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I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the raid on the “compound” of a polygamist in El Dorado, Texas.
What hasn’t been as publicized is the fact that 416 children were removed and had to be placed in foster care. The Texas foster care system was already over taxed. Children were sleeping in the social services offices. Now we have just added another 400 plus children in one day. I can’t imagine how frantic the workers were trying to place these children.
That’s the smallest portion of the problem. The issues these kids are dealing with are not what foster parents are used to dealing with. We dealing with all kinds of varieties of abuse and neglect on a regular basis, but these children have been completely segregated from everything that we consider commonplace and “normal” in today’s society.
This article highlights some of the differences.
The children have never eaten processed food – OK, I’m not so sure that’s a terrible thing, but it’s a huge adjustment for these children to come into. Imagine a child who has never had pizza, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets or a McDonald’s hamburger. That would never fly in my house. My kids would be mounting a revolt against me.
These kids have never seen television – Again, in and of itself that’s not a horrible thing, but I can’t imagine the sensory overload these kids will be contending with. I think it’s safe to say that most of our kids have seen at least SOME television, but these have seen nothing. Imagine being eight, twelve or sixteen years old and seeing a television show for the first time.
These kids don’t dress “normally” – These kids have been taught to dress very modestly. I’m sure seeing modern clothing is quite shocking. Heck, it shocks me and I see it every day. These girls are wearing full length, long sleeve dresses. Seeing other girls their age with their tummies exposed, shirts cut down exposing cleavage, and wearing thong panties would be incredibly shocking.
Another big issue is the brain washing, for lack of a better term, that goes on within these groups. The children are taught to fear “outsiders” which is what their foster parents will be considered. The foster parents are going to have a very difficult time breaking through the shell of these kids. I don’t envy them at all.
I hope there are periodic updates about how these children progress. They will need months, if not years, of therapy to begin to undo the emotional damage that has been done.
Those poor kids.
I feel so bad for them. Those sort of sects are scarily disturbed and the children get hurt the most.
I grew up in something similar, although, thankfully, my whole family got out. It isn’t just television, it is God, religion, wearing certain colors/styles, the style of your hair, what music you listen to, the way you think, what you read, how you speak, what your education level is, your sense of self, if you are a boy or a girl – it penetrates EVERYTHING. The physical and sexual abuse is the tip of the iceberg. The psychological damage is sever and radiates into every piece of your mind, body and soul. Depending on the ages of the children, for that matter everyone, with exception for the leadership of this sect, they all will have the same issues and their age will determine how much of this insanity has soaked in. I am unsure if any state agency could handle this many children with these issues. They will need a lot of assistance and many understanding families in order to not further traumatize these children.