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Carole Mikita reporting Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) say the state of Texas is attacking their religion. State authorities say the case is about abuse.
Texas investigators claim dozens of broken bones were discovered among the more than 460 FLDS children in state custody, suggesting their parents used severe punishment.
Protective services in other states have gone that route before and succeeded in court. Family Law professor Linda Smith said, "There was a case in South Carolina, where a religious father beat his daughter severely and thought he was obligated to beat her under his religious teachings. Nevertheless, the family was found to have abused the child."
Abuse can be defined in medical terms. Today, Jehovah's Witnesses work with medical experts on bloodless surgery, but in the past there were several cases in different states where parents refused blood transfusions to save their child's life. "The child is typically found to be neglected," Smith said. "The court will take legal custody and order the transfusion to save the child's life. The fact that the parents don't believe in a blood transfusion doesn't make their decision to allow their child to die, not neglectful."
Sometimes there is disagreement about education. In the case of Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Amish said their religious practices called for them to remove their children from public schools after the 8th grade. State law required they stay until age 16. The Wisconsin Supreme Court sided with the Amish. Smith said, "They had basically a training system themselves to have their children learn to be farmers, learn carpentry skills, learn housekeeping skills, and they were almost apprentice-like work."
Smith said she is watching to see whether Texas will set any precedents with the FLDS cases.
Smith said the Wisconsin v. Yoder case was precedent setting for another reason. It is the case most parents who home school their children use in defending the practice.
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
