text:
YFZ Ranch Raid Storyboard
"The Flower Cried in Texas"
The ranch
The characters
The raid
The removal
This is the ranch
In order to split up these people (note the violent appearance)
Prophet Warren Jeffs
Zion's Dystopia: The FLDS in Eldorado, Texas (Part 2)
Willie Jessop
Darrell Azar
The CPS Mouthpiece
Photo: AP
CPS spokesman Darrell Azar said he was unaware that an FLDS teen had gone into labor, but added that typically, a child born to a ward of the state becomes a ward of the state itself.
On Monday, CPS announced that almost 60 percent of the underage girls living on the Eldorado ranch either have children or are pregnant.
Of the 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who are in state custody, 31 either have given birth or are expecting, Azar said.
"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," Azar said. (They had two pregnant women, both were married, ages 18 and 22, with drivers licence and birth certificate)
Parker has disputed the CPS count of teen mothers. He said that from talking to ranch residents, he believes at least 17 of those labeled as minors by child welfare authorities are actually adults.
Angie Voss
The Yearning For Zion Hearings: Duplicity in Action
Filed Under Yearning For Zion Ranch
Photo: CPS investigator Angie Voss
CPS investigator Angie Voss testified with a like outsider criticism regarding the training the girls receive: "Having children is what they were supposed to do." Has Ms. Voss ever heard of the "Middletown Studies" of 1924? Sociologists Robert and Helen Lynd performed a study on an average American town to see what values and attitudes were being held at that time. Women in 1924, by and large, worked at home as housewives, and the Lynds reported that having children was considered a "moral obligation." The women also dressed and wore their hair more in keeping with the women at Yearning For Zion.
So have we strayed so far from the moral standards of 1924 that we now criticize and even condemn a people who still hold to those same values today? This belief regarding bearing children that was held in 1924, and is still held by those at the Yearning For Zion community, has a basis that afforded this nation its founding government—the Bible—which states, "But women will be preserved through the bearing of children." And in the beginning, Adam was told to be fruitful and multiply. Again, Ms. Voss reveals moreso the biased error and frequent atrocities of family-unfriendly CPS.
Also, Voss's ill and prejudiced attitude regarding men is rather obvious. As with our failing public school system that is 75 percent women and, as stated in a recent report highlighted by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, is "obsolete" and "in a state of crisis," CPS is stacked with feminists. Ms. Voss stated, revealing her biased feminism, "I believe that the boys are groomed to be perpetrators." Voss disparagingly describes young men who desire to be husbands as perpetrators. She condemns the older men, she condemns the young—is there any male left she does not despise?
Officials are now looking for "the very best temporary placements for these children," said Marleigh Meisner, CPS spokeswoman.
"This is not about religion -- this is about keeping children safe from abuse," she added
The children -- most of them girls -- were being interviewed by special investigators, she said.
"We're trying to find out if they're safe," she explained. "We need to know if they have been abused or neglected."
Rozita Swinton
Unable to locate the "girl" who supposedly called a shelter complaining of "abuse," authorities are now investigating as the likely hoaxster the Arizona woman pictured below whose phone number was used in calls to the shelter. Records of this investigation have been sealed by Arizona authorities at the request of the State of Texas. Don't expect the CPS to go away quietly. It's not the CPS way.
Sheriff David Doran Scheicher County
Nancy Grace of CNN
Nancy Grace of CNN
Flora Jessop: Indian Scout
VAN SUSTEREN: OK, so here's what I don't get. If it didn't add up to you, this Dale Barlow, and you were suspicious, do you have any theory why it didn't add up to the Texas authorities before they went to a judge and got a warrant and went in? If you were suspicious, as a non-law enforcement, why -- you know, why didn't they have some suspicion that this was a hoax?
JESSOP: You know, Greta, she was very convincing. Obviously, she's been doing this for a long time. I would like to point out that the system absolutely worked in this case. When -- as hotlines get calls from children purporting to be abused, just as I do, it's not my responsibility and my job to decide whether those calls are legitimate.
VAN SUSTEREN: No, it's the state.
JESSOP: ... Over to the proper authorities. They go and investigate.
VAN SUSTEREN: I'm not critical...
JESSOP: The system absolutely worked.
VAN SUSTEREN: Flora, I'm not the least bit -- you know, I understand exactly. And that was what you should do if you get a call. You should turn it over. What I don't understand is that if you were suspicious of it and turned it over to the people who were supposed to be investigating it and they weren't suspicious, and it turns out to be a hoax, that's unusual.
JESSOP: It's very unusual that a hoax is carried out to this proportion. And that just goes to show how smart or how much this woman has done this type of thing. I think she's very disturbed and I hope she gets help for that. But I also, in a little bit of a way, want to give her a hug because she's protected hundreds of children from the abuses, the widespread systematic abuses they were suffering in this group.
VAN SUSTEREN: Except for, just as an aside, is that -- I mean, at least as far as we know, what's being reported tonight, at least from lawyers who represent them, that we're talking about five people, which is less than 1 percent of the 400 that are seized. But a lot of investigation still to go on. Flora, thank you, and I hope you'll come back.
Judge Barbara Walther: Texas-Sized Mike Nifong or Madame Defarge?
CPS and Judge Walther in this case actually thought that they could get away with this atrocity because they do this same kind of thing every day to individual families who have insufficient knowledge, resources or press coverage to defend themselves. For them, this was all hum-drum, business as usual. It came as a huge shock to them that the Texas Supreme Court disagreed.
Rick Perry, Governor
"Texas- Where the criminals cover their crimes
There were no e-mails directly from Gov. Rick Perry because he prefers to stay informed by using the phone or through staff briefings, said spokeswoman Krista Piferrer.
The governor's office learned of the planned raid on April 1, two days before it was carried out.
Dr. Bruce Perry Child Psychologist in charge of interrogation of minors
Carolyn Jessop
Former FLDS Member
I was shocked when I heard the news of the Texas Appellate Court ruling this afternoon.
Waves of horror washed over me at first as I thought that the children might have to be immediately returned. But that's not going to happen. This ruling will be appealed. It's not a knockout punch, but the FLDS obviously gained some ground today.
If those children go back to the complete, unsupervised control of the FLDS at the Yearning for Zion Ranch it would be like throwing gasoline on a fire that's already burning out of control. It would send a message that the FLDS can get away with any level of crime which would reinforce what society, through its inaction over the years, has reinforced for a very long time. The pattern in the FLDS is, from my experience, that once its leaders can get away with one level of crime they move on to the next.
Zion's Dystopia: The FLDS in Eldorado, Texas (Part 2)
control of children begins at infancy, according to Carolyn Jessop, whose autobiography "Escape" calls Colorado City "a police state" where everyone was monitored. As previously noted, Carolyn was forced at age eighteen to marry the fifty-year old Merril Jessop, already with three wives. She bore eight children by him, and watched her husband methodically gain control of infants through water torture. After the YFZ compound was raided, in an April 8 interview with NBC's Today Show, Carolyn detailed her husband's practice of "breaking" babies: "He would spank the baby until it was screaming out of control, and then he would hold the baby face-up under a tap of running water so it couldn't breathe. He would do this repeatedly. Sometimes, it would go on for an hour, until the baby was so exhausted it couldn't cry anymore."
Issues of civil rights and separation of Church and State were raised after the YFZ compound was raided. Merril Jessop, the compound's leader, compared the police to Nazis: "The nearest thing I have ever seen comparable to this, even on the TV shows, is Nazi Germany," Jessop told Salt Lake City's Deseret News.
May 22nd, 2008 7:21 pm ET
I don't believe your drivel for a second. You are a master manipulator. Your only goal right now is to sell books and make money. So you didn't like the FLDS and you got out. Boo Hoo, I don't give a crap. Truthfully I think you're a spoiled brat, but whatever. Go on and on about your tortured life and whatnot. The Court of Appeals did the RIGHT thing today, and your rants about how terrible it is will fall on deaf ears. Leave these people alone, you're out of their church, you made your decision. But you don't have the right to take away their decision to stay in. Now get off your butt and do something productive with that pathetic life of yours.
C, Ca
May 22nd, 2008 7:38 pm ET
Oh jeez, here we go again.
Afraid this ruling may cut into the book profits?
May 22nd, 2008 8:08 pm ET
I am curious, these children have been away for 6 weeks. Yet they all want to go back. The women have had ample time to run, yet the CPS has not brought one mother, one young girl, or anyone else front and center to stand up against what is going on.
The child psychiatrist continues to testify, saying the FLDS members also are faced with false choices. A 14-year-old girl told him she didn't have to get married, but her father said to her, "Do you want to go to Zion?"
She said yes, and her father drove her to the YFZ Ranch, and she was asked whether she wanted to marry a man there, the psychiatrist says.
The girl said yes, and she could have declined the marriage, he says - but the choices on the other side were not very attractive. She would want to conform to the group's beliefs, he says.
The prosecutor says: How is the YFZ Ranch harmful to boys?
