Family Service Plans

mysteriew

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Has anyone seen the actual service plan that has been given to the FLDS parents? Here is a news media analysis of the plan.



snip...CPS is proposing to give parents until next April to "provide a home free of persons who have or will abuse" children and "demonstrate the ability to protect the child[ren] from sexual abuse." The children will remain in state custody until a judge is satisfied that the parents have complied.

On Wednesday, CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins stressed that the guidelines – known as service plans – are silent about plural marriage and religious beliefs of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

snip....The guidelines suggest that any new form of communal living is suspect. As in most child-abuse cases, the service plans say that parents must give CPS workers the names of everyone in the home and let workers make unannounced visits to verify who's there.

But the guidelines – reflecting the fact that sect members at the ranch in Eldorado lived in large, four-story log cabins containing multiple families – also say that entire residential buildings, such as duplexes, must be open for scrutiny.

"Inform DFPS of your current living arrangements including all persons in your building or other residence [all floors; ages and gender of all members at present and anticipated] and inform DFPS by the next business day if there are any changes," says one task. The Department of Family and Protective Services is the parent agency of CPS.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...gamists_15tex.ART.State.Edition2.46911f3.html

One attorney is making a fuss about the fact that there are time limits on welfare and the mothers are not trained for any jobs. Which brings up my question........ Haven't they said that FLDS men are good, hard working and loving fathers???? Now wouldn't a good, hardworking, and loving father be eager to provide for all of his kids? And if by some chance he did fall short, wouldn't the church he was so devoted to, the church that allegedly was so devoted to his having large families- be eager to help him out in this emergency????
 
Has anyone seen the actual service plan that has been given to the FLDS parents? Here is a news media analysis of the plan.
SNIP

One attorney is making a fuss about the fact that there are time limits on welfare and the mothers are not trained for any jobs. Which brings up my question........ Haven't they said that FLDS men are good, hard working and loving fathers???? Now wouldn't a good, hardworking, and loving father be eager to provide for all of his kids? And if by some chance he did fall short, wouldn't the church he was so devoted to, the church that allegedly was so devoted to his having large families- be eager to help him out in this emergency????
That's the theory, but in reality it seems that the majority of the men with multiple wives are busy supporting the first wife and children and the others fend for themselves. If the church's or its member's industries hire them they should pay them, but it's apparent that these men won't get paid for their hard work.

If these families "leave" the compound permanently in order to have their children, will the church excommunicate them too? Or are they under orders to pay lip service until they have custody and then disappear into the woodwork?
 
This highlights the problem CPS is having and will have with the members in trying to not only untangle the lineages of the children, but to enforce it as well. There's nothing to stop the parents from assuming yet another name and floating under the legal radar once again.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14983/ousted-flds-dads-stuck-with-aching-stigma
"Even men participate in this name exchange, informally assuming surnames of supposedly more righteous men they regard as their “priesthood” fathers." "Most plural wives will keep a maiden name or, if previously married, a first husband’s name and pass it onto their children. In some groups, plural wives choose an alias - a grandmother’s last name or one plucked out of nowhere." Consider the case of Warren S. Jeffs, born two years after the infamous 1953 raid on Short Creek, as the twin towns were once known. The surname given at his birth was “Hansen,” a name dreamed up by his mother, Marilyn Steed, the fourth wife of Rulon T. Jeffs. Other plural wives used such last names as Johnson, Hill and Jennings, according to Ward Jeffs, a son of Rulon’s first - and legal - wife. Around 1970, the senior Jeffs decided that all his offspring should have his last name, and birth certificates were changed en masse. “I’m not sure what the excuses or reasons given for it were,” Ward Jeffs said." "A few surnames, such as Jeffs and Jessop, have become markers of spiritual rank..."
 
This highlights the problem CPS is having and will have with the members in trying to not only untangle the lineages of the children, but to enforce it as well. There's nothing to stop the parents from assuming yet another name and floating under the legal radar once again.
However, Texas will have the DNA of any parent that is allowed to claim a child. If the members try this sort of thing again in another state, we will be able to confirm their identity much easier. It is going to become a non-stop move process for these people. Eventually they will get tired of "floating" and will HAVE to make a decision to face up to state's laws. Well, a "normal" person would get tired...who knows how they think. :rolleyes:
 
However, Texas will have the DNA of any parent that is allowed to claim a child. If the members try this sort of thing again in another state, we will be able to confirm their identity much easier. It is going to become a non-stop move process for these people. Eventually they will get tired of "floating" and will HAVE to make a decision to face up to state's laws. Well, a "normal" person would get tired...who knows how they think. :rolleyes:

