I'm not surprised at the broad range of powers the judge gave CPS--and I do agree that they can be traumatic and very uncontrolled on CPS's part. I was afraid when this case was separated that something like this would happen.
I hope this family gets a decent ruling on this issue!
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that a person cannot be sentenced (punished) based on a crime they have not been convicted of! Even if the court knows that the criminal committed more crimes than the one for which he was convicted.
This young couple hasn't been convicted of ANYTHING!
And No, I am not FLDS and don't live in either Texas or Utah.

If there is no evidence of abuse concerning these children, what is the CPS investigating? Let these people alone.

The CPS and judge are still treating individuals as a group, in violation of the law.

If they waver on one case they must waver on other cases when in fact wavering is exactly what the law calls for.

Stubborn bunch the CPS biddies, they still haven't learned their lesson.

This is obvious religious persecution. My great-grandparents loaded all their belongings on a handcart and pushed it all the way from St Louis, MO to Salt Lake to get away from this sort of nonsense. One wonders where these people can go?

The problem is that the bishop's records indicate that every family above a certain age, save one, enters into polygamy. Polygamy is a felony in Texas. This particular Jessop couple is young and the bishop's records indicate that young couples are monogamous for the first several years of their marriage. So, while the Jessops and the other young couples have not yet entered into polygamy, they seem to be together enough that Jeffs would want to reward the husband with a second/third wife at some point. This is in line with their belief system. Polygamy causes a lot of damage to children because the parents have to be so wary of the outside world which may decide to prosecute at any point in time. The children are taught to be very careful and apparently some are taught to lie. The families have to live in isolation and secrecy and the children live on a compound under a significant amount of security which would send the message that the world is dangerous. I haven't heard the Jessops renounce polygamy, so I would think that the parenting classes would be beneficial to them as they should address the above problems.

This is a clear case of religios persecution. No one in this family is guilty of any crime and yet the children are taken because of some "consistent pattern of abuse."

They were smart to take a CPS provided change of venue. The San Antonio judges seem to know about things like due process and the rights of the defendant. I hope this family is able to get full custody of their children.

Unfortunantly the Supreme COurt upheld the Idaho Test oath that denied someone the right to vote for merely belonging to a church that supported polygamy.

That was in either 1889 or 1890 but it was a long time ago. It may also be that some latter decisions would be taken to reverse that ruling, but at least at times even the US has allowed persecution based laws.

To Gal50:

You can not punish someone because you think if they will break the law in the future.

There are lots of problems even if what you claim the Bishops reccords shows is true. First, how many families are we talking about and what is this magic "certain age"? Secondly, the YFZ ranch is the result of a migration from Hildale/Colorado City that did not include every FLDS person.

Next, Warren Jeffs is in jail.

Lastly, how can you even contemplate punishing someone for something that they might do in the future. I can think of all sorts of other things we could do on your bizarre plan, but the fact of the matter is that if there is no evidence that the parents have broken any law, and no evidence that the children have been abused in anyway then how does the state justify this.

Even if we were in the dark ages when homeschooling your children was a crime, I think all these children are under the mandatory school attendance age. It is not a crime to live in a "compound" or whatever you want to call YFZ.

Gal50 9:56: "Polygamy is a felony in Texas."

Umm -- no.

"Polygamy" isn't mentioned in the Texas Statutes. Check for yourself.

What's illegal is "bigamy."

Polygamy can be structured to be in total compliance with Texas law, which defines a little gem called a "non-marital conjugal cohabitation agreement." Again, check for yourself.

Documenting each relationship with one of these non-marital agreements, and referring to that relationship as a "partnership" or "companionship" rather than as a "marriage," would make the whole shebang fail Texas' three-prong bigamy test.

"Legal as sea salt."

I am so ashamed of Texas why do they continue to punish these children?They believe in polygamy so what? at least the fathers are part of the childrens lives.. why it is just fine to marry one sleep with and have children by others and its just fine...as far as their dress much better than what I saw yesterday a young women in the gro store in her undies...no one even blinked.......in the small school next to us their are 22 girls between 12 and 17.... 11 of them are pregnant or have already had a child no marriage in site....not one CPS worker in site and 2 of the girls just 12.......Texas just doesnt like the fact they were not welcome on the ranch.......Quess what they are not welcome on mine either.....

Their real objective is to challenge the conditions that Judge Walther placed on all FLDS parents with a test case. But, those conditions are actually pretty lenient for custody cases. If the conditions were lifted, the families could leave the state and children who are at risk would not have any protection. I do not foresee a successful challenge.

Ms. Haas seems to be the only attorney that is getting individual consideration for her clients. Well good for her! Why should this family face utterly any future restrictions?

Glad to see her saying it to a judge, CPS is stonewalling, CPS IS NOT COOPERATING!