The environment there is creating the high possibility that these boys will become sexual abusers down the road, the psychiatrist says. He adds that during childhood, the parts of the brain responsible for speech and language are forming, and if you read to the child, speak to the child and give the child lots of opportunity to hear language, the child will grow up with a healthy language capability.
A part of the brain, he says, is involved in forming healthy relationships, and if there's no bonding, that part of the child's brain does not develop.
The prosecutor asks the witness what he advised CPS to do regarding the children. The psychiatrist says he felt it was highly likely that these children would not be comfortable providing certain information.
"They would be very cooperative to a point, but they just wouldn't talk about certain things," he says.
They would have likely been told not to discuss their beliefs and practices outside of their community, the psychiatrist says. Children in such an insulated environment "tend to be very slow" in talking about very intimate things, or things that make them uncomfortable, he says.
The best thing to do would to just be around the children and treat them respectfully because traditional interview techniques would not be useful, the psychiatrist says.
The prosecutor says: What's the harm in their society?
Girls age 14, 15 or 16 are not emotionally mature enough to consent to marriage, the witness replies.
"Do you think there's any harm to younger children being in this environment?" the prosecutor says.
"Oh, man, I have lost sleep about this question," the witness answers
Ranch is Raided by SWAT teams and Tank
State And Local Law Enforcement Officials First Entered The Ranch Thursday, April Third With Child Protective Services Investigators. Among The Photographs Taken During The Six Day Search Of The Ranch Are This Photo That Includes A D-P-S Trooper Visiting With Teenage Boys At The Y-F-Z Ranch And Another Photograph Of Two Boys From The Ranch Sitting In The Midland County Swat Team's Armored Personnel Carrier. You Can See These Photos And More On The "Eldorado Success" Website At myeldorado.net
Every child and some suspected children are removed to "safety"
Friday, April 4,http://www.deseretmorningnews.com/article/1,5143,695267411,00.html
Child welfare workers have taken custody of 52 girls from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's compound in Eldorado, Texas, after a raid over allegations of child sex abuse on the Utah-based polygamous sect's ranch.
"We legally removed 18 children. We concluded they had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. "Under Texas law, either one is grounds for removal."
An additional 34 girls were taken Friday afternoon to the nearby city of San Angelo, where they are being interviewed to determine if they should be placed in state protective custody.
Police are also serving warrants in connection with the investigation.
bus ride to Fort Concho Shelter
Children Removed From Jeffs' Compound
Child Welfare Investigators Question Children
Kids and moms held at Fort Conch Internment Camp
Fort Concho is Crowded, Uncomfortable Internment Camp
Fort Concho had no indoor plumbing. CPS workers were told that YFZ ladies had sexually transmitted diseases and would not use the same facilities.
10th Eyewitness...
"At one point I headed toward the public restroom and was immediately grabbed by the arm by a CPS worker who told me to use the port-a-potties outside the rock wall, "because we don't know what kind of diseases these people might have, and we don't want to catch anything from them". I was later told that it had been determined that STD's were rampant among the women because of their promiscuous lifestyle. I did not believe that information...
Cell phone pictures of conditions in shelter:
One small room, no AC, that's back wall and two side walls you see here, about size of large living room. How many people are in the picture?
5 days with no change of clothes. CPS is holding clothes as evidence. Officers are walking among sleeping women and children. Very unnerving to peaceful rest. Refuse to connect girls with their mothers, it is very traumatic. Some of the lawyers are acting like another CPS interview, we don't know which ones to trust.
Several of the women inside the shelters spoke by cell phone to the Deseret News on Saturday to describe the living conditions there. Children could be heard crying in the background of each conversation. The News published an article on Sunday quoting the women, who complained there was no privacy and that their children were getting sick.
Nation: Polygamists' Kids in Their Own Private Gitmo
By Richard Wexler
A little boy, maybe 3 years old, walks past row after row of cots arrayed in a sports coliseum in Texas, carrying a little pillow. "I need someone to rock me," he says. "I just want to be rocked, I want to find a rocking chair." Two adults, whose job is child protection, are following him. But they make no move to comfort him. They just follow him and write in their notebooks.
Judge orders confiscation of cell phones
April 14, 2008
SAN ANGELO, Texas — A Texas judge on Sunday ordered law enforcement officials to immediately confiscate all cell phones in the possession of FLDS women and children now housed in temporary quarters here.
"I just called to say hi. They are about to collect the phones, I think," one soft-spoken FLDS woman said during a telephone call to another member of the Fundamentalist LDS Church who was outside the shelter. "I don't like what they're doing."
FLDS faithful outside the shelter are convinced Sunday's court order is a direct result of the women speaking to the newspaper.
Welcome Prisoners. This is a concentration camp, just like Utah's Topaz. These conditions are unsuitable for criminal detainees.
People magazine - a girl crossed out "Welcome guests" and wrote in "prisoners"
Judge orders confiscation of cell phones http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695270279,00.html
Deseret Morning News (owned by LDS church) By Nancy Perkins
April 14, 2008
CPS has a directive to make every attempt to keep the family together.
If things are as they are claimed to be in the press, then the 16 year old who allegedly made outcry as to ongoing abuse should have been the only child to be removed pending investigation.
The removal of more than 400 children at one time is unprecedented. These children are being forced to undergo intimate physical examinations without cause, other than a fishing expedition by the state of Texas.
The conditions described that these people are being confined in would be deemed to be unsuitable for criminal detainees.
This has the appearence of being a complete travesty of justice.
I am not a Mormon, but my prayers are with these people.
Children and Mothers not Allowed to Wave at Each Other, Threatened with Jail
"Separated from older children (12 and up) and for days not even allowed to wave at them across the open field - they were told they would never see them againif the continued to wave. They were threatened with jail for waving at them" (mental health worker)
The CPS workers were openly rude, yelled at them for trying to wave to friends and family members in surrounding shelters, threatened with arrest if they did not stop waving to others. MHW "we attended a briefing"
No baby beds or high chairs for infants or toddlers
"there were no baby beds or high chairs for days and often our women had to go buy things for the women" (mental health worker)
I have never seen women and their children treated this poorly
"They were devastated by what they could not understand about their treatment and the unknown reasons this was all happending to them"
"This ordeal left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the seeming injustice that has been inflicted upon these families."
"I have worked in Domestic Violence / Sexual Abuse programming for over 20 years and have never seen women and children treated this poorly, not to mention their civil rights being disregarded in this manner. It makes us all wonder how safe anyone is who has children". Mental health worker ("I was part of the team")
The kids entered happy and healthy, they left sick and crying
Mental health worker ("we were told before we ever saw...")
Women were constantly lied to
"women were constantly lied to about where their children's where and when they could see their lawyers and about when they would be reunited with their children" MHW
The women and children from El Dorado were basically lied to and deceived on several occasions. MHW: "when first arriving at Ft. Concho"
Most went to the shelters because they were told they would be able to see thir children if they did not return to the ranch. This, of course, was another lie. MHW"our experience in San Angelo"
Mental health workers admired the mothers and children
The women carried themselves with confidence. They were polite and respectful. They displayed what we would consider a great deal of self-esteem.
MHW "when first arriving at Fl Concho"
the thoughts of the inconsistency created more confusion as I watched the healthy interaction between mother and child. Many of the mothers tried to continue with their normal daily activities such as education, worship, and chores. I was impressed by their dedication to their children and the needs of their children. MHW "I am thankfrul for the opportunity"
the women and children were all well mannered and extremely cooperative. MHW "I participated in the San Angelo"
To my surprise when I entered the shelfter, I found a group of healthy, happy children and loving, caring mothers. Certainly not anything you expect to see in an abusive situation. MHW "as a mental health professional"
The children were amazingly clean, happy, healthy, engergetic, inquisitive, well behaved and self-confident, while the mothers were consistently calm, patient, and loving with their children. Discipline was firm and consisten, with never a hand or voice raised. These mother's parenting skills were textbook child development strategies. The children did not bicker among themselves and seldom cried. If a child did cry, his or her needs were met immedidately and the crying stopped. MHW "we attended a briefing"
Mental health workers constantly threatened with arrest
"after I spoke out for the children, I was asked to either leave the bus or be arrested" MHW "I am thankful for the opportunity"
(Mental Health) Caregivers blast Texas' treatment of polygamous sect's women, children
Below, are some damning reports...written by staff members of the Hill Country Community MHMR (Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center). These 'unbiased' mental health professionals, were asked to assist Texas CPS, during the internment of the FLDS mothers and children, at Fort Concho and the San Angelo Coliseum. These reports describe in detail...the horrible conditions and cruel treatment, suffered by those innocents...
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1st Eyewitness...
"I arrived at the Pavillion on my first night, and was startled by my feelings of admiration for the women and protectiveness for the children. By the second day, I was ready to run in front of the CNN cameras to shout that there was a travesty happening inside those walls..." (READ MORE)
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2nd Eyewitness...