Texas was brilliant taking DNA, because it will allow possitive ID now and for future reference, at least for least these children. Many of these kids will probably end up back with their parents, but at least there's now a record of who their parents are, or not...in which case the child will be probably staying in foster care until parents can be identified. I don't think it's unreasonable to require that American's have birth, death and adoption certificates and that people claiming to be 'parents' are able to prove they are. I have feeling that some to many kids at YFZ were not there in the custody of both or even one of their biological parents. 'Profits' shouldn't be placing children away from their parents by 'reassigning' them, which was apparently widely done in the religion. Separation of parents involving the custody of children should be settled taking into account the rights of both parents, and the rights of children to know and access their own parents. 'Reassignment' treats FLDS children like a commodity to be traded, like chattel, and that is unacceptable. DNA will at least identify who is who-- after these people apparently tried to keep CPS from finding that out, for reasons which we can only guess.
 
However, Texas will have the DNA of any parent that is allowed to claim a child. If the members try this sort of thing again in another state, we will be able to confirm their identity much easier. It is going to become a non-stop move process for these people. Eventually they will get tired of "floating" and will HAVE to make a decision to face up to state's laws. Well, a "normal" person would get tired...who knows how they think. :rolleyes:

The DNA helps a lot, but mainly in Texas. The truth is, if they get custody of their kids back, they can move out of state. And Texas CPS has no jurisdiction in Ut., Az., or Col.

I am wondering what will happen if they don't get physical custody of their children, but get unsupervised visitation? If they take the children and run Texas CPS has the right to file for kidnapping or custodial interference. But will Ut., Az., and Col. honor that and even search for them?
 
The DNA helps a lot, but mainly in Texas. The truth is, if they get custody of their kids back, they can move out of state. And Texas CPS has no jurisdiction in Ut., Az., or Col.

I am wondering what will happen if they don't get physical custody of their children, but get unsupervised visitation? If they take the children and run Texas CPS has the right to file for kidnapping or custodial interference. But will Ut., Az., and Col. honor that and even search for them?

True. Texas CPS cannot say what any other state should do. However, we DO have irrefutable proof of who these people are in case they screw up again anywhere else. There won't be any lies and changing names every other day.

Wouldn't it be a Federal offense if they skipped with their children during an "unsupervised visitation"? If they don't have physical custody, only unsupervised visitation, that would mean that the State of Texas still retains legal custody of the child. If they skipped across state lines with the child that would be kidnapping. This case has had so much publicity I can't imagine the FBI saying, "Sorry, we don't want to get involved. You're going to have to handle that one on your own." No, if the FBI gets involved, those other states won't have any say in the matter. They'll do as they're told or face the consequences.

But, honestly, I don't see Texas authorities allowing any unsupervised visitation for a very long time. These people are going to have to prove they have earned it.

(Gee whiz...this scenario has as many twists and turns as a mountain road! :confused:)
 
Regarding todays hearings, and in particular the hearing involving Nora Jeffs.

She was presented with a family service plan that requires parenting training, family counseling and psychological testing of the parents. The plan was created by attorneys and state welfare workers, but those who created the plan had not met with Nora Jeffs.

Because the travel to visit her children is taking so much of her time, Jeffs said she could not meet with officials to help make the plan. Still, she said, she will try to comply if it would return her children to her.

"I agree to follow all recommendations so long as they don't conflict with my religious beliefs," Jeffs said.

The judge voiced some concern about her response.


"We all know why we are here. You have a right to religious freedom up until the point where it breaks the law," Gossett said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/19/polygamist.retreat/?iref=mpstoryview
 
Donna Guion, an attorney for the mother of a 6-year-old son of the sect's jailed prophet, Warren Jeffs, complained the plans were so vague they would be impossible to satisfy and were contingent on psychological evaluations likely to take weeks more to complete.
"This plan is so vague and so broad that my client has no idea what she can do now," Guion said of the boy's mother.

Dozens of mothers in prairie dresses and fathers in button-down shirts, flanked by pro bono lawyers from the state's most prestigious firms as well as Legal Aid, arrived at the Tom Green County courthouse hoping to learn what exactly they must to do regain custody of their children.
"What the parents are trying to find out here is what they need to do to get their children back, and there's no clear answer to that," said Rod Parker, spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the ranch in Eldorado.
The hearings in nearby San Angelo are scheduled to run for the next three weeks, and none of the judges would humor any discussion about whether the initial grounds for removing the children in a raid of the ranch last month were valid. It probably will be months before the cases are reviewed again in court.
Texas child welfare authorities argued that all the children, ranging from newborns to teenagers, should be removed from the ranch because the sect pushes underage girls into marriage and sex and encourages boys to become future perpetrators.
Church members insist there was no abuse. They say the one-size-fits-all action plan devised by the state's Child Protective Services doesn't take into account specific marriage arrangements or living circumstances.




