Information regarding polygamy history and modern polygamy.

Texas Child Protective Services conceded Tuesday a pregnant teen taken from a polygamists' ranch in West Texas was an adult when she gave birth in San Marcos last month, casting some doubt on the statistics released by the agency that more than 20 underage girls were pregnant or had given birth.

The teenager, 18-year-old Pamela Jeffs, gave birth to a boy on April 29. CPS officials said she was one of 27 girls in a "disputed" minor category who once told CPS they were adults but later indicated they were under 18. Read more »

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Having written previously about polyamory (maintaining multiple romantic relationships) and polygamy (well, really, polygyny - having more than one wife at at time,) I have been intensely interested in the on-going case in Texas, in which more than 400 children of polygamists were put into temporary state custody following allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the Yearning for Zion compound near Eldorado. The group in question is the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), one of a number of polygamy-practicing sects that broke away from the mainstream Mormon church when that church banned polygamy in 1890. Read more »

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A great deal of attention is focused on the recent raids on the FLDS compound in Texas. The behavior of the state has rightly been condemned, most effectively by Les Jones who wrote:

Imagine that some parents in a school district were accused of child abuse. Now imagine that the authorities took every child from the elementary, junior high, and high school away from their parents and put them in foster care. That's a rough analogy of what's happening in Texas. Read more »

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The ranch near El Dorado was owned and operated by a sect called the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, an offshoot of the much larger Mormon Church. The offshoot sect practices polygamy, something the Mormons dropped from their religion over a century ago.

The sect, known as FLDS, lived apart, communal style, and had very little contact with neighbors. Read more »

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Lyndonville, Vermont - Lyndon State College Professor Janet Bennion knows a thing or two about polygamy. As the country's leading expert on the subject, she has spent the last 19 years researching and living with polygamous sects in Montana, Utah, and Mexico, and that's why she's disturbed by what's taking place in Texas.

"This is absolutely the wrong way to go about it. This is a group of people that are already against the government and the outside world, and then you get raided by state troops, kidnapping the children," said Bennion. Read more »

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Below is an interesting article from Prairie Fire Journal.

After getting a few hours sleep, I decided it was time to start doing some digging and pointing some fingers. I

n a previous post, I listed a couple of info tidbits that I thought point towards Flora Jessop as being behind the phone call that lead to the State of Texas kidnapping 416 children from the YFZ ranch, as well as being the unidentified informant mentioned in court affidavits used to secure search warrants of the YFZ ranch. Well, I've now arrived at my own conclusions about her and others involvement in this whole sordid mess. Read more »

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Among the hundreds of children, lawyers and caseworkers involved in an unprecedented child custody hearing this morning, one person will be noticeably absent the 16-year-old girl whose call for help set in motion the largest child protection case in U.S. history.

Texas authorities say they have not located or identified the girl, though they have said they believe she is among the 416 children from a polygamous sect who were taken into state custody nearly two weeks ago. Read more »

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In tearful speeches, Utah backers of plural marriage spoke out today at a rally in support of the children and their mothers who have been moved out of their homes on a polygamous sect's ranch in Texas.

"We know their needs are very unique compared to other children in foster care," Mary Batchelor said of the young members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Read more »

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Mothers who had lived at a polygamist compound in Eldorado, Texas, are mounting a campaign to get back their children, who were taken into custody by the state after a raid on the compound earlier this month.

A group of mothers from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sent a letter to Texas Gov. Rick Perry asking him to see for himself what they call the "appalling and traumatizing" conditions at the shelter where 416 children are being held. Read more »

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Controversy surrounding the massive raid on a polygamous enclave in Texas spilled over into Utah politics Friday during one of the first candidate debates in the 3rd Congressional District race.

Rep. Chris Cannon said the government should not be going after polygamists solely because they practice plural marriage, relying on a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protects homosexual relationships. Read more »

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