* "We were told before we ever saw these women that they would not talk with us and that they were dressed "fancy" and had the best of everything. That they would only respond to us with "You will have to talk to my lawyer" This was an absolute lie and it was to "brain wash" MH to think like CPS. I never heard 'talk to my lawyer' once, while I sat and talked and played with the children. Everyone was polite and nice but very upset and confused. They were gracious, and tried very hard to not be afraid and nervous.
* We were also told to observe only, and not to help. We were told we were surround(ed) by DPS and there were snipers on the buildings for our protection. Our badges were checked constantly by CPS to make sure we were not in the "wrong place".
* The women and children were placed in barracks built in 1800, with no air and no indoor plumbing, 80 women and children on cots side by side, even pregnant ladies.
* Separated from older children (12 and up) and for days not even allow(ed) to wave at them across the open field - (they were) told they would never see them again if they continued to wave - threaten with jail for waving at them.
* Constant reminders that the adult women were only guests, and that they were not in charge of the children and what CPS did to them. They belonged to CPS now and they could talk, interrogate, separate and treat them any way they wanted. This included physical exams and x-rays without adult supervision.
* Not allowed to talk to the outside world.
* Women were constantly lied to about where their children were, and when they could see their lawyers, and about when they would be reunited with their children.
* No consideration for their diets, so all the children had diarrhea for days.
* No consideration for food, (meals served as late as 8pm, when these children were used to going to bed by then) clothing (Only 1-2 sets of clothing) or cleaning of sheets and clothing-washers were brought, but others had to do the washing.
*The more uncomfortable they were, the more CPS thought they would talk.
* We were told that if we interfered with any of the investigation, we would be arrested and handcuffed and placed in jail - this was said often to MH workers.
* There were no baby beds or high chairs for days, and often our women had to go buy things for the women
* The entire MH support staff was "fired" the second week; we were sent home due to being "too compassionate".
* The children and women learned quickly who to trust and if you did not have a CPS badge they would talk with you.
* After being removed the women stopped talking to CPS and we were "begged" to come back- when we returned we were told again, to not interfere, but "to do what we did best". THE WOMEN HUGGED US AND STARTED TALKING AGAIN. Then they sent them all home, with no children.
* The children were kept inside the arena, for 23 hours a day.
* The children arrived healthy and happy, and left sick and crying.
* Mothers and children were watched like they were criminals, and every word or deed they did, was written down by CPS.
* CPS yelled at the children, would not allow the women to talk with their laywers, deprived them of sleep, and constantly accused them of things most of them did not understand.
* Never once did I see a mother loose her temper, strike out at a child or discipline a child in an inappropriate manner.
* The last 2 days were the worst- over 100 State troopers surrounded these women and children, in the arena and they were told they were having all their children taken away from them and only the nursing mother's could keep their children. They were then escorted to a bus by a CPS worker and a DPS officer.
* Again we were warned if we interfered or helped the women we would be arrested, place in handcuffs and would go to jail.
I am thankful I was able to go and see all fo this. Never in all my life, and I am one of the older ladies, have I been so ashamed of being a Texan and seeing what and how our government agencies treat people. Thank God for the Mental Health field, who have not forgotten what compassion looks like and still tries to help everyone. This must stop somewhere and somehow. This invasion of their property and the disruption of their lives could happen to anyone anytime if all power and authority is give(n) to CPS. Remember this was an anonymous phone call..." (READ MORE)
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3rd Eyewitness...
"It was frightening to watch women and children being herded and separated like cattle, with no regard for human rights, or the needs of the group or individuals. How could this happen in America? How could this happen in Texas? If this had happened in another country, our government would have tried to prevent it! Old films of Concentration Camps came to mind..." (READ MORE)
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4th Eyewitness...
"At least 5 mothers reported, that at night CPS circled their beds, held flashlight(s) in their faces & then would sit inches away from them as they tried to sleep..." (READ MORE)
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5th Eyewitness...
"A Mother had asked if she could cover her infants play pin, in which he was taking a nap, half way with a blanket (it was a very thin blanket). She stated that he had not been able to take his naps and rest due to the lights. CPS told me no, that it was a health hazard..." (READ MORE)
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6th Eyewitness...
"This ordeal left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the seeming injustice that has been inflicted upon these families. I continue to question the way this was conducted and have to question: If the "fathers/men are the alleged perpetrators, why were they not taken from the ranch and the women and children (alleged victims) left in their homes?
Why was an investigation not held prior to taking the children?
Why were the women treated as they were guilty of child endangerment/mistreatment before there were grounds to implicate each and every woman?
Why were the women not allowed to keep there children at the shelters considering the alleged perpetrators were not present?
Isn't there more potential injury incurrred on these children being yanked from their homes and families, over a potential allegation...?" (READ MORE)
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7th Eyewitness...
"The entire experience at Ft Concho and the Coliseum was surreal; at times it felt like these women and children were prisoners; I heard some people wonder out loud if this was Nazi Germany? The thought had struck me too. Is this what it was like for thte People in concentration camps in Germany? The women and children from El Dorado were basically lied to, and deceived on several occasions. I often felt helpless..." (READ MORE)
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8th Eyewitness...
"For me, on a personal level, the most difficult aspect of the entire experience was the apparent lies being told to the mothers. I myself felt the inconsistency in information, when we had been told that Special Needs children were to be allowed to stay with their mothers and, yet, by that afternoon, that was no longer the case. This left me in a strange position, in which I felt compelled to voice the needs of these children and their mothers. This was met with less than enthusiastic response and after, after I spoke out for the children, I was aksed to either leave the bus or be arrested..." (READ MORE)
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9th Eyewitness...
"Even to be an observer was difficult. I could see the women and children being escorted by a string of law enforcement into the facility. They were escorted from the Coliseum into the Pavilion. CPS workers approached the "guests" and asked the women to follow them into another room whild the children were asked to follow other CPS workers and escorted them to the other end of the facility. As the children became scared and realized that their mothers were not going to return to them, they began to cry and become emotional. CPS responded by placing (bed) cots upright and building a wall so that the children could not see what was going on at the other end of the facility. At one point, when the children were all separated, one male child who was about 9 years old, broke away from the rest of the children who were all hurtled together, being comforted by each other, and walked up to a police officer. I heard him say, "You're the police, help us. Help me get my mother back. She has done nothing wrong." The police officer could only respond by saying, "I can't do that...(snip)..."At one point, I joined a conversation of two young and relatively new CPS workers. They were upset with their leader on the bus because they believed they were asked to purposely mislead the women about if, and when they could get the custody of their children back...(snip)...There was evident deterioration with regard to behavior, nutrition, anguish, health, etc. However, the "guests" never showed any signs of disrespect to anyone, even if they were not given the respect, in return..." (READ MORE)
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10th Eyewitness...
"At one point I headed toward the public restroom and was immediately grabbed by the arm by a CPS worker who told me to use the port-a-potties outside the rock wall, "because we don't know what kind of diseases these people might have, and we don't want to catch anything from them". I was later told that it had been determined that STD's were rampant among the women because of their promiscuous lifestyle. I did not believe that information...(snip)...The CPS workers were openly rude to the mothers and children, yelled at them for trying to wave to friends and family members in surrounding shleters, threatened them with arrest if they did not stop waving to others, continually reminded them that the women were guests only, and could be made to leave if they did not cooperate, threatened the mothers with never seeing their children again if they did not cooperate, and ignored requests for anything...(snip)...By day three, it became obvious that both the mothers and the mental health workers were being lied to and/or ignored. Even the simplest request was discounted. At one time a mother told me she wished she had some peppermint or chamomile tea to give to her toddler daughter, for her runny nose. I approached the shelter supervisor with the request. Later his supervisor came to me and told me that herbal teas were medication and could only be approved by a physician. The request was denied...(snip)...Chicken was served almost every meal with little or no seasoning and no flavor. Vegetables were scarce and everything was highly processed - very different from the women and children's typical diet of homegrown organic and unprocessed foods. Very quickly, many of the children developed diarrhea and gastrointestinal problems..." (READ MORE)
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11th Eyewitness...
"I have always been proud to be an American and a Texan, but this incident is not what America or Texas stands for, and something must be done..." (READ MORE)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 Child Welfare Blog
Their own private Guantanamo
The website for The Nation magazine has published my article about civil liberties violations in the Eldorado case. The article includes excerpts from those searing statements from the mental health workers who actually saw what was going on. So, in addition to providing the links to the full statements, I thought I'd provide some more excerpts below.
For those who may have forgotten: After Texas Child Protective Services removed more than 400 children from the YFZ Ranch, the state arranged for the Hill Country Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center to send mental health professionals to the scene.
CPS required them to sign confidentiality agreements. But 11 of the workers were so appalled by what they saw that they felt they had to go public. Their anonymous statements were released to the media, and the Salt Lake Tribune posted them on the newspaper's website. I've previously posted the full statements on this Blog here Below, some excerpts:
All of the children were healthy when they were taken from their home, but when herded into extremely crowded quarters with an artificial environment (lighting on 24 hours a day, no fresh air, no sunlight, strange food, uncomfortable beds, surrounded by strangers watching their every move) they became ill. Chicken pox ran rampant through the children, diarrhea, respiratory conditions and other illnesses created greater discomfort and even hospitalizations.
