.

It has to be particularly wrenching for these mothers because removing children and even wives from their families is institutionalized in their way of life, and they have never experienced due process.

When the prophet announces you are assigned to a new husband, you go. When your 14-year-old daughter is told on Thursday she is to become the 40th wife of a 55-year old man in Canada on Saturday, you say goodbye to her.

I think it is easy to feel badly for the mothers when you see them at this point. BUT - they could have changed this outcome. 15-20% decided to return to the ranch but the rest went to shelters. I can't imagine a situation where 80% of the people involved wouldn't go back unless something was horribly wrong.

One more comment and I am sure this won't be popular but it completely offends me that I am paying for this lifestyle. Almost all of these women are on welfare (intentionally) and yet there are news reports of thousands of dollars a MONTH being sent to this "ranch" from outside business sources. For all that think these are stupid men thinking only with their penis, I say you are wrong. They have figured out all sorts of ways to make themselves kings and all of it at the expense of others (be it the women or the US Govt - whose money comes from our taxes). There just has to be some sort of fraud here...and if it isn't legally fraud then it certainly is morally fradulent. (Oh aren't they sooooo Godly) :(

I can't believe all you people can honestly believe that what the state of Texas did was right!

I am an ex-member of that so-called cult. I grew up under the administration of Rulon Jeffs, but when his son Warren took over I couldn't agree with his teachings. Even so, I know those people and know they are good parents. If Texas was afraid abuse was going on under their noses, they should have gone in and INVESTIGATED, not kidnapped all the kids!

I think they should have demanded that the parents do classes to teach them about the laws of the land, and about what abuse is and how to avoid it, but to take all the children because of one phony phone call?

I think any one that lives in a complex, or a close-knit community, or that happens to look a little different than the people around them had better watch out!

Your children could be the next ones stolen!

to outraged: I agree that the folks needed classes and not wholesale removal of the kids. I am a kinship person. I believe family comes first. Families need to be together. At least I have my grandchild. Texanz think they are above the law.

They did do an investigation, and FOUND NOTHING!

Watch out, cause your children will be next.

All it takes is one anonymous phone call. Since alll you CPS supporters don't believe anyone is ever innocent, you obviously don't expect that anyone will believe that you are innocent if and when CPS comes for your children.

The stupidity and the heartlessness of CPS supporters boggles the mind. In the fact of incontrovertible evidence that CPS is a brutal, corrupt, abusive arm of the government, they still insist on believing the tired, sleazy propaganda.

Boycott Texas.

All you FLDS haters - where do you get your "facts" from - You "think" this, and you "think" that - because you believe the lies that CPS plants in the media. For example, CPS, in their sleazy fashion, released a bit of news regarding the "broken bones" implying of course that so many broken bones MUST equate to abuse. But wait, any parent, or any one with a little common sense would realize, the FLDS children - especially given the fact that they are not lazy little brats who lie around playing violent video games and eating junk food - actually HAVE LESS broken bones than the "normal" population.

What you anti-FLDS people are suffering from - without actually being aware of it - is a serious case of witch hunting fever - you want the FLDS to be guilty of abuse, especially sexual abuse, because it feeds your desire to punish. Look into your hearts and ask yourself why this would be. These are good people - and if there are bad eggs, there are way less bad eggs than the general population.

FLDS haters - go to the Captive FLDS Children website, and actually look at the photographs of the happy, healthy children, actually read what the FLDS people say about their way of life, and their response to the lies in the media. Then come back and tell me if you still think they are evil.

There is nothing grand about being a person who can't change their mind, even in the face of such overwhelming evidence. And the overwhelming evidence says that the FLDS have been so terribly wronged, by a government and an arm of the government (CPS), that we all have an obligation to learn the facts, and help these persecuted people. Remember, if there is even a chance in a million that being wrong could mean you put YOUR children at risk, it's worth re-thinking your position, wouldn't you say?

Read up, on the Internet (and this is very easy to do) about CPS's abuse of power, and persecution of innocent parents, and the hell they put babies and children through, EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.

While you're doing your research, ask yourself if you have ever had, or ever will have someone in your life, even on the periphery, who could be nasty enough to make a false allegation of child abuse - all it takes is ONE ANONYMOUS PHONE CALL.

Then ask yourself this: if you are so quick to dispense with the presumption of innocence, do you think that the presumption of innocence will suddenly, magically, be honoured when your turn comes?

Much is at stake here - don't listen blindly, uncritically, to those who have been PROVEN, too often, to be corrupt liars.

"my little girl is two now, and I can't imagine what she is going through now."

Have a heart - this is a mother in agony over the loss of her flesh and blood.

Imagine, just imagine, if you can, if that was you, or your daughter, or sister, or anyone you knew, instead of imagining that this is some horrible women who "deserves" to have her child kidnapped. What is so terrible about her - does she look like a drug addict, a prostitute, a criminal? No! She looks like someone who has lost someone she cares deeply for, her own flesh and blood. HER BABY!

Why would you cheer on the state and CPS that has so coldly done such a brutal thing, all because there might be some future abuse (remember, NO EVIDENCE OF ABUSE WAS FOUND AT THE FLDS RANCH - NO EVIDENCE OF ABUSE WAS FOUND AT THE FLDS RANCH).

For those of you who can't seem to read plain English, even CPS itself has stated:

THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF ABUSE AT THE FLDS RANCH.

NO EVIDENCE.

So, Andrus, and all you people out there who are delusional, that means no water torture, no beatings, no NOTHING.

THERE WAS NO ABUSE!!! GET IT????

You all would have made great witch hunters back in Salem, hundreds of years ago. Right now, you belong in China, spying on your neighbours, and hating the idea of innocence.

The only abuse those children are suffering is the abuse the STATE of TEXAS and CPS is inflicting upon them. Foster "care" has been shown, unequivocally, to produce a very high percentage of drug addicts, criminals, and suicidal, screwed up people. Why? Because that is truly where they are abused.

If you have children, they are now in peril, any time the State and CPS want them, all they have to do is come in and sweep them away. If your neighbours think like you do, and your child gets a bruise, or cries in the grocery store, it's only a matter of time.