FLDSA mothers and children separated in Texas

The Times posted an article from the AP about the latest update on the FLDSA compound in Texas. Texas officials raided the Yearning for Zion compound in Eldorado on April 3rd. The compound is owned by an unrecognized faction of the Mormon Church, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The raid came after officials received an anonymous call from a woman claiming to be a 16 year old girl from the compound who was being physically and seuxally abused by her husband. While authorities have still not identified the caller they did remove all the children from the compound and place them in temporary facilities. The sate separated mothers from their children last week except in the cases of children 5 or under. Today, however, the mothers were told that any child over 1 years old would be removed to Child Protective Custody and placed in the foster care system until individual custody cases could be heard. The women had also been removed from the ranch and were given a choice to go back or go to a "safe" location. More than 400 children in total had been removed from the compound.

The Times article followed the analysis of many other media sources I have heard covering the raid on this compound. Instead of offering a full analysis of the situation, the author conflated women and children to the same status and removed much of the women's agency. The article did not report the number of women or children speaking in favor of the compound or possible scenarios besides the claims of abuse and brain washing. While the women and children appear to have lived in a limited sphere of agency, this article and others like it, only serves to victimize them further and not allow them to assess their own choices and situation. The raid also did not lead to men leaving the compound to stay with their children, but focused only on women and children. This ignores the possibility that any of the adults could have been involved in the abuse and assumes the guilt of the men alone. While the situation seems very tragic, I wish the Times had offered more comprehensive analysis and multiple understandings of the scenario.