Living conditions in the coliseum were not conducive to good health for anyone, and the presence of hostile CPS workers who spied on them constantly, kept them awake at night by shining lights in their faces and talking and laughing created enormous stress for the mothers and children. None of them slept well or enough.
The women and children were placed in barracks built in 1800 with no air and no indoor plumbing, 80 women and children on cots side by side, even pregnant ladies.
The more uncomfortable they were, the more CPS thought they would talk.
The women were lied to and denied access to their attorneys. They were told that they were going to be moved to another location so families that had been torn apart during the move from the ranch could be reunited, but when [we] got off the bus at the new location, the mothers of children age 12 and older were taken through a door and loaded onto another bus to take them back to the ranch. They didn't even get to say goodbye to the children.
On the awful day that they separated the mothers and children the level of cruelty and lack of respect for human rights was overwhelming. Crying, begging children were ripped away from their devastated mothers and the mothers were put on buses to either return to the ranch or go to shelters. Most went to shelters because they were told they would be able to see their children if they did not return to the ranch. This, of course, was another lie.
The floor was literally slick with tears in places. A baby was left in a stroller without food and water for 24 hours and ended up in the hospital. A 4-year-pld boy was so terrified that he snuck away and hid and was only found after the coliseum had been emptied the next day.
CPS workers were everywhere and these people had no privacy. CPS intruded on their every activity and conversation, and even followed us around and made notes on everything we said.
I witnessed a small boy, maybe 3 years old, walking along the rows of cots with a little pillow saying "I need someone to rock me, I just want to be rocked, I want to find a rocking chair." Two CPS workers were following him and writing in their notebooks, but not speaking to him or comforting him.
As I was talking to a mother, her child spilled water down his front; he stood up on the cot so that she could wipe him off. A CPS worker strode over and told the mother "You need to set him down NOW." The woman nodded and continued to wipe his shirt. The CPS worker then said "If you don't sit him down NOW I will set him down for you."
I witnessed a young mother … be required by CPS to board the bus back to the ranch, though her young child was in the hospital with 104 degree fever and even though the child's physician had personally requested the mother's presence at the hospital. This event haunts me still, and I cannot imagine such a heartless act.
CPS yelled at the children, would not allow the women to talk with their lawyers, deprived them of sleep and constantly accused them of things most of them did not understand.
CPS workers … asked the women to follow them into another room while the children were asked to follow other CPS workers and escorted them to the other end of the facility. As the children became scared and realized that their mothers were not going to return to them, they began to cry and become emotional. CPS responded by placing bed cots upright and building a wall so that the children could not see what was going on at the other end of the facility.
On the last day of my stay at the coliseum, the mothers had been removed …The children had cried bitterly on the removal of the mothers and they were not with strangers. The noise level went up several decibels as crying and running and screaming took over. Children were grabbing toys from others and using the toys as play weapons against each other and their 'captors.'
The entire [mental health] support staff was 'fired' the second week; we were sent home due to being "too compassionate."
Internees moved to San Angelo Coliseum after complaints
2 Year Old Hospitalized for Dehydration and Malnutrition, would not meet mother's gaze
Sect Mothers Say Separation Endangers Children
By LESLIE KAUFMAN and DAN FROSCH
Ruth Edna Fischer was first allowed to see her 2-year-old daughter, from whom she had been separated after the raid on their polygamist ranch in Texas, at the child's hospital room. The child had been taken there because of severe dehydration and malnutrition, Ms. Fischer said.
"Hannah looked like a little orphan sitting on the couch," Ms. Fischer said. "Her hair was stringy and she was in a diaper, a pair of dirty socks and a hospital gown." The second visit two weeks later at a state office in Angleton, Tex., was worse. The girl would not even meet her mother's gaze. "It was like she hardly remembered me," said Ms. Fischer, who has four children in state custody.
Mothers not allowed to visit sick children
Just in from TRLA:
"Mother Searching for Information on Child's Health
TRLA has received information from a CPS worker that a client's child is currently in the hospital, on antibiotics, and being kept at the hospital for observation. The child's ad litem called the hospital and was told that there is no one there with the child's name. A representative from Kidz Harbor has told the ad litem that the child is in the ICU.
TRLA is trying to confirm if the child is in the hospital and what condition she is in.
The child is 2 ½ years old.
Judge Walthers has indicated that CPS was told to allow mothers to be with their children when they are sick. Not only is this mother not able to confirm where her child is or what her current health situation is, but the mother is not being allowed to be with this child or her other nursing children."
CPS didn't allow an FLDS mother to be with her child, even though the child was hospitalized with a 104 degree fever and the child's doctor had requested the mother's presence.
One of the riveting reports written by a mental health worker describes this incident (see all reports by mental health workers):
On … Thursday morning, April 24, 2008, I witnessed a young mother named Rosinith be required by CPS to board the bus back to the ranch, though her young child was in the hospital with 104 degree fever and even though the child's physician had personally requested the mother's presence at the hospital. This event haunts me still, and I cannot imagine such a heartless act
The separation
Azar: After about 45 minutes, they cried themselves out and it was a peaceful separation.''
Mothers are separated from Children complete "pandemonuem"
I spoke with Darrell Azar, a CPS spokesman, yesterday and asked him about the rumor that authorities sedated some children before taking them from the San Angelo Coliseum.
Not true, he said.
Here is what he told me happened when CPS separated mothers from children 13-months and older last week:
''We came in and explained what was going to happen,'' Azar said. ''There were tears all around. Mothers cried, children cried and some of our workers cried. We just allowed them to cry. After about 45 minutes, they cried themselves out and it was a peaceful separation.''
Azar said CPS made no threats or ultimatums, such as telling women that if they went to women's shelter they might be reunited with their children sooner.
He said the FLDS keep making untrue allegations.
Protest 1:
''The simple truth is there is a steady flow of misinformation and it is often the case when people who may have abused children and those who never stepped in to protect them will discredit those who move to protect them,'' he said. ''It has been happening in this case.''
I have listened to FIRST HAND accounts of the turmoil and wails that permeated and echoed through the halls of the Coliseum. Believe me, it was not orderly and smooth as CPS would like John Q. Public to believe! There were children literally pulled out of the arms of mothers. These stories can be individually corroborated by the hundreds of mothers present.
Parker protets:
FLDS attorney challenges Texas count of pregnant minors from polygamous sect
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune 04/26/2008
Parker refuted CPS' description of an orderly, calm separation of mothers and children at the coliseum. He said it was "complete pandemonium." As the children, all younger than 5, figured out what was happening, they started screaming and CPS workers had to pry many away from their mothers. "This is inhuman. This is un-American," said Parker, who also said a civil rights lawsuit is possible. He also said CPS assured nursing mothers they would be able to take breast milk to their infants but, as of early Friday, had been given no information on where the children had been taken. They also were told sibling groups would be kept together. Thirteen children from one family were sent to five locations, he said.
* The last 2 days were the worst - over 100 State troopers were having all their children taken away from them and only nursing mother's could keep their children. They were then escorted to a bus by a CPS worker and a DPS officer. We were warned if we interfered or helped the women we would be arrested, placed in handcuffs and would go to a jail. Mental health worker ("we were told before we ever saw")
* On the awful day that they separated the mothers and children the level of cruelty and lack of respect for human rights was overwhelming. Crying , begging children were ripped away from their devastated mothers and the mothers were put on buses to either return to the ranch or to go to shelters. MHW"our experience in San Angelo"
Boy: "You're the police, help us. Help me get my mother back
9th Eyewitness...
"Even to be an observer was difficult. I could see the women and children being escorted by a string of law enforcement into the facility. They were escorted from the Coliseum into the Pavilion. CPS workers approached the "guests" and asked the women to follow them into another room whild the children were asked to follow other CPS workers and escorted them to the other end of the facility. As the children became scared and realized that their mothers were not going to return to them, they began to cry and become emotional. CPS responded by placing (bed) cots upright and building a wall so that the children could not see what was going on at the other end of the facility. At one point, when the children were all separated, one male child who was about 9 years old, broke away from the rest of the children who were all hurtled together, being comforted by each other, and walked up to a police officer. I heard him say, "You're the police, help us. Help me get my mother back. She has done nothing wrong." The police officer could only respond by saying, "I can't do that...(
Parker: State only has 2 pregnant teens who aren't teens, not 20
FLDS attorney challenges Texas count of pregnant minors from polygamous sect
SAN ANGELO, Texas - An attorney for FLDS families in Texas challenged the state's allegations of a "pervasive pattern" of underage girls having children, saying the state's own documents show just three teenagers in custody are pregnant. Of those girls, one will turn 18 in a few months and another merely refused to take a pregnancy test, said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney representing families at the YFZ Ranch. "That leaves us with one," he said.
