I'm off today, had an appointment this morning, and now I'm home for the day. I've had the news on, and am upset over the FLDS situation and how it's being handled.
I cannot believe there is a question on whether or not the FLDS children should be returned to their mothers.
Return them? To be r**** at a young age by their fathers and/or other older men? Or to live in an environment where other girls are? To live in an environment where this is ever, ever okay?
What are people thinking? This is nuts. As in most domestic violence cases, the men are being left alone for the most part. Why do the women have to leave their homes? Why do the children have to be uprooted? They are the ones who have already suffered the most, going through the most suffering now, and the ones who will go through the most suffering in the future. (Of course, our shelters are full of women and children who have been beaten and r**** while their abusers are at home. But I'm trying to just write about the current FLDS situation.)
The women should be willing to go through deprogramming and counseling if they want to retain custody of their children. The children at this point should be everyone’s priority. They should have complete protective care, with the help of agencies and volunteers. There should be provisions for the mothers to live in a supervised shelter with their children if they are in a sound counseling program.
On the news, they are even saying how important it is for the children to be with their mothers. They're kidding, right? The mothers are abusive and neglectful. I believe they don't know what they're doing. They have been brainwashed beyond any type of rational thinking. People can get used to just about anything, believe and accept most circumstances, most behaviors as 'normal'. And as far as the kids go, kids love their parents. As a counselor, I saw little kids so excited, so happy, to see a parent, to go home with a parent, who abused them horribly.