Reply #44: Bit from CNN-Dissenting, unlikely kids will be returned soon(DNA),"broad authority" to protect kids [View All]

[uppityperson]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/29/texas.polygamists/?iref=hpmostpop

It's unlikely the children will be returned to their homes soon because it's unclear which child belongs to which parent. A DNA testing order by the district court is incomplete.

And even if the children do return to the YFZ Ranch, the case may not be over. The justices noted that Texas law gives the district court "broad authority to protect children short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care." Examples of those conditions might be a court order saying a child must remain in a certain geographical area or an order removing an alleged perpetrator from the child's home, the district court said.
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The three dissenting justices said in an attached opinion that they agreed the state had no right to remove the young boys from the ranch, but that the district court did not err in electing to remove pubescent girls from the ranch and keep them in state custody.

The pubescent girls are "demonstrably endangered," wrote Justice Harriet O'Neill.