The count of children in custody rose again Friday after CPS determined that 25 girls who claimed to be adults are actually minors, said spokesman Chris Van Deusen. That group may overlap with the 20 listed in the court document as pregnant or as mothers, he said. "The only thing we can say is we're aware of 20 young girls who became pregnant when they were between the ages of 13 and 16," Van Deusen said. "That's not to say that there are 20 now, but at the time they conceived they were 13, 14, 15, or 16. "That establishes that there was some sexual abuse here," he said. Van Deusen said the court document may not include minors identified as pregnant or mothers since the court hearing. He also said he could not talk about investigative results that haven't been made public in court or otherwise.
One CPS document reviewed by The Salt Lake Tribune lists just three pregnant teenagers. The court document, also reviewed by The Tribune, includes women who became mothers before the FLDS' move to Texas or before the state raised the age of marriage, with parents' permission, from 14 to 16 in 2005. The chart does not indicate whether the women are legally married or the ages of the children's fathers. Among them: One woman, now 30, listed as having given birth to her first child in 1993 when she was 14. A reference to this situation was made by a CPS investigator without explaining when the pregnancy occurred during the two-day court hearing in which Judge Barbara Walther made her decision to keep the children in state custody
(Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)
Polygamists' children moved
April 22: The children from a Texas polygamist ranch are being moved to foster homes. NBC's Don Teague reports.
Tony Gutierrez / AP
April 22: Children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are transported from the San Angelo Coliseum to various places.
Texas FLDS children scattered across Texas face grim reality.
04/24/08 | by txwordpounder | Categories: News
Sandwiched in between DPS Gestapo squad cars, buses carrying scores of FLDS children have begun leaving the San Angelo Coliseum destined for far-flung outposts around the state. The DPS Gestapo escorts are being provided more as a preventive measure against possible escape by the children, than it is as a protective measure.
Polygamy Kids on the Move
State Buses Some Children From Coliseum; Few Parents Arrive for DNA Testing
The state Child Protective Services said that about 100 children were taken from the San Angelo Coliseum Tuesday after Judge Barbara Walther signed an order saying they should be immediately placed in temporary foster homes.
The buses pulled out as attorneys for a group of the sect's mothers went to court for a temporary restraining order to prevent young children from being separated from their moms. Walther refused to rule on a similar motion Monday, calling the request "premature." A hearing on the motion is scheduled for today.
Many of the childrens' lawyers and advocates are outraged. "They are being treated like they are a heard of cattle, that each of them believes the same, that their families are the same and that their interests are identical and they are not," said Polly O'Tooley, one of the lawyers for the children.
Children Delivered to foster homes (orphanges)
Some FLDS children brought to Abilene (VIDEO)
Photo by Ronald Erdrich
Photo by Ronald Erdrich
Photo by Ronald Erdrich
Photo by Ronald Erdrich
Except for the two large white charter buses, three Texas Department of Public Safety patrol cars and the ambulance, Friday could have been any other day at the Hendrick Home for Children in Abilene.
The weather was warm and breezy, birds happily flittered about and a Fed-Ex driver delivered packages, oblivious to the more than 10 children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch who disembarked from buses they had boarded less than two hours earlier.
They were bused in from San Angelo, 90 miles away, where they had been staying before Child Protective Services began placing them in foster homes throughout the state this week. They arrived in Abilene just after noon Friday.
The move to Abilene marks the fourth temporary home for the children, who were first taken from their home at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch and moved to a community center and church hall in Eldorado. The children were then taken to the barracks at Fort Concho in San Angelo on April 6, and then to the San Angelo Coliseum and the Wells Fargo Pavilion at the fairgrounds complex on the north end of the city.
Other children from the YFZ Ranch, owned by members of the FLDS, an offshoot of the Mormon religion, were placed in foster care facilities in Houston, Austin, Converse, Midland, Round Rock, San Antonio, Waco, Amarillo and Waxahachie this week.
It is unclear how many of the 437 children seized from the ranch were placed in Abilene. Officials at the Hendrick Home for Children also declined to give ages for the children placed there.
David Miller, president and CEO of the Hendrick Home for Children, said the facility typically admits children ranging in age from five years to 16 years. "We sometimes take children younger than five, but we need a special variance from Child Protective Services to do that," he said, declining to say if the facility had received any such variances from CPS in order to foster the YFZ children.
Special needs, medical and dietary concerns, as well as figuring out how best to play with the YFZ children are among the first concerns Hendrick Home staff will address, Miller said.
"We have to work with them, build up their trust," he said, over the sounds of the children playing on the facility's playground.
"They love the playground," Miller said. "Their eyes got as big as saucers when they got off the bus and saw the playground."
Their favorite playground equipment?
"They're most interested in the slides and monkey bars," Miller said. "They are having fun."
In the next few days, the children will be introduced to the horses kept on the 50-acre property and will be given carrots to feed them. They will also be tested to see "where they are" academically, Miller said. The facility has been given special regulations in regards to the children's care, such as diet and television restrictions.
"We'll follow the rules in the next few weeks and see how they do," he said.
The children's arrival in Abilene on Friday came the day after an appeals court in Austin rejected pleas from the mothers of the seized children to keep CPS from placing them in foster care facilities across the state.
bus pulls into Methodist foster home
A bus with women and children of the Yearning for Zion Ranch, home for members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, pulls into the Methodist Children's Home, Friday, April 25, 2008, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Jerry Larson)
LULING—Seventy-five children removed from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch by the Texas Department of Child Protective Services have been placed with Baptist Children's Home Youth Ranch near Luling.
This will allow for large groups of siblings to remain together at the facility which has been adapted to house FLDS children exclusively, administrators explained.
By court order, 462 children removed from the FLDS compound near Eldorado are being moved to children's homes all across the state.
Baptist Children's Home is a division of Baptist Child & Family Services, a BGCT-affiliated agency based in San Antonio.
BCFS Health and Human Services, another division of BCFS that provides emergency management and incident management, has been in charge of the San Angelo unified command of state and local government, as well as other nonprofit responding organizations since April 5. At the peak, more than 1,000 responders were involved in the San Angelo operation.
"The children are being treated with the utmost consideration, care and respect like all people we care for and we will continue to protect their privacy," BCFS President Kevin Dinnin said. "Special attention is being paid to ensuring their special dietary and religious needs are honored and met. The children's education needs are also being met."
The San Angelo shelters kept more than 50 BCFS incident management team members and more than $1 million of BCFS assets in San Angelo three weeks, including two mobile medical units and the mobile feeding unit supported by Texas Baptist Men.
The transfer of children was expected to be completed April 25. More than 1,000 people from numerous state and nonprofit organizations were slated to participate in a critical stress management process as part of the demobilization plan.
"Though there are significant differences, there is a common denominator between what we are doing in this situation and what we did for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and victims of the Sri Lanka tsunami and what we're doing to help fight the international sex trafficking in Moldova," Dinnin said. "We didn't create the situation but are working to meet the needs of those affected."
Photo Credit: BCFS Photos…Which I'm pretty angered that they had the nerve to take pictures of these kids. It's one thing for the FLDS to be showing Their Own Children it's quite another for an agency of the state to be exploiting them.
CPS: Protecting Children NOT
a group of FLDS moms are complaining to the Texas governor about their kids' treatment:
"You would be appalled," the letter said. "Many of our children have become sick as a result of the conditions they have been placed in. Some have even had to be taken to the hospital. Our innocent children are continually being questioned on things they know nothing about. The physical examinations were horrifying to the children. The exposure to these conditions is traumatizing them."
Polygamy sect members insist no force is used
Women fighting for return of children say love, not abuse, binds followers
Sect women discuss seizure of kids
April 16: Women from the polygamist church that was recently raided in Texas -- and a church spokesman, Rod Parker -- talk with TODAY's Meredith Vieira.
Today show
41. CPS didn't allow an FLDS mother to be with her child, even though the child was hospitalized with a 104 degree fever and the child's doctor had requested the mother's presence.
One of the riveting reports written by a mental health worker describes this incident (see all reports by mental health workers):
On … Thursday morning, April 24, 2008, I witnessed a young mother named Rosinith be required by CPS to board the bus back to the ranch, though her young child was in the hospital with 104 degree fever and even though the child's physician had personally requested the mother's presence at the hospital. This event haunts me still, and I cannot imagine such a heartless act.
Click image to enlarge
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FLDS polygamy sect gets a closer look - and it's chilling
Reader comments: Child welfare worker describes FLDS ranch as 'scary environment'
243 comments | Read story
Mothers Separated From Children, Some Held as suspected Underage, total 462
All 462 children taken from a polygamous ranch in West Texas have been placed into temporary foster homes, state officials said, after a dramatic plea from some of their mothers to be kept together.
"SOS Mothers separated Help," read a sign hung from a bus that took some of the mothers from the San Angelo Coliseum, where they have been staying with the children, back to the sect's ranch.
State Child Protective Services officials said Thursday that they believe another 25 mothers from the group are under 18, bringing the total number of underage mothers from the sect to approximately 30.
Those mothers had been staying with their children at the Coliseum voluntarily, but are now in state custody, bringing the total number of children in custody to 462, said department spokesman Chris Van Dusen.
