The 400+ children that was taken from the FLDS compound owned by FLDS leader and polygamist Warren Jeffs have already went through the state custody hearings presided by Judge Barbara Walther. Walther gave the judgment that the state had enough evidence to keep the children in state custody. Now, the children will be scattered to various group homes and ranches across the state of Texas.
The state of Texas is now charged with the task from keeping the children from going through a culture shock. But, many can assume that the culture shock is inevitable. It would be up to the state to make sure that the transition is a steady one. So far, the children will keep their clothes and their diet. On the ranch, the children were raised on diets from vegetables grown from their own gardens.
While clothes, dieting, and prayer are the easier to figure out, there is the aspect of technology. Most of the children on the FLDS compound have little to no exposure to television. A TV alone would be a major culture shock. But, the TV is the least of such things that would bring upon a culture shock for the children. Within the last few years, we have gone through the digital age.
It would be inevitable that the children would be exposed to technology and various modes of communication and transportation.
There would be technology in the form of mobile phones, laptops, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, MP3s, and various other things. They would also be exposed to the internet as the universal form of communication. The children will eventually be exposed to sea and air travel.
In short, there is literally a “world” that these children will be exposed to. The state of Texas is charged with the task of the gradual exposure. But, that is easier said than done.
So far, the children will be placed in foster homes that keep them separate from other children. Interaction with many people will also prove to be quite the culture shock. Eventually, they will be exposed to people of different skin color, ethnicity, religious preferences, sexual preferences, social class, economic class, and so forth.
There is also entertainment in the form of music, film, theatre, books, and so forth. Should the children be exposed to Japanese anime, it would prove to be quite the culture shock.
That aspect will give the state of Texas a major migraine.
Child Protective Services acknowledged that they cannot expose the children to modern and mainstream culture too quickly. They were taken from the Yearning for Zion Ranch, which is run and operated by the FLDS, a radical Mormon splinter group. It split off when mainstream Mormonism did away with marrying the teen girls to older men along with doing away with polygamy.
Mainstream Mormonism has no ties to the FLDS.
Recently, the Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is seeking an investigation to see if the state authorities violated the fundamental rights of the children. So far, the ACLU has not specified what violations.
Also, a few of the men of the FLDS spoke out on CBS “The Early Show.” They said that they did not know it was illegal for them to be marrying girls much younger than they were.
While the children will be placed in foster homes, their hearings await. The possibilities are enormous. In short, the fallout will result in one major migraine for the state of Texas.