UPDATE: In addition to links to the full statements, below, I've also posted some excerpts on this Blog, here.
Tuesday's post included excerpts from brief reports filed by eleven mental health professionals sent to the makeshift shelters in San Angelo by the State of Texas itself in the first days after the raid on the YFZ compound. The workers said that, in good conscience, they could not keep silent. The Salt Lake Tribune now has posted links to the actual reports. Those links are below, for anyone who wants to read what these professional had to say, in full, in their own words.
And remember all those excuses Texas CPS and its allies have been giving for tearing the children from their mothers? Excuses like: It's the only way to get the children to talk, the mothers might flee, and, my personal favorite (because this one is true): "It's what we always do." Faced with the possibility that they might lose custody of one family's children entirely, CPS reportedly has relented and said it will try to place the adult mother, her newborn son – and her two other very young children - together in the same foster home. If it can be done for this mother, without "endangering" the children, why not the others?
This also is the case in which CPS admits that a mother it thought was underage actually is 22. That mistake is why the mother herself was placed in foster care. A CPS lawyer explained the mistake this way: "We're not psychic. We can't just look at people and say 'You're of age, you can go.'"
But when CPS put out its claims about the number of underage mothers at the YFZ ranch, "just look[ing] at people" is precisely the method they used.
Now, here are the links to those eyewitness accounts from the mental health professionals:
· "Ashamed of being a Texan."
· "Even to be an observer was difficult."
· "Even the simplest request was discounted."
· "That is a very good question."
· "This situation was a tragedy."
· "This was a travesty."
· "I often felt helpless."
· "Vast amounts of hypocrisy."
· "It was heartwrenching."
· "Our roles bacame... confidant and a broker."
· "This incident... is not what America or Texas stands for."