Parents forced to drive over state to visit children, fathers not even allowed to visit
Polygamy sect parents say state has scattered children
'I'm homeless and childless' says mother of six among 460 in state custody
FLDS families want kids back
May 12: Couples from a polygamist group speak to TODAY's Meredith Vieira about their struggle to have their children returned.
Today show
More than a month since their children were taken into custody by the state of Texas in a raid on an FLDS compound in Eldorado, Texas, two sets of parents and a representative for the families alleged that the state has deliberately scattered and isolated the children.
James and Nancy Dockstader described living mostly in the covered bed of their truck, traveling to the far corners of Texas in hope of seeing their five children. Another FLDS couple, Rulon and Lorene Keate, said they drive from one end of the huge state to another for three days at a time, trying to see their six children. And even when there are visits, they said, the men who say they are the children's fathers are not allowed to visit them at all.
"It is truly a nightmare. We just are empty," James Dockstader told TODAY's Meredith Vieira in an interview Monday in New York. "We need our children returned. Life is nothing without them."
Pamela Jessop Gives Birth, State finally accepts she's adult after taking baby
Louisa Bradshaw Jessop Gives Birth, State Admits she's an adult, takes her baby
June 11, 2008...10:29 pm
(AP Photo/Trent Nelson - The Salt Lake Tribune)
Photo Tools
Foster Care Personnel Invade Privacy of FLDS Childbirth
State of Texas 42, King George 28
42. Foster care personnel insisted on being in the labor and delivery room while one FLDS "child" (who wasn't a child) gave birth.
The "child" who was giving birth, 18 year-old Pamela Jessop, says that she showed government officials her birth certificate before she was taken into state custody. A CPS worker signed a document attesting that Jessop had identified herself as being 18. And, the Bishop's List - see page 8 - agrees that she was 18 at the time of the raid. Nonetheless, it was not until after she gave birth on 29 April that CPS released her from custody.
Childbirth is one of the most personal - if not one of the most sacred events - in life. The idea that the state would consider it necessary to intrude on such an event is an affront to the human dignity of the mother. One could understand such an intrusion in the case of a murderer. However, as far as I know, she was considered to be a child under the protective custody of the state and not a suspected violent offender. Which leaves as the remaining possibility that the intrusion was justified due to the mother being a flight risk. However, If the state was worried that the mother would grab the baby and run the moment she had finished giving birth, it would have been possible to protect against that possibility in a far less intrusive manner, by posting guards at the window and door. Unless the mother had incredible stamina, the guards wouldn't even need to be Olympic sprinters.
Jessop said, "they're dealing with our lives and they've treated us like animals." And her lawyers are considering filing suit for civil rights violations against her. Given the grounds that Texas has provided for civil rights lawsuits, this case may end up being more expensive to taxpayers than previously projected
Press Cites Teen Mom who is actually 18 gives birth
Apr 29, 2008 2:50 pm US/Central State Waits For Teen FLDS Mom To Give BirthSAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) ―
One of hundreds of young polygamist-sect members taken into custody by the state was giving birth Tuesday while child welfare officials and state troopers stood watch outside the maternity ward.
The teenager was admitted to the Central Texas Medical Center and was in labor, said Rod Parker, a spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He contends she is 18, but state officials have the girl on a list of minors taken into state custody.
State officials raided the FLDS's Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado on April 3. They took custody of 463 children on the belief that the sect's practice of underage and polygamous spiritual marriages endangered the children. The children are now scattered in foster-care facilities around the state.
CPS spokesman Darrell Azar said he was unaware that an FLDS teen had gone into labor, but added that typically, a child born to a ward of the state becomes a ward of the state itself.
A woman at the hospital who said she was the girl's attorney declined to comment.
On Monday, CPS announced that almost 60 percent of the underage girls living on the Eldorado ranch either have children or are pregnant.
Of the 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who are in state custody, 31 either have given birth or are expecting, Azar said.
"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," Azar said.
CPS Kicked Her and Her Baby Out of the Hospital onto Mattress on the Floor
Day-old baby among 400 FLDS kids in custody
Louisa Jessop says she, newborn son are sharing a mattress on a floor
Sect moms fight to get kids back
May 14: Lawyers for a Mormon sect in Texas are trying to force the state to reunite mothers and children. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports on the latest developments.
Today show
Louisa Jessop's voice is small and precise and remarkably calm considering where she says she is calling from and what she's just been through.
On Monday, just a day earlier, the FLDS member and former resident of the Yearning for Zion ranch had given birth to a son, Richard, her third child. And now, she tells NBC News, she is in a small and bare room furnished with a foam mattress on the floor in a foster home in Austin, Texas. Her husband, Dan Jessop, is staying at a motel in town. Her other two children, Amber, 4, and Rolan, 2, are in a foster home under the custody of the Texas Child Protection Service (CPS).
"I would like to be with my children and my husband and live in a home where we can take care of them," she said in a telephone interview.
Louisa Jessop's children were among the more than 400 who were taken from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound raided early last month by Texas law enforcement and CPS officials. She says she's 22 and has presented authorities with a driver's license and birth certificate to prove it. But CPS spokesman Chris Van Deusen told NBC that the department has classified her as a "disputed minor," the term used for an FLDS woman whose age has not been established to the department's satisfaction. Until her age is established, they are treating her as if she is a minor.
"They said I looked like I was under 18," she said.
And so Louisa Jessop is stuck. She's been told she can leave, but she has to leave her newborn son and her other two children in foster care. Or she can stay with her newborn son, but can no longer be with her other children.
Two police officers and two CPS officials were present to welcome Richard into his confused world at 11 a.m.
Before Louisa could be separated from Richard, the couple's attorney got a temporary restraining order to allow her to stay with him in the small room where both mother and infant sleep on the same mattress. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday to determine whether to continue the injunction.
Louisa Jessop stayed at the birthing center for just a few hours. By 9:30 p.m., she said, she was at a CPS office. From there she was taken to the foster home where she remains.
"The placement is appropriate and comfortable," the CPS spokesman told NBC.
In the meantime, the young woman says she is trying to improve her living quarters.
"I'm working on cleaning it up so we can have a healthy environment for the baby."
A reporter asked her what it's been like.
"I don't really know," she said. "I don't know — just quite the experience."
"Are you scared?"
A long silence followed. Finally, she said, "I'm not really scared because I know Heavenly Father will see us through."
Despite just having given birth, she says she's not uncomfortable. "I'm doing well myself. I feel like we've been a little abused by the CPS."
Van Deusen, the CPS spokesman, told NBC that the department is trying to determine the ages of all women who may be minors. Officials seized truckloads of records from the compound and have said that it has been very difficult just to sort out which children belong to which women. The commonality of surnames makes the task more difficult. After the raid, the department had said that it believed that 31 girls between the ages of 14-17 were either pregnant or mothers. At least one of those women has since been reclassified as being of legal age.
Louisa Jessop has contributed DNA for state-ordered testing and hopes that the question of her age is soon settled so that she can leave with her son. She said that she is Dan Jessop's only wife and that the couple had moved to the Eldorado ranch from the FLDS community on the Arizona-Utah border just a few months before the raid.
She said she was being treated kindly at the foster home, where a woman loaned her a cell phone so she could call NBC.
Within the FLDS community, Dan Jessop, 24, said, "Everybody has a strong interest in each other and everybody's children ... Out here nobody cares at all from one family to the next."
When Louisa Jessop was asked what she does to pass the time, she said, "Just taking care of my baby."
CPS Knocks Again - Sorry, not without your tanks.
Willie Jessop, right, and Rod Parker head to the front gate at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas, Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Church members turned away Child Protective Services caseworkers and sheriff deputies that wanted to enter the ranch to search for more children. The authorities did not have a search warrant to enter the property and left without entering. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP PHOTO)
FLDS Stymies Child Protective Workers
Polygamist Sect Stops Officials At Compound Gate, Thwarting Attempt To Find More Children
ELDORADO, Texas, May 21, 2008
King George 28, State of Texas 6
A CPS spokesman said it doesn't matter if the calls that provided the excuse for the raid were genuine.
According to him, what matters is that they found cool evidence after getting there. A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Health and Human Services also said "it doesn't matter" if the calls were hoaxes. Their stories are so similar - and so contrary to constitutional principles - that you'd almost think they had been coached … or brainwashed. Claiming that the validity of information used to justify a raid is irrelevant is tightly coupled to the issue of fourth amendment requirements about search warrants. Nevertheless, I believe each of these items qualifies the state of Texas for earning another point in the contest against King George. Constitutionally, it does matter if the search warrant has a more secure footing than a Texas tumbleweed. If there were any real crimes committed, and a court rules that the search warrant does not measure up to the constitutional standard, there will be less ability to prosecute any real criminals.
©2008 Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle
Click on thumbnail image for much larger view.
The FLDS Kids- From one frying pan into a much larger frying pan.
How many "cults" are there in Texas?
