Here's what Texas CPS managed to do on the same morning:
● Tell the Texas Supreme Court that if they have to reunite mothers and their children there's a huge danger that the families will flee to another state.
● Agree to reunite one more mother and her children.
In fact, the agency previously had reached agreements to reunite 12 other children with their mothers and, in some cases, fathers as well. Most of the time this happened when the agency was forced to compromise because lawyers were able to bring the cases outside of San Angelo and away from the "hanging judge" of Tom Green County, Barbara Walther. There's a searing account of one of the earlier cases, the difficulty in getting the family back together, and the harm done to the children, in today's Salt Lake Tribune.
But this time, CPS felt it had to compromise even in Walther's courtroom. And this latest case also was the same one in which CPS, just last Friday, had introduced the notorious Warren Jeffs photo. The photo had nothing to do with this particular family; and the fact that CPS now has cut a deal in this case is further evidence that the photo was really aimed at two other courts, the Texas Supreme Court and the court of public opinion.
Also today, two more editorial boards said Texas CPS got it wrong: The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J and the East Valley Tribune, which covers suburban Phoenix. The Tribune reversed its earlier support for the raid in light of new information.