CPS spokeswoman Shari Pulliam said the plans look similar now but will be customized as officials get more information.
"It's logical they all look the same. All the children were removed from the same address at the same time for the same reason," she said. But "it's an evolving plan."
All the plans call for parenting classes, vocational training for the parents and require the parents to prove they can support their children. They also call for safe living environments, though they offer no specifics. The parents will be required to outline their plans for earning a living and to describe for the state their living arrangements.
The plan does not require parents to renounce polygamy or guarantee that their daughters won't be married before the age of consent, which in Texas is 17.
A CPS supervisor said the parenting classes will be tailored to explain Texas laws regarding underage sex.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080519/ap_on_re_us/polygamist_retreat;_ylt=Aqyjt0gO4SZ9ov1nnOXkY01I2ocA
 
The plans include requirements for parents to undergo counseling, psychological evaluations and parenting classes; to document their marriages, childrens' births, living arrangements and income; and to obtain vocational training or education to become financially self-sufficient by next April.

Questions such as who can provide the evaluations and whether parents can arrange them and pay for them now were unanswered Monday.

http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_9310669
 
In order for that to happen, CPS has drafted 10 goals and 14 tasks that parents will have to work toward to regain custody of their children, according to family service plans obtained by ABC News.

The plan says parents must demonstrate the ability to protect the children from abuse and neglect, and the ability to "provide a home free of persons who have or will abuse or neglect the children."

The service plan goals also say the parents must show that they understand what is meant by abuse. A CPS supervisor testified at a hearing last month that sect girls believed no age was too young to get married.

The plan asks parents to cooperate with DNA testing and to help authorities establish paternity and family relationships. Tasks include participating in parenting classes, psychiatric evaluations and following the recommendations of counselors.

McCown called the service plans typical for child custody cases. "The parent has to have a stable place to live and a stable job and a real willingness not to repeat past patterns," he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=4873901&page=4
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-king/from-san-angelo-tx_b_102556.html

One mother, Barbara Jessop, whose son Sampson was fathered by Merrill Jessop (the husband of Carolyn Jessop, who left the cult and wrote the book, Escape), wouldn't speak to the court at all because of a pending criminal investigation. She didn't want to acknowledge that she had even read the plan, clearly worried that anything she said could be used as evidence against her.
 
The plans include requirements for parents to undergo counseling, psychological evaluations and parenting classes; to document their marriages, childrens' births, living arrangements and income; and to obtain vocational training or education to become financially self-sufficient by next April.

Questions such as who can provide the evaluations and whether parents can arrange them and pay for them now were unanswered Monday.

http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_9310669

Gee, if they have to become financially self-sufficient and learn to support themselves, does that mean they have to stop applying for welfare and food stamps????:waitasec:
Way to Go CPS!!!:clap::clap::clap:
 
The attorney for a "wife" of Warren Jeffs said she is willing to reject life on the YFZ Ranch and her jailed husband's alleged tenet of "marrying" girls whenever they're physically ready to produce children.
Local attorney Tim Edwards said Annette Jeffs has submitted in writing a pledge to 51st District Judge Barbara Walther that she will not allow any of her young girls to marry before they turn 18.
She also has found a place to live in San Antonio and will not return to the ranch, Edwards said.
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/may/21/live-from-the-courthouse-day-3-of-the-60-day-in/


Hmmm...the "prophet" is losing his harem. :clap::clap:
 
Her next steps should be to file for child support and protection from Jeffs.
 
Perhaps they don't like being reassigned to Willie Jessop and are
taking the chance on jumping ship. However, unless there are several Annette's among his harem, Annette is his legal wife. Also, since these women and men from the sect think nothing of lying to authorities, that peice of paper with the promise quite probably means zippo, nada. Not unless she's really intent on leaving the sect.
 
I agree, that piece of paper is worth about as much as the names they gave to CPS. Remember under FLDS rules, it is ok to lie to authorities. Being Jeff's wife means she will be a leader among the women. She is "setting an example" for the women. The other's will quickly follow suit.
 
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/may/22/court-updates-trudge-forward/

At one point, ranch official and FLDS father Willie Jessop said he plans to order 500 voter registration cards to pack the Schleicher County polls and "put people in office with integrity" - a claim that would require another massive migration of sect members into the area because the compound stands nearly deserted, according to the few still living there.
This guy doesn't learn easily. He may "think" that he can take over the county...but he's not going to win easily. He's poking the bear with that kind of inflammatory statements. :bang:
 
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/may/22/court-updates-trudge-forward/

This guy doesn't learn easily. He may "think" that he can take over the county...but he's not going to win easily. He's poking the bear with that kind of inflammatory statements. :bang:
Especially in Texas!!

They may have controlled the towns in AZ, but Eldorado citizens won't sit lightly for that threat. This is one of the things they were concerned about when the sect first moved there.
 

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