As we wait to see if Texas CPS will follow both the letter and the spirit of the State Supreme court ruling, (see previous post to this Blog) here's something else to ponder: THE OFFICIAL TEXAS "CULT" CHECKLIST: Criterion for cult status Allegation against FLDS Child Protective Services Does almost all its business in secret X X Raises children on isolated compounds where they are at serious risk of child abuse X X* Displays a profound bias against African-Americans X X Arbitrarily moves children from home to home, reassigning them to different families X X Kicks some people out when they are deemed too old, leaving them to fend for themselves on the streets X X** *-They're called "residential treatment centers" **-It's called "aging out"
As we wait to see if Texas CPS will follow both the letter and the spirit of the State Supreme court ruling, (see previous post to this Blog) here's something else to ponder:
Criterion for cult status Allegation against FLDS Child Protective Services
Does almost all its business in secret
Raises children on isolated compounds where they are at serious risk of child abuse
Displays a profound bias against African-Americans
Arbitrarily moves children from home to home, reassigning them to different families
Kicks some people out when they are deemed too old, leaving them to fend for themselves on the streets
*-They're called "residential treatment centers"
**-It's called "aging out"
|The Faces of FLDS
From the NEW FLDS website http://captivefldschildren.org
Free At Last
(AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
Catholic Charities Assessment Center with an unidentified woman after placing items in their car as they prepare to leave in Fort Worth, Texas June 3, 2008. More than 400 child members of a polygamist sect begin returning to their families on June 2, 2008 after a judge lifted her order giving the state of Texas custody of the children.REUTERS/Mike Stone (UNITED STATES)
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The people that have been taking care of the children were doing such a wonderful job. They literally cried when we took them away," Young said of the foster parents who cared for the children after they were removed from the ranch by state officials in April, citing evidence of underage marriages and statutory rape.
Young said the children had been hit hard by the removal to foster homes around the state. "They are dazed," she said. "They are not the same. We hope they pull out of it."
Some reporters asked returning children how it felt to be back with their parents on the ranch. Clearly still shaken by the experience, children clung to their parents and shied away from the cameras.
What are your beliefs about marriage?" an attorney asks.
"I believe that a woman should not be married until she is mentally and physically mature and able to take care of a family," she says.
She says she recognizes the Heavenly Father as her God.
Lucille says her age of marriage - almost 20 - is a good age to marry.
She says her father asked her if she was ready to marry when she was 18, and she said she was not, so her father respected her wishes.
"We raise our children through love," Lucille says. They have family devotions. They gather garbage off the streets. "It's very peaceful," she says of life on the ranch.
The defense asks if she knows of women under 18 who are married at the ranch.
"I know of them," Lucille says.
She guesses a dozen or so are married under age 18. She says she doesn't know how many under 16 are married at the ranch.
Lucille says about 100-150 women are married at the ranch - the women who have gone to the coliseum to care for their children.
She testifies that she has lived at the Eldorado ranch since 2005 and has never witnessed a woman being physically abused at the ranch. She has not hear


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subset: commoncrawl


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TEMPE, Ariz. • U.S. authorities have smashed a Mexican trafficking ring that funnelled millions of dollars worth of drugs into Arizona for the powerful Sinaloa cartel and arrested more than 200 people, officials said on Tuesday.
The drug bust, led by police in Tempe and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, dismantled a cell running heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into Arizona for the Sinaloa Cartel, which is headed by Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. Arizona borders Mexico.
"Operation Crank Call" began when a Tempe police officer arrested two men in a street-level drug deal last year, officials said. One of the suspects was later identified as a delivery driver for the Mexican smuggling ring.
The operation led to 203 arrests, the seizure of more than 1,200 pounds of narcotics, $7.8 million in drug cash and 44 guns in the Phoenix area over a 15-month period, police said.
"Operation Crank Call deals another significant blow to the drug trafficking organizations that continue to try and make the Phoenix metropolitan area a primary hub of drug distribution," said Doug Coleman, the DEA's acting special agent in charge.
"By dismantling this group, DEA and our partners have taken large quantities of drugs, millions of dollars in drug trafficker assets, and powerful weapons off our streets," he added.
The Sinaloa cartel is fighting rival traffickers in Mexico, where surging drug-related violence has killed more than 44,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and sent the military to crush the powerful smugglers.
The cartel funnels narcotics into Arizona, sneaking loads through the ports of entry, through clandestine tunnels and over the porous border and through the desert.
Police said those arrested included U.S. and Mexican citizens. Charges brought in the case ranged from simple possession and drug paraphernalia offenses to trafficking charges.
Coleman said the investigation was ongoing and expected further arrests.
© Thomson Reuters


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Trucker Diablo Announce Hiatus
Trucker Diablo have today announced a hiatus.
"It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to put the brakes on TRUCKER DIABLO for the foreseeable future. I had a sit down with my partner Cheryl yesterday who has been suffering with an illness that affects her mobility for some time now and has gradually been getting worse over the last few months, which has resulted in Cheryl and my son Caleb suffering from me commiting time to my duties in the band. I have to prioritise Cheryl and Caleb over the band and that's really the bottom line. I started, named and have wrote majoirty of the music in Trucker Diablo so its hard for me to let go, but for the sake of my family I have to. The decision has been made easier by Simon leaving to be honest and puts things in perspective when you have a family to support and a dream to fulfill, but sometimes fate rolls the dice and they cannot mutually exist.
The music industry has always been an industry of ups and downs. There is so much cost and sacrifice to try and rise above the noise and leave a dent, I am just so proud that so many people liked the music. I remember sitting for the best part of six months writing Songs of Iron in my wee rock shed and after being really excited to get the album out, so many firsts, writing Drink Beer Destroy drunk and writing Maybe you're the one and not considering it for the album, supporting Foo Fighters, Black Stone Cherry, Dee Snider rockin out side of the stage at Download festival, Ricky Warwick for agreeing to be on on the 1st album and being a constant supporter of us and the band. Thanks to my partner Cheryl and son Caleb who have supported with me from the start to Simon, Glenn, Terry and their partners for their support . Also want to thank Darren Seaton and Baz for helping to guide the Big Truck, it was a blast and not to forget the Diamond Rock Club for being the epicentre of rock and support. To all our friends, promoters, fan and bands thank you all but getting on board the Big Truck. I am proud of what we acheived as a band. I like to think of a lot of the fans as friends and want to extend my gratitude for supporting me and the guys down the years. I'm sure Terry and Glenn will release their thoughts at some point too.
Songwriting is in my blood and in my heart and all I ever wanted to do was to make the best music that moves people in some kind of way. I will continue to write songs for myself and for others so its not completely the end, I may even release an album , who knows lol….Baby steps for now. So with a tear in my eye and hope in my heart I will say farewell but not goodbye. I know things are gonna be ok when my son gives me a hug and says "Daddy does this mean we get to play more games together". XOXO, Tom" Statement taken from www.truckerdiablo.com


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Do you like regal empire waists a la Downton Abbey? How about bold jewel tones and free-flowing ruffles? If your answer is yes, then you must watch this behind-the-scenes video of Bari Jay's Spring 2013 bridesmaid collection. Whether you are planning a formal affair or a chic spring ceremony, this line full of warm hues and feminine shapes could make even your pickiest bridesmaid happy.
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So, wedding season is about to arrive or has just passed (depending on where you are), but one thing which is common for all new adults is that their friends are getting married. If an ordinary friend or an acquaintance is getting married, it may not be that big of a deal for us, however, when our best friend is getting married, that's another story. Every girl has a BFF girl, who will be getting married, and there is a lot of stuff which must be going through their heads. These are the most common things which girls will be thinking;[irp]
1-How will things be between us after the marriage: Girls will wonder about how their friendship will change after the marriage. They love their friends deeply and do not wish for things to change, however, they realize that marriage will bring about an inevitable change.
2-Will her new husband keep her happy? Their friend's happiness is all that will matter to a girl, and they will only wish that her husband will be right for her. Any girl would become her friend's husband's worst nightmare if they do not take good care of her.
3-Hoping for a Good mother in law: A Mother in law has been for a long time depicted as scary, conniving and vicious. If you have ever bought an Indian soap or drama, you will know what I am talking about. Hence the friend wishes that her friend's mother in law is not anything like what they are shown as on TV.
4-Adulthood suddenly hits you: Well, this usually happens when the first friend in a group of friends gets married. You will never be able to get the grown up thought out of your head once your best friend has gotten married.
5-Will she be able to take on the responsibilities? With marriage comes great responsibility and expectations. Meeting these expectations and taking care of your responsibilities is no easy task. You will remember how only until recently you and your best friend could not even order food on the phone, let alone take responsibilities of a whole house.
6-I will really miss her: You will suddenly realize how important a part of living your best friend truly was and how much you will miss her once she goes to her new house and starts her new life. You might not have told her how vital she was before, but now you want to.[irp]
7-I will always be at her side: You will make a promise to yourself to be there to help your best friend whenever she might need it. You will vow to still support and protect her wherever she may be.
