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<p>[31</a> of 53 teen girls at FLDS ranch are pregnant or had baby](<a href=“http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_polygamist_retreat.html?source=mypi]31”>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_polygamist_retreat.html?source=mypi)</p>
<p>that makes my stomach hurt</p>
<p>technically isn’t the right word- I suppose some would say old enough to bleed old enough to breed.
But I think that is reason enough for the state to intervene.</p>
<p>That made me want to cry. I want to know what I can do to help, like send teddy bears? childrens books? something?</p>
<p>actually tdanielle, I’ll bet if someone were to start some sort of national toy and book drive for these children, our country would shine at its brightest.</p>
<p>No dolls and housekeeping toys, though- those girls need to learn there is a life outside of that.</p>
<p>I am so saddened when I think of what their lives must have been like - and those of their children, too.</p>
<p>I think these girls need more books: children’s, YA, and every other kind. What have they had the opportunity to learn about the world outside of their own culture?</p>
<p>Apparently they’re not allowed to watch TV in their foster homes because its not what they’re used to. Go figure. I guess out of respect for their lifestyle??%%##@@</p>
<p>This is the only life these people know…
Not that their lifestyle is right or compatible at all with our laws, but the sad fact is these kids are frightened and traumatized by the government sponsored kidnapping that has taken place.</p>
<p>The existance of these compounds is an issue, not matter what state they are.
I feel sorry for them, and the parents that they have been taken from. Like I said, it is all they know from day one.</p>
<p>Surely you’re not defending the raping of 14-17 year old girls…?</p>
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<p>The adjustment to the outside world is going to be traumatizing no matter how carefully it’s implemented. Introducing them to our culture should be done in a respectful way so as not to maximize the trauma. There are soooo many basic experiences of life they need to have before being thrown into TV, malls (unheard noises and visual stimulation in general), etc. They need to learn to trust within a safe environment that doesn’t challenge all their senses; these kids are emotionally, developmentally deprived and the first weeks should be spent building trust with their new foster families and observing some very basic ways of life.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s necessarily respect for their lifestyle as it is an attempt to ease them into our culture.</p>
<p>“They need to learn to trust within a safe environment that doesn’t challenge all their senses”</p>
<p>Yep. If I’d taken in some of these kids, then among other things, I’d be taking them to a Mormon church every Sunday. To the extent that I could respect their religious upbringing, I would.</p>
<p>I think it will help the girls just to be around “normal” adult women-ladies who have jobs outside the home, drive carpool, pick out their own clothes, color their hair, buy new earrings, call the repairman…just normal stuff that normal women do.</p>
<p>I read that the lady who “escaped” and wrote the book that has been quoted quite a bit wanted to leave after one of her children was hospitalized. While spending so much time at the hospital, she was able to see the kind of independence the other moms had and it opened her eyes. </p>
<p>I heard that the girls were “threatened” that if they left, they would be “forced” to wear makeup and immodest clothes. In foster care, I hope they will be exposed to heavily made up ladies who wear shorts and tank tops who nevertheless treat them nicely; they need to see that normal women-even “immodest” ones, are not monsters.</p>
<p>[Deseret</a> News | Prayers: Request baffles LDS official](<a href=“http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695272746,00.html]Deseret”>http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695272746,00.html)</p>
<p>Yep. If I’d taken in some of these kids, then among other things, I’d be taking them to a Mormon church every Sunday. To the extent that I could respect their religious upbringing, I would.</p>
<p>I think that the LDS church would be baffled by that response
[LDS</a> Newsroom - Clarifying Polygamy Confusion](<a href=“http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/clarifying-polygamy-confusion]LDS”>Clarifying Polygamy Confusion)</p>
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<p>Taken from the article^.</p>
<p>Mormon Church loses on that one. May as well expose the children to religions that have good morals but don’t believe in the same basic book. The comfort of having something from their culture being right, plus the chance to gain them as followers? Do they really want the kids exposed to anti Mormon beliefs?</p>
<p>I stand by what I said. The FLDS and LDS churches share scriptures and many core beliefs. There are massive, and obvious, differences in practice…but these are closely related religions. If I had a Catholic foster child, and it was impossible to take her to a Catholic church, I’d take her to an Episcopal church. It doesn’t mean they’re the same church. They are close relatives and still share some rituals and liturgy that could help the child feel secure.</p>
<p>Also, the article doesn’t say that the kids wouldn’t be welcome at an LDS church; it says that church leaders did not want to <em>supervise</em> the adherents while they pray. That is not surprising; the supervision is a legal, not a spiritual act, and LDS church leaders would be placed in a very strange position serving as the state’s eyes at a prayer service.</p>
<p>[Congresswoman</a> calls for investigation of federal contract to FLDS-linked company - Salt Lake Tribune](<a href=“http://www.sltrib.com//ci_9095956]Congresswoman”>Congresswoman calls for investigation of federal contract to FLDS-linked company - The Salt Lake Tribune)</p>
<p>This reader of the Salt Lake city Tribune had a good point
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<p>It seems unacceptably cruel to take children away from their mothers. There are lots of babies and toddlers in that group who are nursing. What right does the government have to separate them from their mothers? There was no sign of abuse of young children, so why were they taken away? </p>
<p>I understand that the adolescent females had unacceptable things forced upon them, but they will be out of that situation now. What is the point of separating all of the children from their mothers? This will go down in history as a huge mistake.</p>
<p>Foster care can be really bad, and there is absolutely no evidence that it will have any advantage for these children.</p>
<p>What happened with the female teenagers is not acceptable. But why doesn’t the government crack down equally on the millions of teenaged girls in the rest of the US who have been impregnanted by adult men? Why is this acceptable? Shouldn’t their parents have been protecting them, in the same way that the Texas teens should have been protected? Why not remove these teenagers from their families and put them in foster care? Instead they stay with their families, with their children. This is truly a double standard. We need to protect all teens from pregnancy.</p>
<p>nameneeded - any child who was still nursing was not separated from its mother.</p>
<p>No sign of abuse of young children??? What about pregnant 14-year olds?</p>
<p>OK, next time they find a compound like this, they should just ignore it because they can’t protect all teens from pregnancy.</p>
<p>My understanding is that all children of all ages, regardless of whether they are nursing or not, were separated earlier this week from their mothers. That is what I read in the papers. Could you provide another reference about nursing children? </p>
<p>I think that the teenagers who were pregnant or had children should be separated from the men who have abused them. I see no reason that they should not see their own mothers. All other pregnant teenagers in this country are allowed to remian with their mothers and fathers. The government could check in to make sure that the teenagers of all backgrounds are not having sex with men over 18, to protect children in this country. Equal standards for all. Widen the net and protect ALL teenage women from sex with men over 18. Many teenaged females become impregnated by men over 18 years of age.</p>