8-Time to party: Well, this is the thought every girl has during their best friend's wedding. Just remember to have fun and get as many pictures as possible.


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INGREDIENTS:8 oz. duck prosciutto
8 oz. arugula, trimmed and washed
2 oz. asiago cheese, thinly shaved
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Sherry Vinaigrette:
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1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
¼ cup olive oil DIRECTIONS:For salad: Thinly slice prosciutto on a meat slicer untli you have 20 pieces. In a small
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Doug is one of the finest men and purest souls it has been my privilege to know. He went far beyond being Ernst's attorney. He became his friend and a defender of the German people as a whole. In the course of the two trials he had to absorb thousands of facts, hundreds of books and dozens of maps, models and diagrams in order to defend Ernst to the best of his ability. He spent hours in court and then hours at night and on weekends studying with the Zundel defense team, led by Dr. Robert Faurisson of France. A lesser man would have been broken by the stress and the media libel. Doug relished the challenge and stepped into history's spotlight chasing destiny.
With the brilliant and thorough organization so typical of Mr. Zundel, Doug's daily after-court briefings in the basement of Zundelhaus were preserved on video. I have included highlights of those briefings in my documentary film, "The Great Holocaust Trial," (not to be confused with the book of the same name).
After the Zundel trials, Doug continued his career as "the Clarence Darrow of Canada," although he stands head-and-shoulders above Darrow, who in some respects was an opportunist (Darrow's finest hour was his defense of Bill Heywood and the IWW in Idaho in 1907; his nadir was the 1924 Leopold-Loeb case).


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By Mia Naseth-Phillips, member of AChildAfter40.com
I've always followed someone else's rules or direction on how I should live my life: go to college, start a career, meet a man, then get married and have children.
Trying to be the dutiful daughter I followed the path, but ended up divorced and at 25 years old, and pregnant from an exotic study trip abroad to Italy. I had so wanted to give my daughter the father, picket fence and siblings she deserved! But it just didn't work out.
A single mother at 40, I still dreamed of a white picket fence.
As I turned 40 as a single mother, I listened to the comments about how "empty nest" was on it's way, and soon I'd be free to make something of my life. Yet, for me, that something had always remained finding a life partner and maybe another child.
I was a single African American woman living in a state that had a tiny population of people who looked like me. Yet, love found a way. Ironically, I had known my husband long before we became a couple. He was this broad shouldered Norwegian who was rather stoic in his nature.
One day, I worked up the nerve to ask him out for coffee—the rest is history.
We talked about having children; he had two adult daughters, but had never moved to permanently cutting off the opportunity to have more children (pardon the pun).
After a few conversations, we thought if we were going to make this happen, we had better start immediately and see a specialist. Just as we were scheduled to have all the tests done, one evening, my love looked me in my eyes and said "You're pregnant". I tested in the morning and discovered that, at the age of 40 I really was pregnant. Wow!
Giving birth at 40, we began to try for a sibling.
After a wonderful pregnancy, I gave birth to our Natasha. We didn't want her to grow up without a sibling, I actually had nightmares about her feeling alone while her older sisters 15 years ahead of her.
Concerned we were getting old, and the chances of me conceiving again are so low, we started trying again when Nattie was only four months—and I was pregnant again after the first month.
At that point life became a blur full of diapers and excitement and joy. But we began to become more concerned about trying to extend our lives. We wanted to make sure we could live as long as possible and in good health.
Still trying at 47, I know this will be our last child.
Later, at 43, I had two additional pregnancies, one after the other. Both resulted in miscarriages caused by massive fibroids.
The clock was ticking and, after several tests, we were told that my eggs were of poor quality.
At the age of 47 we will be traveling with the girls to Cancun to do IVF using donor egg. I believe they call it a fertility vacation. The clinic has a high success rate and this will be our last child.
How do I know it's our last?
For the first time, I've begun to make plans that don't include pregnancy, childbirth or additional babies. I'm looking forward to the next stage of life watching my girls grow. I am so glad I starting traveling on a road that I created for myself!
To all on this journey of motherhood after 40, my advice is to drench yourself in support and love.
Notes for this blog:
Mia Naseth-Phillips is originally from Philadelphia and a "military brat" who has lived in many places. She is a SAHM and works in grant management from her home. Her interests include gardening, travel and reading.
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10 Responses to Love, Marriage & Babies After 40? You Bet!
laura says:
Thank you so much for posting this I'm in the same situation…. reading other people's stories is encouraging and inspiring that I will also make it happen….
Ashley says:
You're story encourages me.
I became a mother at 44 via adoption (I too married late) and become concerned about my daughter being an only child. I am now 46 and have been debating another baby. I often wonder how my energy level will be having another in my late 40's. How do you keep up your energy? Keep up the good work-you're an inspiration!
Mia says:
Thanks!! Energy has been a issue but we have made commitment to staying active and healthy. My energy level is at its best when I am healthy and living a healthy lifestyle.
Miranda says:
I am so glad I found your story on here. I am 6 weeks with a donor egg and 48 years old. First child. I am quite nervous and wondering if we did the right thing, in spite of this being something we strived so hard to do! It's my hubby's first and only and he is 50. I am trying to garner all the support I can from similar age group!
Dena says:
Thank you for sharing that AMAZING & AWESOME STORY!!! I would love more information on the Cancun vacation. Can you email me details? Thanks
Anna says:
Hi Mia,
I was wondering if you did your donor IVF program already. How did it go? Your story encourages me too. I am 43, and I am a mother of two grown ups, and I have been told the same, that my eggs were of a poor quality and that I have to use donor eggs. I was hesitating about this option as I have two children of my own, and the thought of having To use someone else's eggs was like having not my own children. How do you feel about it?
Romana says:
Good afternoon,
I am 45 yrs old and on my 2nd marriage.
My husband is younger than me and has no children.
I had my tubes cut in 2011.
I have 2 healthy children, 13 & 7 yrs of age.
I am healthy, no medical conditions and have never had problems concieving or
I know age is not on my side and Im worried about the risks.
And Im just starting the process of emailing all these fertility clinics and getting quite discouraged as alot of them dont take women after 42.
Can we be a candidate for IVF?
Or would it be worth reversing my tubal ligation?
Kind Regards,
Wow says:
Great story. Thanks for sharing. It inspired me. In the process of adoption in mid 40s.
Rhonda says:
Thank you for your story
Regla Quintero says:
Mia, such an inspiring story thank you so much for sharing. I was raising my two siblings in my twenties and by the time they were all grown up I was 40, single and without a child of my own. Your story is a testimony that I should not count myself out just yet. Thank you so very much and God bless.
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The lawyers of Hopkins Roden are a group of dedicated professionals jointly committed to furthering the interests of the firm's clients in the most effective and efficient way possible. Each member of the firm brings unique talent, expertise and perspective to the collective whole, and these biographies are intended to offer a brief glimpse of that experience and knowledge, as well as individual contact information. It is always the client's ultimate prerogative to choose specific counsel for representation. But any member of the firm will freely offer guidance and recommendations about the lawyer or lawyers within the firm whose particular knowledge and expertise may be best suited to serve a given client's specific needs.
- Obtained a multi-million dollar award for a client in one of the original trade secret misappropriation cases in Idaho, and successfully defended the award on appeal.
- Successfully defended a client in one of the largest complex crop damage cases in Idaho history.
- Obtained a multi-million dollar settlement for a young family who lost their wife and mother due to acts of medical malpractice.
- Successfully argued in an emergency appeal before the Idaho Supreme Court that Idaho's Constitution required Idaho's Lieutenant Governor, as Presiding Officer, to vote to break a tie vote in the Idaho Senate.
- Obtained a substantial settlement for a little girl from a broken home whose father was electrocuted at his job site.
- Successfully defended a client against a negligence action alleging millions of dollars in damages arising from a cow/car collision.
- Successfully handled litigation for a public interest group, including two appeals to the Idaho Supreme Court, which ultimately stopped a condominium development in the canyon of the South Fork of the Snake River, one of Idaho's premier fly fishing destinations.
- Successfully defended a client against a fraud action alleging millions of dollars in damages arising from a foreclosure.
- Obtained a substantial settlement for a homeowner in an action alleging roof damage against a home builder.
- Obtained a substantial settlement for a client in a case alleging misrepresentation and fraud in the sale of an airplane hangar.
- Obtained a settlement for a young girl in a medical malpractice case in which her x-rays had been misread.
- Successfully defended an owner of crop land in a case alleging wrongful termination of a lease and eviction of a lessee.
- Successfully argued several appeals before the Idaho Supreme Court in boundary line dispute cases.
- Successfully argued an appeal before the Idaho Supreme Court in a case alleging interference with contract.
- Obtained a substantial settlement for a young woman who was sexually harassed by local law enforcement officers.
- Obtained a settlement payment exceeding one million dollars for a client in a Federal Land Bank foreclosure action where our client asserted a lender liability defense.
- Obtained a 6-figure arbitration award on behalf of a stock broker in a wrongful employment termination case.